God is infinite.
God is perfectly merciful but God is also perfectly just.
We sin against God and against our selves and our neighbor.
We have an account to pay.
If a kid sins against his little brother in a sandbox, he might have this for an “account”.
“Johnny! I’m giving you a 5 minute time out for throwing sand on your little brother.” “Awww Mom!”
If a high school kid sins against a fellow student he might have THIS account to pay.
“Joey. This is the second time fighting this school year. You will have a week of after-school detention!” “OK and sorry Mr. Smith. It won’t happen again.”
If you sin against a police officer THIS might be the result.
“You spit on officer Henderson. That is a form of assault and you are going to get 10 days in the county jail and a fine!”
As the person sinned against increases, so does the account owed.
Again . . .
We sin against God.
Remember. God is infinite.
We sin against ourselves too when we sin. We are finite.
We do not sin against a mere “PART” of God.
So with God being infinite, our sin “just keeps on giving”.
There is an eternal aspect to this sin that we could never pay an account for.
Jesus paid the eternal aspects (there is MORE than what I said above, but this will do for now). We finite beings, could never pay for a sin against the INFINITE.
There is also a temporal aspect or finite dimension to sin.
WITH GRACE, we CAN pay an account in this sphere.
God is perfectly just so that account must be perfectly paid.
.
MATTHEW 12:36 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment men will render account for every careless word they utter; . . .
.
Assuming we die in a state of friendship with God, what Catholic Christianity calls “a state of grace”, we go to Heaven.
But if we have unatoned, or unaccounted sin* that we have yet to pay an account for, we NEED to proverbially “shower-up” before we are fit to enter Heaven.
This grace and gift of “showering up” our souls before Heaven is often called “Purgatory”.
That is “where” your remaining unaccounted-for sin, gets that temporal account paid.
We can pay that account here and now (or in the next life. It is easier to do it now).
How?
- With prayer (especially the Mass).
- Fasting
- Almsgiving
There are
other ways too.
Here James talks about atoning for sin by
re-evangelizing. . . .
JAMES 5:19-20 19 My brethren, if any one among you wanders from the truth and some one brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Hope this helps.
God bless.
Cathoholic
.
*If we are in FRIENDSHIP with God, but still have sin, this type of sin did not KILL the life of grace (that’s called, “venial sin”).
An example might be arguing with a friend.
There are ways to KILL the life of grace within you (mortal sin).
An example might be killing a pre-born baby.
If someone kills the life of grace, God may perhaps grant the sinner a repentance. If that sinner accepts that repentance, there are channels to re-establish that life of grace again now.
