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64. The angels are in concord with us even now, when
our sins are forgiven. Therefore, in the order of the
Creed, after the reference to "holy Church" is placed
the reference to "forgiveness of sins." For it is by
this that the part of the Church on earth stands; it
is by this that "what was lost and is found
again"(132) is not lost again. Of course, the gift of
baptism is an exception. It is an antidote given us
against original sin, so that what is contracted by
birth is removed by the new birth--though it also
takes away actual sins as well, whether of heart,
word, or deed.
But except for this great remission--the beginning
point of a man's renewal, in which all guilt,
inherited and acquired, is washed away--the rest of
life, from the age of accountability (and no matter
how vigorously we progress in righteousness), is not
without the need for the forgiveness of sins. This is
the case because the sons of God, as long as they
live this mortal life, are in a conflict with death.
And although it is truly said of them, "As many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God,"(133) yet even as they are being led by the
Spirit of God and, as sons of God, advance toward
God, they are also being led by their own spirits so
that, weighed down by the corruptible body and
influenced by certain human feelings, they thus fall
away from themselves and commit sin. But it matters
how much. Although every crime is a sin, not every
sin is a crime. Thus we can say of the life of holy
men even while they live in this mortality, that they
are found without crime. "But if we say that we have
no sin," as the great apostle says, "we deceive even
ourselves, and the truth is not in us."(134)
65. Nevertheless, no matter how great our crimes,
their forgiveness should never be despaired of in
holy Church for those who truly repent, each
according to the measure of his sin. And, in the act
of repentance,(135) where a crime has been committed
of such gravity as also to cut off the sinner from
the body of Christ, we should not consider the
measure of time as much as the measure of sorrow.
For, "a contrite and humbled heart God will not
despise."(136)
Still, since the sorrow of one heart is mostly hid
from another, and does not come to notice through
words and other such signs--even when it is plain to
Him of whom it is said, "My groaning is not hid from
thee"(137) --times of repentance have been rightly
established by those set over the churches, that
satisfaction may also be made in the Church, in which
the sins are forgiven. For, of course, outside her
they are not forgiven. For she alone has received the
pledge of the Holy Spirit,(138) without whom there is
no forgiveness of sins. Those forgiven thus obtain
life everlasting.
66. Now the remission of sins has chiefly to do
with the future judgment. In this life the Scripture
saying holds true: "A heavy yoke is on the sons of
Adam, from the day they come forth from their
mother's womb till the day of their burial in the
mother of us all."(139) Thus we see even infants,
after the washing of regeneration, tortured by divers
evil afflictions. This helps us to understand that
the whole import of the sacraments of salvation has
to do more with the hope of future goods than with
the retaining or attaining of present goods.
Indeed, many sins seem to be ignored and go
unpunished; but their punishment is reserved for the
future. It is not in vain that the day when the Judge
of the living and the dead shall come is rightly
called the Day of Judgment. Just so, on the other
hand, some sins are punished here, and, if they are
forgiven, will certainly bring no harm upon us in the
future age.
Hence, referring to certain temporal punishments,
which are visited upon sinners in this life, the
apostle, speaking to those whose sins are blotted out
and not reserved to the end, says: "For if we judge
ourselves truly we should not be judged by the Lord.
But when we are judged, we are chastised by the Lord,
that we may not be condemned along with this
world."(140) |