God sees all men as sinners so that He can show them mercy. This is an antiphon from Midday prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours. It is a translation of Romans 11:32 when St. Paul is explaining the depths of God’s mercy. It is a line that can be very striking, especially in the hearts and minds of Christians.
I am a cradle Catholic, and growing up, I was taught right from wrong and how to be a good practicing Catholic. I am someone who aims to please, so I did everything that I could to ‘please’ God. I prayed. I knew all the Bible stories. I understood the why behind Catholic morality. I formed my will to make sure I never did anything wrong to the best of my ability. Of course, I failed many times, but I did my best to be perfect so that God would see me as perfect.
Yet, here St. Paul tells me that God prefers to see me as a sinner. He wants to see me as I truly am: not perfect. And He does this not so He can lord it over me that He is God and I am not, but to help me fix my sinful nature. He wants to lower Himself to me so that I can be raised to be like Him.
Of course, this is what I want. It is what I always wanted. But in the process of growing up, I felt that I needed to achieve the goal of holiness. I wanted to earn mercy, which by its nature, cannot happen. So when I hear that God sees me as a sinner, I realize that I have to accept this truth. I have to realize that no matter how much I try to achieve holiness on my own, I will always fall short of the mark. I have to realize that sin has a cure, but not through my own merits.
God sees all men as sinners so that he can show them mercy. I am a sinner. I know this. I have always known this. But now I work to accept this. It does not mean that I am fine with continuing to sin or am lax in examination of my conscience. But it does mean that I accept who I am and what I have done, and give those sins to God so that He can give me the grace to overcome them. I have learned that committed sins are manifestations of areas of our soul that are not yet disposed to love, and I need God to change my heart and soul to be like His. So as I continue on my journey, I know that it is okay for God to see me as I truly am, because it is in revealing that part of myself to Him, that I can receive something greater than I can ever earn: His love and mercy.