The Slippery Slope We Should Fear Above All Others

The problem with Confession is that we have become so inured to sin that we don’t always recognise our need to confess. The world is so full of glaring and frightful sins that our own pale in comparison and are easily overlooked. While I am certain that God does not want us to be overly scrupulous, I am convinced that the sins we need to see the most are our own. The most slippery slope is the one we are on, the one that causes us to backslide day after day.

It is an act of mercy to admonish the sinner, but this is a mercy we owe ourselves first and foremost. The only persons for whom we are fully responsible are ourselves.

I found myself thinking of King Boleslaw II of Poland the other day. The details are murky, but the story goes that he was so enraged by the Bishop of Krakow’s criticism of his corrupt and sinful ways that he ordered him to be slain. When his men were too fearful of committing this great crime, the King himself beheaded Bishop Stanislaw (whom we now know as Saint Stanislaus) as he offered Mass. I wondered what sort of arrogance could have possessed Boleslaw to commit sacrilege and murder. How does any Catholic get to the point where they can justify mortal sin against the warnings of conscience?

My answer to this perturbing question is that the most slippery slope is our own. Boleslaw, it is said, was an adulterer. An alternative explanation is that he was too harsh in his punishment of faithless army wives. Whatever the case, Stanislaw excommunicated Boleslaw, and Boleslaw construed this as treason, a crime punishable by death. I am certain Boleslaw genuinely believed he was in the right. He was not an evil man, per se. He had not rejected Our Lord or His Church. Quite the opposite! He was enraged at being denied Communion and the saying of Divine Office by his canons.

The moral of this story is that each and every one of us is capable of the most heinous crimes, even while remaining faithful to the Church in our own eyes. If we do not cultivate virtue in our lives with good habits, our bad habits will before long turn into vices. If we are not open to correction and criticism, we nurture pride instead of humility, and pride is the booming voice that shouts down the wise whispers of conscience.

Legend has it that Boleslaw, following his banishment, wandered Europe until he came to Ossiach Abbey, where he spent eight years as a mute penitent performing the lowliest of tasks. I, for one, don’t want to ever get to the point where I cannot recognise sin. It is an uncomfortable enough reality that we don’t always recognise sin before the fact. Confession allows us to rectify this when we recognise sin after the fact. But the most frightful prospect is not being able to recognise it all.

It is many months before we enter the Year of Mercy, but it is not too early to admonish ourselves for our little sins before they can transform into greater ones. It is never too soon to perform the mercy of a thorough examination of conscience.