Episode Transcript  

One

What’s the Worst Thing You’ve Ever Done?

As we all know, one day we’re going to have to stand before the judgment seat of God and give an account for everything we’ve ever done. That’s called the particular judgment. Also, at the end of the world, we’ll have to stand there before every person, human and angelic, and the entire universe will watch the story of our lives, in every minute detail.

It’s an intimidating prospect, or at least, it should be. After all, there are plenty of things all of us have done that we aren’t proud of, that we’ll be ashamed to see publicized before God and the world. 

So what is the thing you’re most ashamed of? What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done? What’s the thing you’ve done that you fear most to have exposed before the judgment seat of God and the whole court of Heaven?

Two

Why was it the worst?

What makes something bad, what makes it shameful, is that it damages a human person. It violates and debases an image of God. More specifically, every sin hurts you and it hurts someone else. Your cowardice, your gossip, your resentment, your anger, your lust, it debases you, it damages you. And it hurts other people. And the worst part of it is, our sins have repercussions that go on and on, across society, across generations. Your gossip spreads out and out. Your resentment breeds a culture of resentment. The lust that compromises your integrity as a family will wound your kids, who might then go on to wound their kids.

Have you ever thought of how awful it will be to see the full consequences of your sin at the last judgment? To see the cumulative effects of your vices on other people as the terrible consequences unfold throughout history? It can be overwhelming just to think about. 

But here’s the amazing thing: do you know why it’s going to be okay? Do you know why you don’t have to be afraid to face your sins and all their consequences on that last day? Paradoxically, the reason you don’t have to be afraid of seeing all the bad things you’ve done is because of the good God has brought from the worst thing you’ve ever done.

Three

The Crucifixion of the God-Man

I know the worst thing you’ve ever done. I know exactly what it was. I know what it was because it’s also the worst thing I’ve ever done. We killed God. We crucified the beloved Son of the Father. We murdered Jesus. It was the worst thing that ever happened. It was the worst thing that anybody ever did. And we all did it.

The Catechism makes it clear, “sinners were the authors and the ministers of all the sufferings that the Redeemer endured. Taking into account the fact that our sins affect Christ himself, the Church does not hesitate to impute to Christians the gravest responsibility for the torments inflicted upon Jesus.”

Nothing was more evil than that. Nothing is more evil than that. 

Remember that Christ suffered for every sin, which means the suffering of Calvary has to be proportionate to the degree of our sins. So each time we sin, we are causing Christ’s cross, two thousand years ago, to be heavier. We are causing the wounds to hurt Him more. Each time we sin, He has to pay that much of a greater price with His torment.

That’s the worst thing we’ve done. That’s the worst thing we do. And yet, and yet we know that Almighty God was able to fix the worst thing we ever did in just three days.

Four

Rejoice! God has overcome our sins

The worst thing we ever did was maim and kill the Innocent, the All-Holy, the All-Good. We, you and I, have ripped love incarnate apart. But God put Him back together, and it took Him not much more than two nights.

What makes something evil, what makes it shameful, is the damage it causes to someone beloved by God. When we crucified Christ, it is the most shameful, because it damaged, it destroyed He who is most beloved by God.

But it’s okay. Because God just fixed it. He simply overcame the consequences of our sins and even used the death of the Lord for His definitive victory. And if God can do that with the worst thing we ever did, He can do it with our lesser crimes. And He will.

Five

God Will Fix Whatever You Have Done Wrong

We started out by thinking about how scary it is to think of the worst things you’ve done, and all the incalculable consequences of those actions, and how awful it will be to have those consequences exposed at judgment. But actually, God is so good and so powerful that we already know how it’s played out with the worst thing you’ve ever done. God has just fixed it and even used it for His loving plan.

So rejoice this Easter Season. Because all the other things you’ve done, all the damage you’ve done to yourself, all the ways you’ve hurt other people, God can handle it. In His own good time, He will fix it. In His surprising, but totally reliable way, He’ll use even your worst sins to bring about some unforeseen good.

And when you and the rest of the world are watching the history of your life on that last day, you will not so much lament the evil you have done, but rejoice in the power and glorious creativity of the God who rose again on the third day and transformed all the evil that ever was!

Suggested Resolutions:

Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you.

• Sin often begins with a pattern, a small habit, or a place we revisit even though it leads us down a bad path. Whatever the pattern is, place a crucifix in a visible place surrounding that thing to remind yourself of Christ suffering for your sins. If your phone is a temptation, change your background to an image of Christ, or likewise, put a prayer card in your car, in your room, on your desk.

• Before you act, try and see your life in retrospect, thinking of the final judgment and imagining what it would be like for the whole world to watch you in this moment.

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