Last Sunday, we talked about hope — and we said that supernatural hope is more than just a vague sort of “wishing” that God will ultimately win. It’s actually a guarantee. Hope in the Lord is a firm anchor of the soul! BUT… we also pointed out that we know the story isn’t over yet. That there’s something yet to be seen — something still to be hoped for… something we are looking forward to finally receiving!

HopelessNESS is whenever we believe we actually possess, actually already see… the final outcome… the END of the story.

And as I alluded to last Sunday, there are 2 basic forms of hopelessness. We already talked about the most obvious one — hopelessness in the form of despair, which is when we assume that we’ve already lost definitively. When we think we already see defeat, and we give in to discouragement.

But there’s another more subtle form of hopelessness — and it’s something we might not very easily notice! It may even seem to us at first as something kinda good… as CONFIDENCE…it may LOOK very much like the assurance of hope! But it’s actually just another form of hopelessness. 

I’m talking about when we assume that we’ve already WON definitively… that we already are possessing right now… already plainly seeing RIGHT NOW… our final victory!

We call this type of hopelessness… presumption.

We fall into the sin of presumption when we think that we have ALREADY received the final fulfillment that we are looking forward to. As if we’re already completely and totally definitively SAVED — and that we are beyond the possibility of ever losing our salvation.

We might call to mind here the opinion of some of our non-Catholic Christian brothers and sisters who claim that once you accept Jesus… then you are saved, and you can never NOT be saved. …Once-saved-always-saved as they say.

But I want to be clear: This is not consistent with the full message of Sacred Scripture. And while it may sound very very confident… very very hopeful… it’s actually a subtle form of hopelessness. 

Why?

Because why do you need hope if you’re already definitively saved? The fight is over. The journey of faith is effectively finished. YOU’RE IN… no matter what! Case-closed!

To all this, the Council of Trent responds and teaches very clearly, basing itself firmly in Scripture — 

“Although [we] all must place the firmest hope in God’s help, no one must promise himself anything with absolute certainty. For God does, of course, perfect the good work He has begun by causing the will and the accomplishment if only they do not withdraw themselves from His grace. Yet those who believe themselves to stand should take care lest they fall and should work out their salvation in fear and trembling.”

This passage from the Council of Trent connects well with our Gospel passage this Sunday — where we hear the story of the healing of the man born blind.

Jesus spits on the ground and makes some clay — a beautiful reference to the way God made the first man out of clay in the Garden of Eden so long ago — and then He smears the clay onto the man’s eyes and says: “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” which means “Sent.”

The man humbly obeys, and comes back healed! He can see!!!! This shocks everyone, including the Pharisees, who immediately begin to investigate this miraculous healing… because, as we heard… Jesus performed it on the Sabbath!

The investigation goes back and forth for quite some time — until at the very end of today’s passage, Jesus says:

“I came into this world for judgment,
so that those who do not see might see,
and those who do see might become blind.”

Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him:

“Surely we are not also blind, are we?”

Jesus replied:

“If you were blind, you would have no sin;  but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.”

There’s the presumption!!!! The Pharisees think they already see perfectly! They already have all the answers! They are in total and sure possession of everything! They think they are standing firm ALREADY! And here comes Jesus, making HIMSELF the foundation of all hope! “I am the light of the world,” Jesus says… He’s setting Himself up as the HOPE for all the world!!!

And this makes no sense to the Pharisees! They are not blind! They already see! They already have enough light! What more is there to have… to see… to know?

And so their sin remains… because they say: “We already see.”

…“Whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.”

Samuel, in our first reading today, shows us another much better way — a more humble way of seeing. He’s already been told directly that God has chosen His king from among the sons of Jesse in Bethlehem. As he enters Jesse’s home, he looks at all of the young men before him. At first, Samuel thinks he can see what God is doing. He thinks he understands perfectly enough. He takes one look at Eliab — who is tall, strong, handsome, VERY kingly already — and Samuel thinks to himself: “Surely the LORD’s anointed is here before me!”

But the LORD cautions him: “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.”

Eventually, Jesse calls for his youngest son — the little boy David who was off tending the sheep. As soon as he is brought in, the LORD says: “There! Anoint him! For this is the one!” And from that day, the spirit of the LORD rushed upon David, we read.

Samuel learned in that moment — to see as God sees. To not presume upon external appearances! He learned to admit to himself: I need help to see as God sees. I’m actually blind until the Lord opens my eyes.

We struggle with this. So often, we presume and insist that we already see perfectly fine! That we are already standing secure!

This happens a lot when the topic of Confession comes up.

We might try to reassure ourselves, saying: “Ehhh, God is all-merciful right? He loves me, doesn’t He? So I don’t really need to go to confession! I can pray to God directly all on my own and receive forgiveness! Why do I need to go tell the priest my sins?”

But this is very very presumptuous! Not to mention it’s also in direct disobedience to one of the five precepts of the Church, which states clearly that we ought to confess our sins sacramentally once a year at BARE MINIMUM. I personally go MUCH more frequently than that, because confession is SO GOOD. But the Church does tell us that we MUST go and receive this GREAT GIFT of God’s mercy at least once a year… To avoid it or convince ourselves we don’t need it would be to say with the Pharisees:

“Surely we are not blind, are we?”

“If you were blind, you would have no sin;  but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.”

But there’s another side of presumption that also involves the Sacrament of Reconciliation that I do want to address. And that’s when we manipulate the Lord’s mercy to give ourselves permission to sin. This happens when we are tempted — when we want to do something that we know we ought not do — and that sneaky little thought in the back of our mind says: “Just go ahead and do it! After all, confessions are scheduled tomorrow at 8:30am! And if you sleep in, you can always just go to St Jude down the road at 11:30! It’ll be fine! GIVE IN TO SIN TODAY…and be forgiven TOMORROW… God is all merciful, right? He won’t mind!!!”

Be very very careful!!!! This is the voice of presumption!!!!

Using the sacrament of reconciliation in this way would be sort of like having a beautiful brand new Ferrari, and then intentionally smashing it into a guardrail because… why not?…. There’s a body shop right down the road and you can just go get it fixed up tomorrow!!! Good as new!

No!!!! Nobody would ever do that. So why do that with your soul? Your soul is far more valuable  — YOU are so infinitely precious! There are CONSEQUENCES to our deliberate sins…We are inflicting WOUNDS on ourselves and on others when we presume upon God’s mercy in that way! Don’t give in to the lie that you can sin today and be forgiven tomorrow!

True, supernatural hope, on the other hand… is altogether different.

True Hope says: 

“I have sinned against the Lord… I am weak… but I still hope in His infinite goodness… His perfect kindness. And so I will go to confession… I will be HONEST about my failures… in the firm and certain hope that He WILL forgive me, that my Father WANTS to heal me and raise me up again. That the Blood of Jesus CAN and WILL wash away ALL of my guilt. I will be made NEW by Him. Thank You, Jesus for Your love, and thank You for this gift of forgiveness.”

We can see the difference immediately! We hear that good, healthy “fear of the Lord” that tugs at our heart, pinches our conscience, and leads us to repent — trusting that our God is so good, and will always receive us back when we come to Him in humility of heart.

So… let’s always ask for that grace to be free from presumption!

Let’s renounce ALL forms of hopelessness, including the sin of presumption that masquerades as false confidence! Let’s admit that we are blind — so that Jesus can actually come and open our eyes, that we may see.