A sermon on Luke 4:14-21

Fr. Mike Paraniuk
By Fr. Mike Paraniuk
St. Mary Catholic Church
St. Benignus Catholic Church
St. Mary Queen of Heaven
and Holy Trinity Catholic Church
I have counseled many people who are oppressed. Oppression takes many forms. The elderly and sick who are forgot. The lonely who can't find love. The addict struggling to overcome their attraction to the very thing oppressing them. The family where two jobs barely covers the food bill.
There is one oppression I have encountered the most in my 44 years of ministry. It reaches down to the very heart of one's soul, depriving peace to the one who suffers it. It is the prison of guilt. Collins Dictionary defines it as "an unhappy feeling that you have because you have done something wrong or think that you have done something wrong."
Catholics are notorious about suffering excessive guilt. I talked with an elderly Catholic woman with Alzheimer's who forgot her kids' names but could remember sins she committed over 50 years ago. She held onto the guilt all those years.
I think the devil uses guilt to make you doubt God's Love. Satan messes with your mind to make you think "God can't love me because I have done some pretty bad things."
I have experienced moments when a past sin pops into my thoughts for no apparent reason, especially as I draw nearer to my judgment. I believe God has already forgiven my sin. There is no reason for me to dwell on it. Yet, the devil keeps trying to make me doubt God's Mercy.
I am reminded of what God said about the devil in 1 Peter 5:8, "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour."
When you ask God to forgive your sin, there is no reason to feel guilty about it anymore. You name the sin. You claim the Blood of Jesus to wash you clean. Then you dump the sin out of your life.
However, I have met many who have this uneasy feeling that God did not forgive their sin. They suffer needless oppression. Jesus came to our world to "let the oppressed go free." (Luke 4:18.)
I have suffered the oppression of guilt. But I also know the joy that freedom from guilt brings. Many years ago, I was working at the Care Unit Hospital with those imprisoned by drug addiction. I witnessed lives made whole when recovery freed them through God's grace and the loving support of other addicts. After a long day of counseling, I was traveling home down Queen City Boulevard. The rain poured down so hard I could barely see the road.
My voice beeper went off. The Care Unit was trying to reach me. I saw a phone booth on the left side of the road (cell phones were not used yet). I veered left to the booth. I thought I was driving on the left lane of this one-way street, but I was really in the middle lane. I could not see there was another car right beside me in the left lane where I thought I was.
I drove right into that car, knocking it into a utility pole. I quickly parked my car at the curb just ahead. I ran out of my car to check on the passenger. It was a young woman. She was slouched lifeless over the steering wheel. For a moment, I thought I killed her. I knocked frantically on her window. The relief I felt when she came to.
She rolled down her window, saw me dressed in my clerical shirt and remarked, "Oh, God sent me a priest. How nice."
I said, "I am the priest who hit you."
The police came. They made me sit in the back seat of the cruiser. People were gawking at me through the window. I heard one person tell the police, "Officer, I saw the whole thing. That priest knocked her into the pole." I saw her parents arrive on the scene. They gave me a dirty look. Even though it was an accident, I felt like the most despicable person on earth.
Thank God neither of us were going fast due to the rain. I had no injuries at all which made me feel even more guilty. A punishment of a few bumps or bruises would make me feel better.
I received a phone call from my young victim several days later. She told me she suffered no serious injuries. I was relieved to hear this but the guilt in my heart lingered. Then I received a second phone call...from her parents. They wanted to talk with me at their home.
I knocked on their door expecting a good tongue lashing. A feeling of doom came over me.
The father politely invited me in, but I was still afraid of what I was walking into. He requested I sit at their dining room table.
The father said, "please join us for dinner."
I then saw his wife and the daughter, my victim, bring out from the kitchen a big bowl of stuffed cabbage rolls.
The daughter said, "I saw your last name and figured you must be Polish. Mom and I made these golabkis for you. It's our way of saying we have no hard feelings against you. It was an accident. Just thank God we are OK."
Their forgiveness banished all my guilt. Freedom came to me in a bowl of Polish cabbage rolls.
That's what Jesus wants for you. Jesus doesn't want you wallowing in guilt. When you think about it, to doubt His mercy must hurt His feelings. He suffered so much and gave His life to give you freedom from punishment, fear and guilt. When you doubt this, you are telling God, "I'm not sure you really did that." That's what the devil wants to hear, but never what a Christian should ever say or believe.
I want this Bible verse etched on my gravestone. It is from Matthew 9:13: "Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
God's forgiveness is the key that unlocks the chains of death and opens the doors of eternal joy.