At the age of 10, while preparing to receive his first
Holy Communion, St. Dominic Savio wrote down a series of
resolutions.
“I will go to Confession and Communion as often as my confessor
will allow. I will sanctify Sundays and holy days in a
special way. Jesus and Mary will be my friends.
Death, but not sin. Dominic went on to study with St. John
Bosco in Turin, before dying at the age of 13 in 1857.
John Bosco and all who knew Dominic well testified that the
young man had indeed remembered those promises he made before
receiving Jesus, renewing them many times, and remaining
faithful to them until his death.
While the first three promises might surprise us, and seem like
the obvious desires of a beautiful and innocent soul, the last
promise is astonishingly stark. “Death, but not
sin.” These are words of incredible seriousness, gravity,
and decisiveness from a 10-year-old. How many of us can
say that our resolve is or has ever been this strong, that we
would rather die, giving up all our future plans, hopes,
intentions in this life, rather than turn away; rom God’s
commandments even once and risk losing eternal life? Can a
10-year-old, who knows very little of the world’s temptations,
possibly possess such a seriousness of purpose?
Yes, it is possible, and in fact, this is precisely the
seriousness of purpose with which Jesus addresses his disciples
in today’s Gospel. Christ is unsparing. A horrible
death of drowning is better than helping someone sin.
Losing a hand , a foot or an eye, is a happier thing than 0ever
breaking friendship with God by giving in to temptation. While
we might shorten the edges of this text by recognizing that
Christ might be using some hyperbolic rhetoric to make his
point, the point itself stands. Death is a better thing
than sin. Where does this exacting calculus come from?
Christ says these things because of what sin really
entails. Sin is a decision to disobey God’s commandments,
which always means clinging to something in the world or in
ourselves that is not God’s. Considering that God is the
only true source of life, that he alone loves us perfectly, that
he alone among all possible goods lasts and does not disappoint,
and considering that everything in this life, whether pleasures,
possessions, honors, or our own ideas and choices, all pass away
and come to nothing, the conclusion is clear. Sin is
madness. Sin is self-destruction.
Christ who loves us to the point of death and beyond is not
harsh with us for no reason. He knows how difficult it is
for us to face temptation, and so he is quick to help and
forgive us, but he also knows that a sin produces in us
spiritual death, as well as deepening sorrow and pain. He
knows that habits of choosing what is empty and pointless, the
things that are not God and that turn us from God, make it more
and more difficult to repent, turn back, and receive God’s
friendship; again. Christ is stark and exacting because he
loves us and would not have us lose everything through sin.
St. Dominic was able to make the promise he did because he
understood this. He understood the greatness of God’s
friendship, as well as the inestimable value of his soul and the
souls of others in the eyes of Jesus. Even if we do not
have the strength to say with Dominic Savio, “death, but not
sin,” we can at least resolve to resist temptation anew, turn
back to God and seek his mercy, knowing that above all, he
desires our salvation and eternal happiness.