He
points out that sin is not some objectivity “out there” that stains and sullies
me, and that I must remove. Rather, sin is me turning back on myself and being
immersed in myself: being “self-referential.” I have to turn away from myself –
which is precisely the act of faith.
“(F)or
me, sin is not a stain I need to clean. What I must do is ask for forgiveness
and reconcile myself to it, not go to the dry cleaner around the corner. I need
to go and find Jesus, who gave His life for me. This is an idea that is quite
different from sin. In other words: sin properly assumed is the privileged
place of personally finding Jesus Christ our Savior, of rediscovering the deep
meaning that He has for me. In short, it is the possibility to live the wonder
of having been saved.”
Bergoglio is asked
about “a growing indifference toward religion on the one hand, and a stron
search for religion on the other, not
always through orthodox ways:
“Exactly.
There is a denial of God due to secularization, the selfish egoism of humanity.
And there are a thousand ways to search for God that require one to be careful
not to fall into a consumer experience or, at its extreme, a kind of ‘immanent
transcendence,’ that still does not result in true piety. What happens is that
it is more difficult to enter into personal contact with God, a God that waits
for me and loves. The pantheism in the air, like a spray, does not last. At the
end of this kind of search we need some kind of idol, and we end up adoring a
tree or seeing God on a tree.”[1]
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