Sin, Forgiveness, and the Eucharist

I want to tell you about a really amazing conversation I had with a woman on an airplane just a few years ago.

I was flying down to Florida, and she was there.

She was going there too.

Uh, I think we're both going there on our work assignments.

And, uh, normally it's hard to get into a conversation with people on the airplane these days.

They, they have their earphones on or they have their...

You know, they're watching a movie on their smartphone or their smart tablet and... or they're watching it on the airplane screen, or they're working hard on their computer, their laptop.

So it's a little hard sometimes to get into a conversation.

Like, like, it used to be easier.

But this time, a woman came, and we were sitting next to each other, and she looked like a very put-together, uh, businesswoman, you know, well-dressed, you know, kind of focused, you know, and, uh, confident appearing.

And, uh, she didn't, though, have her earphones on, and she didn't have her phone out.

And so I thought, "Well, this is at least an opportunity at least to say hello." So I said, "Hi, how are you doing?" She said, "Fine." Um, uh, you know, and then she asked me, you know, "Where are you going?" We're both going to the same place.

Obviously, we're on the same airplane.

And, uh, she asked me what I do.

And so I said, "Well," at that time I was teaching at the Catholic seminary in Detroit and working with a Catholic nonprofit organization called Renewal Ministries.

And, um, she said, "Oh, uh, you know, I, I was raised a Catholic." I, I said, "Oh, tell me about it." She said, "Well, you know, I went to sixteen years of Catholic education.

I went to, uh, grade school, high school, and then a Catholic university in Detroit." And I said, "Oh, are you, are you still a practicing Catholic?" She said, "Oh, no, no." You know, she said, "I, I could believe the social teaching emphasis that the nuns told us in high school, but everything else just didn't seem like it made sense to me." She said, "Particularly, I just had real trouble with the prayers of the Mass.

I...

You know, they're, they're so demeaning." I said, "Oh, what, what, what, what are you talking about?" And she said, "Well, there's that prayer where it says, 'Lord, I am not worthy that you come into my roof,' and that's so demeaning.

What does it mean we're not worthy? Of course, we're worthy." I said, "Well, that's my favorite prayer.

That's my favorite prayer of the Mass." And, uh, she said, "Well, how could that be?" I said, "Well, I'll, I'll tell you." I said, "When you think about who God is and when you think about with the Eucharist that you're coming into intimate contact with the holy body and blood of the Lord and realizing who the Lord is, that He's so, He's so transcendently good, He's so infinitely loving, He's so amazingly powerful and wise.

When I think about who I'm coming in contact with, I feel like I'm, I'm not worthy.

I mean, [chuckles] you know, like, you know, it makes me think about all the things in my own life that aren't those things, that aren't very good or very beautiful or very loving or very kind.

And I just feel like, 'Lord, I'm, I'm not worthy to, to be here with you.

I'm not worthy to be in such an intimate relationship with you.' So, Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only say the word and my soul will be healed.