Gooey Two Sins

“Gooey two sins” describes the incident quite accurately. The three-year-old, blond-haired, blue-eyed, angelic little girl had chocolate stains all over her mouth and chin. Her mother entered the kitchen, spied the Nestle-coated bandit and asked calmly but firmly, “Did you get into that cookie jar after I told you not to?” The teary-eyed, Toll House thief, through trembling lips replied, “no.” But the inflection in her voice rose sharply at the end of her one-syllable denial. This interrogative intonation was the tell-tale sign that she wasn't really sure.

What wasn't the little girl sure about? Doing wrong? No. In fact she was certain about her two gooey sins: disobeying and lying. She knew that pilfering baked goods was wrong and she was fairly certain that mom would not be fooled by her fibbing. The curiosity in her tone had more to do with the consequences of her actions. How bad would her inevitable and deserved punishment be?

Each year during the season of Lent we contemplate the nature of sin and the nature of love. Then we ask ourselves the very same question. What will the consequences of our own wrongdoings be?

What is the nature of sin? And what is the nature of love?

Philosophers, theologians, spirituality authors, novelists and the language of entire societies have given us superior insights into the nature of sin by defining what it is, and also by defining its opposite: Love!

The Greeks have at least seven different words for love, which run the gamut from erotic to agape. Dickens' second book, “Oliver Twist,” produced the famous Broadway musical that had his child-laboring orphan asking, “Where is love?” The Russian word for saintly love is literally “very very like” implying that the closer we come to behaving like our self-sacrificing Lord, the closer we'll come to heavenly love. St. Thomas' definition is even more selfless and more generous: willing the good of the other as other. In other words, he says we should not give money to a homeless person just because this makes us feel good about ourselves. Rather we should help others simply because they need our help.

In contrast to love, the nature of sin becomes “missing the mark.” As Catholics, the target we're supposed to be aiming for is selfless love. But when we sin we miss the bull's-eye altogether; we miss the mark. Finally St. Augustine echoes the Hebrew bible's notion of sin. He declares that when we are so attached to the world's ways, we no longer have room in our hearts for God's ways. If our hearts become so full of ourselves by continually giving in to temptation, then we have hardened our hearts against the very nature of what they were made for: “Our hearts are made for thee, O Lord, and they will not rest until they rest in thee.”

What will be the consequences of our wrongdoings?

The results of sin will be a heart made of stone. This is a self-centered heart. This is a lonely heart. This is a heart that is dead because it is closed off to Christ's life-giving blood and God's life-giving love.

Lent is a season of change and conversion. We can use this time to examine our actions, repent for our sins, and bring our hearts back to God who created us to love and be loved.

For Holy Homework:

Let's refrain from eating any chocolate chip cookies for the entire 40 days of Lent. If Toll House gooeyness is not our weakness then we can substitute another favorite treat instead. We should post a picture of this sacrifice on our refrigerator at home and near our computer at work with this caption in bold letters: “Wait until Easter.” Then, on Holy Saturday, we can bake a batch of gooey goodies and enjoy them on the feast of the Resurrection.

Happy Lent.

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