Sin: The Roadblock to Perfection

Sin is a rebellion against God and a choice of the creature over the creator. … Sin causes the sinner to become more worthless than nothingness … Sin impedes a person from attaining his final end [the union with God]. (OOCC, XII, pp. 469, 438)

St. Vincent Pallotti visualized sin as a rebellion against God. It implied that a person chose a created thing instead of the creator. For him, the consequences of sin on the sinner were manifold. First, sin made the sinner act against his own nature as the image and likeness of God. Hence, sin distorted the image of God in the human person, thereby making the sinner worthless. Thus, because of his sinfulness a person lost his dignity as God’s image. Second, sin besides destroying a person’s own true nature, also became an aberration within the community. Every sinner affected the healthy life of the community and brought into it an element of darkness by his sin. The good spiritual health of a community depended a lot on the spiritual health of each of its members. Third, sin cut a person off from his relationship with God, and thereby prevented him from attaining the goal of union with God. By sinning, a person had decided to say ‘no’ to the invitation from God to participate in his life.  Thus, sin affected the personal, horizontal and vertical dimensions of a person’s life, and in the process alienated him from himself, others and God. When a person was not opened to himself, others and to God, there could be little progress in his spiritual life. Hence, St. Vincent viewed sin as a roadblock to the life of Christian perfection.

Do I consider sin as a roadblock to the life of perfection? Do I acknowledge the manifold consequences of sin in my life? Am I aware of the effects of sin in my relationship with myself, others and God? Do I recognize the danger of the threefold alienations sin brings in my life and its consequences on my spiritual life?

Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins … (I Jn.3: 4 - 6)