In our Families of Faith program, our parents just started watching the series Forgiven: The Transforming Power of Confession, which explores the grace and healing offered in the sacrament of Reconciliation. (You can see the series on FORMED.org or during our upcoming small group series.) After watching the first episode, I found myself thinking about how we often don't know how to deal with the guilt that we experience over our past sins. It seems to me that we can end up telling ourselves one of two things, both of which are, in a certain sense, contrary to the Gospel:

1. “I'm good enough.”
2. “I'm not good enough.”

One of these statements must be true, right? How would it be possible for both of these statements to be lies? There's a grain of truth in both statements, but each in its own way can keep us from fully surrendering to God's mercy.

“I'm good enough”

As the first episode of Forgiven details, we often have a tendency to try to dismiss or surpress any feelings of guilt by convincing ourselves that we're already good enough. Other people do far worse things, right? It's not that big of a deal, is it? This kind of self-justifying rationalization can lead us to be complacent with our behaviors and can deafen us to some of the most fundamental invitations of Jesus in the Gospels:

“This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

“So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Jesus warned about this kind of proud complacency in his parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector: Two men went up to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, who seemed to be fulfilling all of the commands of the Jewish law, and the other was a tax collector, who was probably guilty of overcharging his Jewish brothers and sisters. The Pharisee spent his time in prayer thanking God that he was better than others, including the tax collector. He seemed to think he was already good enough. The tax collector instead prayed, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Jesus warns, “I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).

The attitude that Jesus calls us to in the Gospel doesn't say, “I'm good enough,” but “be merciful to me a sinner.” Catholic Tradition thus warns against the sin of presumption:

Catechism of the Catholic Church 2092: There are two kinds of presumption. Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or he presumes upon God's almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit).

“I'm not good enough”

Does that mean that the refrain of the Gospel instead should be “I'm not good enough”? On the one hand, it's true that we are not, on our own, as good as we were created to be or good enough for eternal life. The statement, “I'm not good enough,” is certainly more consistent with our need for God's mercy.

Yet, the message of the Gospel is not simply that we are miserable creatures. To simply repeat to ourselves “I'm not good enough” is to leave ourselves in a paralyzed despair, refusing to turn to God because we do not trust that he will forgive and accept us. God does not want us to define ourselves by our sins, to make our sins our unchangeable identity, as if we are forever branded by the bad decisions we've made.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church warns:

CCC 2091 By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God, for help in attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is contrary to God's goodness, to his justice - for the Lord is faithful to his promises - and to his mercy.

The Truth of the Gospel

The message of the Gospel is instead that, in spite of all of our many weaknesses and sins, God loves us so intensely that he become one of us, invited us to enter into his Kingdom, then died and rose again so that we could die to our sins and begin a new life in that Kingdom. Jesus fills us with his Spirit, his own life, so that we can do with HIM what we would never be able to do on our own.

The truth of the Gospel is neither “I am good enough,” nor “I am not good enough.” The Gospel instead reveals simultaneously both our own weakness and our capacity for greatness with God's grace. We must hold in tension both the stark words of Jesus - “without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5) - and the motivating words of St. Paul - “I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me” (Philippians 4:13). On our own, we fall far short of what we should be, but with his divine help, we can become great saints. As the Lord reassured St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”