Cannot all the waters of the seven seas wash this blood clean from my hand? — Lady Macbeth

Friends: It used to be that people escaped admitting their own guilt by blaming it on capitalism, communism, lack of soft drink parlors, Grade B milk, and naughty ductless glands. Now a new psychology arises to blame the unconsciousness, or poor old Oedipus or wrinkled Electra. It is now claimed that the fault is in that part of ourselves which is not responsible, namely unconsciousness.

Those escapists who deny personal guilt make all people ‘nice people,’ in the sense that they are without sin or guilt. By one magic stroke, the escapists rid the world of ‘nasty people,’ here understood as sinners.

The ‘nice people,’ according to the escapists, may be diseased, but they are not ‘sinners.’ We are going to maintain the contrary thesis that the increase of psychoses and neuroses and mental disorders is due to the fact that too many people think they are ‘nice’ or sinless. In addition, there would be much more hope for the ‘nice people’ if they began to recognize they were not so nice at all, maybe even nasty; by nasty, we mean responsible for their guilt.

Never deny personal guilt; it has five serious effects in the soul:

1. It destroys character by eliminating responsibility and therefore freedom.
2. It makes forgiveness impossible by denying there is a sin to be forgiven.
3. Denial of personal guilt turns people into scandal-mongers, gossips, tale-bearers and violent revolutionists, because it makes them project their own guilt to others to escape their uneasy consciences.
4. Denial of personal guilt leads to greater sin by making the conscience less reproachful and virtue more distasteful.
5. Finally, denial of personal guilt leads to despair, which develops into a positive fanaticism against religion and morality, which hatred is a sure sign of guilt.

In brief, the principal reason for the unhappiness of the modern soul is his denial of personal guilt, thereby excluding not only forgiveness, but also the peace that comes from a reconciliation with the God of Love.

The worst thing in the world is not sin, but the denial of sin; this is the unforgivable sin. If the blind deny they are blind, how shall they ever see?

Because sin is the breaking of a relationship with divine Love, it follows that it cannot be treated exclusively by psychology. It is not enough just to analyze the sin in order to cure it. Simply because the dentist learns that the decay in the tooth is due to eating candy, it does not follow that the tooth immediately becomes healthy. Digging about an oak tree to discover the rotten acorn from which it originally came, is not explaining the tree itself. Sin can be healed only by the restoration of friendship with God.

Nor is it true that a sense of sin induces a guilt-complex and, therefore, morbidity. Because a child goes to school, does he develop an ignorance complex? Because the sick go to a doctor, do they have a sickness complex? The student concentrates, not upon his own ignorance, but upon the wisdom of the teacher; the sick concentrate, not upon their illness, but upon the curative powers of the doctor; and, the sinner concentrates, not on his own guilt, but upon the redemptive powers of the Divine Physician.

There is no evidence whatsoever to sustain the position that a consciousness of a sense of sin has a tendency to make a person morbid. To call a soul an escapist when it asks God for forgiveness is like calling a man whose house is on fire, an escapist, because he sends for the fire department.

The greatest refinement of pride, the most contemptible form of escapism, is to refrain from examining oneself, lest sin be discovered within.

There is not a person who denies personal guilt who is a happy person, but there is not a person who has admitted it and been forgiven and lives in the love of God who is an unhappy person.

A sense of moral unworthiness has never saddened a soul, but souls are sad and frustrated because of their own self-love. There is no hope for you if you think you are a nice person; but there is a world of hope for you if you know you are ‘nasty.’ Be not deceived by those sexologists and escapists who refuse to face the fact of personal guilt. Make a holy hour a day by prayer, meditation, and attendance at Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Be brave enough to confront yourself with yourself at all times, having trust in God.

The greater the consciousness of your own misery, the greater will be your confidence in the goodness and mercy of God. For how could God show the attribute of mercy unless there was misery? God would have been infinite Goodness if He never made the world, but unless ‘nasty’ persons like me existed, He never could have shown His sweet mercy.

God love you. [4]

(Read Part One of ‘Denying our Sins’ here)

NOTES:

Source: excerpt from the address entitled “Morbidity and the Denial of Guilt,” delivered by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, delivered February 1, 1948, and produced by the National Council of Catholic Men in cooperation with the National Broadcasting Company [NBC]. © Barbara Kralis, Renew America.com

[1]  Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, ‘Reconciliatio et Poenitentia,’ n.16.

[2]  In English, “To restore all things in Christ.”

[3]  Pope John Paul II, ‘Homily at Opening of the Holy Year of Redemption,’ 3/25/83.

[4]  Source: excerpt from the address entitled “Morbidity and the Denial of Guilt,” delivered by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, delivered February 1, 1948, and produced by the National Council of Catholic Men in cooperation with the National Broadcasting Company [NBC].

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