BEWARE of Bad Thoughts : (Stinking-Thinking)

June 9, 2024 – 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060924.cfm)

As observed, there is a tendency among penitents in confession to highlight their faults & sins that somehow could undervalue God’s forgiveness thru absolution. For instance, penitents confessing again their past sins that has been absolved already & have seized to commit such sin again. This is not healthy & counter-productive behavior because even though they are already forgiven & blessed but they still judged themselves as unclean & condemned themselves as unforgiven. What a sad & wasteful situation, already blessed yet still behave as condemned unclean sinner. This is simply called stinking-thinking.

In our gospel, Jesus made reference about forgiveable & unforgivable sins. To counter the bad thoughts of the scribes & in judging him as of unclean spirits, Jesus highlights that God forgives & can forgive all our sins. He said: “Truly, I tell you people will be forgiven for their sins & whatever blasphemies they will utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness but is guilty of eternal sin.”

Meaning, God always forgives, but those who rejects God’s forgiveness is already condemned. Those who have already judged themselves unclean & does not allow God’s grace of mercy &  forgiveness to happen to them is unforgivable. Those who does not recognize, believe & trust in God’s blessings in Jesus is guilty of eternal sin & eternal damnation

In other words, being unforgivable, condemned, & on eternal sin are of our own doing – not of God. Constant looking only on our sins & others’ faults – not trusting on God’s grace & mercy through the Holy Spirit, makes us a hopeless case & leads us to our demise & cursed life – not eternal life.

Actually behind this stinking-thinking of being unworthy and unclean sinner is the sin of pride – the pride that their own sins are much greater than God’s grace. Or simply put, it is about the pride that their own is much greater than God’s. Jesus is also a victim of this pride, because they have judged him as of unclean spirits – of Beelzebul or Satan, that blinds them to see that Jesus is of God.

And so, whenever we find ourselves stinking-thinking, beware of our Pride lurking in us that make us distrust & reject God’s grace. Pride makes ourselves unforgivable, unclean & condemned.

Related to this is stinking-thinking that God’s salvation is only for the few deserving faithful & the rest are all condemned. We remember here that we are also to pray for Christian Unity. But why so we pray for the unity of all Christians in the world?

Although we are united in faith with our Lord Jesus Christ, but in reality as Christians we are divided & diverse in terms of culture, traditions, practices & doctrines. This is not only then about Protestants, Evangelical, Catholics & other Christians, but more so about our unity as fellow believers & followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. It begs then the question what makes us one united with Christ. In Christ, we come to know & believe that we are God’s children.

By our faith in Jesus, we become part of God’s family. But faith in Christ has diverse manifestations & expressions that might be in contrast & can cause discourses & conflict with one another. What we pray then for is unity not in uniformity but unity in conformity. It is not about sameness or exclusiveness of Christian faith but more on our openness to match our beliefs, actions, attitudes & perceptions with what is common in & in sync with our faith in Jesus Christ.

In our gospel today, Jesus is conscious of the diversity of people wanting to follow Him & vying for His attention. Even his own family & bloodlines are insisting their own agenda & importance on Jesus. However, for Jesus what makes us one & common in Him is not by bloodline, adoption, influences, history and seniority, but by our obedience to the father’s will. He said: “For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother”.

For Jesus then, our unity & commonality with Him is our obedience to God’s will. What makes us one with Jesus, makes us God’s children & common with one another in faith,  is our obedience to our Father,… same way as Jesus himself has always been obedient to the father’s will, regardless of how people believed in Him. Simply put, we cannot be God’s children,  of Jesus’ family (brother, sister, mother, relatives, church) if & when we do not recognize, believe & obey God our father & his will for us.

Beyond our bad thoughts and stinking-thinking of condemning ourselves to sin with pride & of exclusively limiting God’s blessing to the few deserving, we pray that trusting more in God’s grace & plans for us, like Jesus & Mary Our Mother of Perpetual Help we may be one in common & in sync with our obedience to the Father’s will for us now & always.

Lord take away everything that distance us from you. Grant us everything that bring us closer to you. Detach us from ourselves to give our All to you.

So May It Be. Amen.