Only Sinners Need Apply
A state funeral is a most impressive ceremony. We saw this recently with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. A nation faces its own mortality in the death of a leader. The fragility of life is enfolded in the power...
Tagged: forgiveness
Sins Like Scarlet
Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. (Isaiah 1:18) There is a legendary story,...
Any bit of contrition
Always lost for words, I never knew what to say to God as I tried to focus my attention on him at Sunday Mass. I admit that I did not always find Mass interesting. I attended every week mostly out...
The Sanctuary for the Broken and Shamed
This is a reflection on the readings for May 3, 2022 – the Third Sunday of Easter Kintsugi, or Kintsukori, is a 15th century Japanese art of repairing broken pottery and transforming it into a new work of art with...
No one is an accidental creation
In my thirty years on this earth, I have strived to live according to the commandments handed down by God fully manifest in the incarnate and risen Jesus Christ. It is never easy, regardless of which commandment. While all are...
The Social Dimension of Sin, Repentance, and Reconciliation
A reflection on the Sunday readings for April 18, 2021 — The Third Sunday of Easter It is rare for all three Sunday liturgy readings to have a common theme. Today is one of those rare Sundays. Sin, repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation—we...
Willing the Good: A survivor’s call for restorative justice
TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains descriptions of sexual assault and violence that may be triggering to survivors. The last three popes have called for the abolition of the death penalty. In 2018, Pope Francis revised the official teaching of the...
Forgiveness Sets Us Free for Eternity
A reflection on the Sunday readings for September 13, 2020 In the middle of the sixteenth Century, Sts. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila undertook a reform of monastic life. This led to no little discontent in the Carmelite...
Love, even when it’s difficult
On the day he found out he had an aggressive form of leukemia, my father received the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time in 53 years. Many faith traditions place an emphasis on atoning for wrong done. In the...
When Mercy Saved Me
“Proclaim that mercy is the greatest attribute of God. All the works of My hands are crowned with mercy.” -Divine Mercy in My Soul, paragraph 301 “I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I have come to call not the...
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