The sinner insults God

I. I have brought up children and exalted them; but they have despised me. (Is. i. 2).

What does the sinner do when he commits mortal sin? He insults God. The malice of an insult is, St. Thomas says, estimated from the condition of the person who receives the insult and of the person who offers it. It is sinful to offend a peasant; it is more criminal to insult a nobleman; but to treat a monarch with contempt and insolence, is a still greater crime. Who is God? He is Lord of lords, and King of kings (Apoc. xvii. 14). He is a Being of infinite majesty, before whom all the princes of the earth and all the Saints and Angels are less than an atom of sand. As a drop of a bucket... as a little dust (Is. xl. 15). And the Prophet Isaias adds, that compared with the greatness of God, all creatures are as insignificant as if they did not exist. All nations are before him as if they had no being at all (Is. xl. 17). Such is God. And what is man? He is, according to St. Bernard, a heap of worms, the food of worms by which he shall be soon devoured. He is miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (Apoc. iii. 17). Man is a miserable worm that can do nothing: he is so blind that he knows nothing, and so poor and naked that he possesses nothing. And this miserable worm voluntarily insults God! "Vile dust," says the same St. Bernard, "dares to provoke such tremendous majesty." The angelic Doctor, then, had just reason to say that the sin of man contains, as it were infinite malice. And St. Augustine calls sin "an infinite evil." Hence were all men and Angels to offer themselves to death and annihilation, such an offering would not satisfy for a single sin. God punishes sin with the pains of hell; but all Theologians teach that this chastisement is less than sin deserves.

And what punishment can be sufficient for a worm who assails his Lord? God is the Lord of all because He has created all. All things are in thy power... Thou hast made heaven and earth and all things (Esth. xiii, 9). All creatures obey God. The winds and the sea obey him (Matt. viii. 27). Fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy winds fulfil his word (Ps. cxlviii. 8). But when man sins, what does he do? He says to God: Lord, I will not serve Thee. Thou hast broken my yoke; thou hast burst my bonds; thou saidst: I will not serve (Jer. ii. 20). The Lord says to him: Seek not revenge; take not that property which belongs to another; abstain from that unchaste gratification. But man answers: I will have revenge; I will take possession of that property; I will indulge in that forbidden pleasure. Like Pharaoh, when Moses, on the part of God, commanded him to allow the people to go into the desert, the sinner answers: Who is the Lord, that I should hear his voice? I know not the Lord (Exod. v. 2). The sinner says the same: Lord, I know Thee not, I will do what I please.

Behold, O my God, at Thy feet the rash and daring rebel who has had the temerity and the audacity to insult Thee so often to Thy very face, and to turn his back upon Thee. Thou hast said: Cry to me, and I will hear (Jer. xxxiii. 3). Hell is too little for me; this I already know. But, remember, O Lord, that I am more sorry for having offended Thee Who art infinite Goodness, than I would be for the loss of all my property and of my very life. Ah, Lord, pardon me, and do not permit me ever to offend Thee again.

II. In a word, the sinner insults the Lord to His face, and turns his back upon Him. Mortal sin is precisely a turning away from God. Of this the Lord Himself complains. Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord; thou art gone backward (Jer. xv. 6). You have, says God, been ungrateful to me; you have turned your back upon me; you are gone backward. God has declared that He hates sin. Hence He cannot but hate the sinner who commits it. But to God the wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike (Wis. xiv. 9). In committing sin man dares to declare himself the enemy of God, and to contend single-handed with the Lord. He hath, says Job, strengthened himself against the Almighty (Job xv. 25). What would you say if you saw an insect attack an armed soldier? God is the Omnipotent Being Who by a nod has created Heaven and earth out of nothing (Mach. vii. 28). And if He wished, He could by another act of His will, destroy all creatures. The Almighty Lord, who, at a beck, can utterly destroy... the whole world (Ibid. viii. 18). In consenting to sin, the sinner stretches out his arm against the Lord. He hath, says Job, stretched out his hand against God. He hath run against him with his neck raised up, and is armed with a fat neck (Job xv. 25). He raises his neck, that is, he swells with pride, and runs to insult God; he arms himself with a fat neck, that is, with ignorance; for a fat neck is the symbol of ignorance — of that ignorance which makes the sinner say, What harm have I done? What great evil is that sin which I have committed? God is merciful. He pardons sinners. What an insult to God! What temerity! What blindness!

Thou hast waited for me, O my God, that I may repent and forever bless Thy mercy and love Thee. Yes, I repent, I bless Thee, I love Thee and I hope, through the merits of Jesus Christ, that I shall never again be separated from Thy love. Thy love has rescued me from hell; it is by Thy love that I am to be preserved from sin for the future. I thank Thee, my Lord, for the light and the desire Thou givest me to love Thee forever. Ah, take possession of my whole being — of my soul and body — of my powers and senses — of my will and liberty. I am Thine — save me. Thou art my only Good; Thou art alone amiable: mayest Thou also be my only Love. Give me fervour in loving Thee. I have offended Thee grievously. Hence it is not enough for me to love Thee. I wish to love Thee ardently in order to compensate for the injuries I have done Thee. From Thee Who art omnipotent I hope for this love. I also hope for it, O Mary, through thy prayers which are powerful with God.