Those of you who’ve been reading my little column here for years might remember I refer to this Sunday’s Gospel as the “Pirate Gospel.” Why?

Because Jesus instructs that if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.

No hand + no eye = pirate.

Does Jesus want us all wandering around unable to hug and without depth perception? I don’t think so. He would prefer we just extricate sin from our lives.

As Catholics, we recognize the body was made to work in concert with the soul. They were both made for holiness. (If this were not true, our bodies would not be unified with our souls in heaven on the last day. Mary’s assumption wouldn’t make sense. The list goes on...)

Jesus’ dire warning isn’t about the body being “evil.”

Cutting off your hand wouldn’t only cause tremendous pain, but would carry with it (excuse the pun) life-long consequences. Plucking out your eye wouldn’t hurt more than you’d like to imagine, but would also carry with it life- long consequences.

Jesus is clearly warning us that those life-long consequences are nothing when compared to the eternal consequences of sin.

Here is where the sacrament of reconciliation comes into play. Chances are, we will not go through the remainder of our lives completely devoid of sin. Therefor, when we do fall short (particularly in terms of mortal sin), we must get to the sacrament of reconciliation as quickly as possible.

Confession comes with its issues. The is the inconvenience of travel and time. You usually either have to wait in line or make an appointment. You have to think about what you’ve done. (We know this isn’t fun as it’s something we make our children do.) And you have to actually suffer the embarrassment of saying what you’ve done out loud.

But this price—as Jesus would say—is preferable than the potential eternal consequences. Use the sacrament Christ instituted...

Questions? Comments? Reach David at dlins@oloj.org

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