Pints With Aquinas - Does God Punish Us For Our Sin? | Mthr. Natalia

Episode Date: March 4, 2024

Often people talk about punishment from God. In reality though the consequences of sin are what naturally happens when we are not under God's protection. Mother explains this reality. 🟣 Join Us on Locals (before we get banned on YT): https://mattfradd.locals.com/ 🎧 Mother's Podcast: https://whatgodisnot.com/ 🖥️ Website: https://pintswithaquinas.com/ 🟢 Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/pintswithaquinas 👕 Merch: https://shop.pintswithaquinas.com 🚫 FREE 21 Day Detox From Porn Course: https://www.strive21.com/fradd 🔵 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattfradd 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattfradd We get a small kick back from affiliate links

Glory to Jesus Christ. I'm Mother Natalia, a Byzantine Catholic nun from Christ the Bridegroom Monastery, and this is Pines with Aquinas. So I wouldn't call myself a runner, mostly because I think that would be pretty offensive to people who are actually runners, but I do often go on runs. I also often have people stop and offer me rides, which I think people see me running, and I must look so miserable that they think she can't possibly be doing this on purpose, so they offer me rides, which is why I'm probably not a real runner. So anyways, several years ago I was on a run and I was dehydrated because I'm perpetually

dehydrated and I got a cramp in my side. And at first I'm so frustrated by this cramp because I just want to plow through and finish my run and I probably didn't bring my hydration pack with me. And yeah, I'm just really frustrated until I realized the cramp is not a punishment for not drinking water. The cramp is not a punishment for not drinking water. It's a reminder. It's showing me that something in my body is not working the way that it's supposed to work. And I realized this is a really good analogy for the consequences of our sin. Because when we sin, the consequences that we experience from that are because we

are not acting as we're meant to act. Just as my body was not experiencing the proper hydration, when we sin, something is not in accord with the way that we're meant to be. You've heard me quote Evagrius already probably in other videos because Evagrius is just amazing, but here's another Evagrius quote. However many be the virtues which we put into practice, we put them into practice in accordance with nature. Saint John of Damascus says, where we abide in nature, there we are in virtue. And then finally St. Maximus the confessor,

as he's talking on the fall of man says, rightly is he said to fall, because he does not act according to his cause and origin, according to which, in which, and through which, He came into being." In other words, what all of the Fathers are saying here is that we are meant to be virtuous. Not just like we're called to strive for virtue because it's this thing that we need to attain to

that we haven't been granted, but rather we were created for virtue. And by the fall, we're working to get back to that. We're working to increase our likeness, which was damaged in the fall. Which is why, I can't remember if I've said this on one of these videos before, but it's why I get so frustrated when we say, myself included, when we say that when we sin, we're just acting human.

Because Christ is fully human, and He did not sin. So to say that sin is human is just not accurate. Sin is subhuman. Sin is acting as less than our nature. So back to the cramping. The cramping in my side was telling me that something was wrong that needed addressed. It was telling me that there was an imbalance,

a lack of health. And this is what happens when we experience consequences from sin. The consequences of our sin are helpful because they're indicating to us that there's something that needs recalibrated. There's this quote by St. Irenaeus that I wanna share. By the way, side note, this book is amazing.

Therapy of Spiritual Illnesses by Dr. Jean-Claude Larcher. It's a series and I think it's probably very expensive. Someone donated it to our monastery. Thank you. But it's just incredible. And it's cover to cover. It's just packed and it's cover to cover. It's just packed with the fathers. So here's this quote by St. Irenaeus.

But on as many as according to their own choice depart from God, he inflicts that separation from himself which they have chosen of their own accord. But separation from God is death, and separation from light is darkness, and separation from God consists in the loss of all the benefits he has in store. Those therefore who cast away by apostasy these aforementioned things, being in fact destitute of all good, do experience every kind of punishment.

God, however, does not punish them immediately of himself, but that punishment falls upon them because they are destitute of all that is good. In other words, our sin deprives us of good by the very nature of sin. And we feel that deprivation of good as punishment. But that deprivation of good indicates to us that we're lacking something.

We want the good, right? And if there weren't negative consequences, we wouldn't change. This is the beauty of the negative consequences of our sin, right? And whether that be negative consequences of broken relationship, or the negative consequence of the guilt that we feel after sin, whatever it is, these things are meant to inspire us to bring us back to the Lord, to bring us back into relationship with Him. I want to say again what I've already said before and what I'll say many more times, that the Lord is always calling us back into relationship with Him. He doesn't want us sitting in a corner, despairing of how we've messed up, because that's not true humility.

True humility is to admit our sinfulness and to come back to Jesus, because He wants to take us back. We had a homily last year, I think. A priest was here celebrating Divine Liturgy for us, and the gospel was the story of the prodigal son. And he kind of proposed this thought that had never occurred to me before, and he says, what if in the story of the prodigal son, what if when this son had gone off with his father's inheritance, instead of squandering it, he had actually become really successful. What if he had invested the money well and became this very successful man who had a lot of money, had everything that his heart desired in a worldly sense? What do you think would have happened?

And the answer, of course, was he probably wouldn't have felt much contrition for what he'd done. He wouldn't have felt much contrition for basically saying to his father, I wish you were dead. Can you just give me my inheritance now? And so we can see how everything that the prodigal son experienced, the depravity which he had gotten into, the misery in which he was living, were a tool to bring him back to his father. And this is the gift of the negative consequences of our sin. And I want to be clear here because it can seem like, well, okay, there are lots of people who are steeped in this life of sin and are actually very successful. And so, they're not having those negative consequences, right?

But they are. They might be desensitized to them. But if they're honest with themselves, they're also experiencing those negative consequences, because they are deprived of the good things that come with relationship with God. And I know this from my own life, right? I was away from the church for a few years, towards the end of high school and the beginning of college, and you can watch my story on other videos, and we don't need to go through all that now. But the point is, I was in such deep misery, living apart from God. And I was trying all of the things that the world said would make me happy. And my misery, eventually, is what pushed me to come back to the church.

Because I was like, well, I've tried everything else, and so I guess maybe this last thing will work out. Which that's the humility of the Lord. That He's willing to receive us as a last choice. He knows that we've gone off and tried all of these other things, and we're only coming to Him out of a desperation because they didn't work out. And He's willing to accept us even then. And not just willing, He rejoices over it. There's more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner, right?

So we have these illnesses, these spiritual illnesses that come about from our sin. But the beauty is the church gives us medicine for these illnesses. Primarily the church gives us the mysteries, the sacraments. The sacrament, of course, of reconciliation, of confession, of penance. The sacrament of the Eucharist. All of the sacraments are meant to heal these illnesses, these self-inflicted wounds,

as the Fathers talk about them, that are caused by our sin. So I would encourage you this day to look at those negative consequences in your life, the places of pain, the places of separation, the places that you're feeling very acutely, the lack of benefits of relationship with God, and be open to the invitation to come back into relationship with Him in those places, to be open to healing. In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of this day. Thank you for the gift of technology,

the gift that it is when we use it prudently. I thank you also for the gift of the negative consequences of our sin. The gift of being able to experience and feel separation from you so that we can know what our hearts are aching for, so that we can know who our hearts are aching for, that they are aching for you. I ask that you grant myself and all who are listening to this, a deeper desire for relationship with you and your son and your spirit.

Help us to open the places of pain to your son as our divine physician. Help us to grow closer to you, not just for your constellations, but for you. I ask all of this through the prayers of St. Nathaniel, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Irenaeus, St. Maximus the Confessor, through the prayers of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Through the prayers of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, St. John Paul II, and the Most Holy Theotokos, and through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.

In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.