Recently I had a conversation with a person who came to me to ask for a prayer for her son who was diagnosed with a cancer. She basically blamed herself, namely, that because of her past sinful way of living, God is now punishing her with this illness of her son. Perhaps you too at times, when things seem to go wrong in your life, start thinking that this is God’s ‘repayment’ for your sins. That is totally a wrong way of thinking because we don’t believe in a God that is revengeful, angry, and punishes us and our relatives. Instead, we have a caring, loving, and forgiving God. And no matter what terrible sin you have committed, God will not punish you for it. Yes, one day, He will judge us all, but He doesn’t send any tragedies our way. He loves us and patiently waits for our return to Him, asking for forgiveness. We read in the Gospel for today: “As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither he nor his parents sinned.’” Jesus is being very clear -- the blindness of that man wasn’t a result of anyone’s sin. God doesn’t punish us for sins that way.
