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“God is love,” says St. John (1 Jn 4:8), and we Christians are very sure of that. Furthermore, we believe that his love for us is infinite — and therefore, so is his mercy — as the beloved disciple affirms:
In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 Jn 4:10).
That is why, in his Gospel, St. John reiterates:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16).
His mercy is infinite
This infinite act of love for people of all times makes us understand that there’s nothing that God cannot forgive, despite the evil of the sins human beings have committed — something that our intelligence cannot comprehend.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church delves deeper into this sublime truth:
It is precisely in the Passion, when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish it, that sin most clearly manifests its violence and its many forms: unbelief, murderous hatred, shunning and mockery by the leaders and the people, Pilate's cowardice and the cruelty of the soldiers, Judas' betrayal - so bitter to Jesus, Peter's denial and the disciples' flight. However, at the very hour of darkness, the hour of the prince of this world, the sacrifice of Christ secretly becomes the source from which the forgiveness of our sins will pour forth inexhaustibly. (CCC 1851).
How, then, could we abuse his infinite and inexhaustible mercy, if he has forgiven everything with his precious blood?
The sin of presumption
So far, we’ve seen what God has done for humanity: he has sacrificed everything so that no one need be condemned. However, salvation requires our cooperation.
It’s not a question of God “charging” us, since salvation is a gift. But we must understand this very well: the Lord cannot force us to be saved! Let us remember the saying attributed to St. Augustine: “God who created you without you, cannot save you without you.”
In other words, in order to be saved we have to want it. We have to struggle daily to turn away from sin and do God's will, in a conscious and voluntary way. Only in this way can we come to know the truth and live accordingly. As St. Paul says, God “desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim 2:4)
On the contrary, those who claim that Christ will save them without any effort on their part are guilty of presumption. The Catechism explains it this way:
There are two kinds of presumption. Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or he presumes upon God's almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit). (CCC 2092).
God loves us and always forgives us, but he wants us to be faithful to him in order to give us the reward of eternal life with him. Let us not abuse his mercy and let us do our part to attain salvation.
