Catholicism is often caricatured as a religion that exaggerates guilt. We’ve all heard the silly “Catholic guilt” jokes. The implication is that Catholics are morbidly obsessed with their guilt and just need to get over it. To be sure, obsessive preoccupation with guilt is neither helpful nor healthy, but generally speaking, guilt is actually a good that we should embrace. Why? Because our conscience is where God speaks to us. Guilt alerts the sinner that God is calling the soul anew to live in a right and ordered way. It is analogous to a warning light on a piece of machinery not functioning properly, and that requires attention before breaking down. Guilt is our conscience’s warning signal that our loving Father is beckoning us to “Return to me, my beloved children,” when we have strayed and are in spiritual danger. This is exceedingly good, and we should rejoice! Where we get into trouble is when we pridefully rebel against our experience of guilt. We can reject it or dissociate from it (what we do in addiction). We can misunderstand it as judgment and humiliation and descend into shame. Or we can turn it into another idol in the form of scrupulosity. Such unfortunate moves are really attempts to just assert control, and represent a basic lack of trust in God’s mercy and goodness and sovereignty over our lives.
Recovery as a way of life is, in truth, a healthy response to the warning signals of guilt. If you think about it, the Twelve Steps are in reality an embodied practice of living a penitential life. We repeatedly take inventory (examination of conscience), express sorrow and take responsibility (confession), and make amends (penance) when we have failed to love and suffer well. But living a penitential life does not mean that we must live our days in gloomy melancholy. To the contrary, a penitential life is a life centered on surrender and, as such, is a life where we can freely choose to love and be truly joyful. Dom Hubert Van Zeller OSB observed, “True penance is the surrender of the whole self to God…The end of penance is God, not more penances. Thus, the approach to penance has to be by way of love, not by way of steeling the will to toughness. Penance must have its roots in charity, not in austerity. Austerity may accompany its growth, but it will be a by-product rather than an essential fruit. A certain austerity will even be a sign of true penitence, but it will not be an infallible sign, nor the only one. The infallible signs are humility and charity” (Spirit of Penance, Path to God: How Acts of Penance Will Make Your Life Holier And Your Days Happier). If we take his words to heart, then we can conclude that conversion in recovery is not ultimately deemed “successful” based on perfect self-control or sobriety for sobriety’s sake, but on our ability to recognize His power made perfect in our weakness, and to persevere in returning to God in humble surrender again and again to the very end no matter how many times it takes. Progress, not perfection, right? Progress is our task. Perfection is God’s!
Reflection Questions
- Have you ever prayed one or all of the Penitential Psalms? What words or expressions from these psalms have you found as particularly consoling or descriptive of your experience with sin, addiction, and guilt?
- How do you respond to guilt? Do you reject it or dissociate from it? Or recoil in shame? Or obsess over it? How have you learned to respond to guilt in a spiritually helpful and healthy manner?
Daily Mass Readings
First Reading: 2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 6, 7
Gospel: Mark 6:1-6
Reflection by Pete S.