24. March 2026

Fixing the Relationship

2/05/2026

I had an interesting conversation the other night with my son.  He expressed sometimes he thinks the Catholics have it right.  And we went on to discuss that sometimes it would feel better if I could “do something” to show God I am sorry and then He would forgive me.  June Tangney, Stuewig, J., & Mashek, D. (2007) in their review of research shows that humans feel guilty and that guilt is a motivator to reparative actions (apologies, restitution, behavior change) to preserve relationships.

I think we as human feel the relationship is broken between us and God and we want to fix it.  This is where understanding God comes in.  We can’t fix it, it is a selfish motive a pride thing to be like “I will do this penance and God will forgive me.”  I think God knew that if we could do that it would lead to very prideful and strange behaviors.

God repaired the relationship when Jesus died for all of our sins.  All we have to do is believe He is the son of God and that He died for our sins.  And there is this place in me that wants to serve the penance. 

Jesus was on the cross and told the thief “Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43. There was no penance, no fixing, no baptism, no testimony before the church, no church membership.  There was only belief.  The thief had told Jesus “But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

In John 16:21 Jesus says: “^A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born, she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.”  Pastor Tim Keller explains it like this.  “A child is born int the world through the efforts and labor of another.  And in the book of John, usually when Jesus Christ talks about the hour, he means the hour of death.  Here’s what I think Jesus is saying. Just as you were not given physical birth through your effort and your labor, but the labor and effort and the risk of another, so you are not able to get spiritual birth except through my labor and my suffering and my agony.  Not at the risk of my life, but at the cost of my life. Just as a woman forgets the pain, so Jesus is saying, I look at you and despite all the infinite pain and suffering I went through, you’re worth it.  I died for your sins.  I took the penalty for your sins, but it’s worth it.”

God has paid the price, God has forgiven, God paid the penance, God is already done. 

All you have to do is believe in the gift that was already given and what does that bring?  It means peace, joy, hope, and love.