The video below humorously illustrates a biblical principle of our hidden faults. Indeed we all have sins and behaviors that are often clear to others but of which we are unaware. Indeed there are even deeper faults of which no one is aware except God himself who sees our innermost heart. Consider some of the following quotes:
By [your ordinances] your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. But who can discern his errors? From my hidden faults acquit me, O Lord. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. (Psalm 19:11-13)
You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. (Psalm 90:8)
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. (Eccl 12:14)
Mind you, I have nothing on my conscience, but I do not stand thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. (1 Cor 4:4).
The sins of some men are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear only later. (1 Tim 5:24)
Call no man happy before he dies, for by how he ends, a man is known. (Sirach 11:28)
Yes, some of our sins are obvious to us and we may rightfully work upon them. But lest we sin through pride, we ought always recall that we have sins and faults that are often hidden from us. Others may see them, or perhaps only God.
At the end of the day we’re all going to need a lot of grace and mercy!
Enjoy this commercial that well illustrates this fact. And enjoy a little humor, it’s been a tough week on the blog!
We do have hiddden fault lines within us. This reflection really resonated with me. About 3 months ago, He showed me a hidden deep deep pool of anger. Msgr. Pope, i was so frightened of this hidden thing, i was babbling like a small child begging him to make it go away. And, He did. How can we be held accountable for things we have no awareness of?
I’m not so sure my faults are hidden after having reached adulthood. It’s more a case of I falsely choose to accept them as having relevant reasons for persisting.
I have really appreciated and been edified by your series of posts on sin and how God judges sin. You are helping me to understand spiritual things I have not seen or thought about before. I wish I could meet you in person, because I am sure it would be a great conversation and time would go by too quickly.
This is an area of theology I am lacking in since my focus has been elsewhere. Some scripture passages that come to mind that are indirectly related in how God deals with sin and the heart of people is in Genesis when Abraham & Sarah went to Egypt (Gen 12) and Abraham being afraid of Pharoah said that Sarah was his sister. Pharoah took Sarah into his house but God plagued Pharoah so that Pharoah would commit an unintentional and unknown sin.
Another passage I personally think about and apply to my theological life is in 2Kings 5:17 – 19 where Elisha heal Naaman, the Aramean, who had leprosy and was eventually cured by The Lord via Elisha. Naaman asked The Lord to be pardoned when he returned home and worshipped in the temple of the god of his land that he would actually be worshipping The Lord instead. I personally apply these passages to myself so that The Lord will both prevent me from committing sin in ignorance and also know I am worshipping The Lord in spirit and truth even if my external worship of Him is in fault or error before His eyes.
Excuse the typo in my post, I meant to say “would NOT” commit sin.
Msgr Pope:
“By [your ordinances] your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. But who can discern his errors? From my hidden faults acquit me, O Lord. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. (Psalm 19:11-13)”
Thank you for this post; a thousand resonations within every human heart. I would write out a prayer in this fashion, recite it at the depth of my soul in silence and die…in the arms of my God!
Gita – Chennai – India
There is a one-liner I never forgot: She’s been married so many times that she has rice marks all over her face. I would like to make a joke up about myself, concerning how many times that I have gone to Confession in the past twenty years, or so.
Joke for Richard. He’s gone to confession enough times in the past twenty years to be stigmatized. Not all jokes are laughable.
Thank you for your wonderful post. It enkindles in us the urge to beseech the Lord to shed his light on us so that it can penetrate deeper into our heart and reveal to us our hidden sins and imperfections which till now remain unknown to us. Now we understand why the saints always considered them sinners and wept for their sins till their death.
Excellent post, Monsignor.
Unfortunately our hidden faults can be magnified on the internet in ways like never before. Before the big social media age, those faults were hidden within a smaller core of people – those with whom we had real contact.
Today, we have virtual contact with numbers that outweigh the pre-web networks. Moreover, what we say and do publicly may be extended almost to a kind of “infinity” because of the traffic we may never know about.
I just wrote a generic post talking about discussing the faults (and really, they are often perceived faults) of people by name. God has not gifted me with brevity (a fault with which I struggle whenever I’m passionate about a topic). Feel free to remove this if you prefer not to have links. http://te-deum.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-catholic-virtual-wars-time-for.html
I really think we need to work on an updated version of the examination of conscience – one that gets people to think about the immorality and unvirtuous things we can say and do online. People need to discuss their online behavior with their confessors.
While we must look inward, the most humbling experience is to listen carefully to those around us who offer some criticism, whether it comes to us gently or stridently. Those things need to be taken into prayer, especially Adoration. That is one way to learn about hidden faults.
Thanks for your post.
I heard (on sensus traditionis) that we should pray to Our Lady of Sorrows to know our hidden faults, because of Luke 2:35 – And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.
It certainly worked for me. I have developed a devotion to her and say her chaplet every Friday.