Friday, October 20, 2017

October 25 2017 – Wednesday of 29th week in Ordinary Time – Romans 6:12-18

     We are disciples of Christ.  To become his disciples, we die to our old life in the waters of baptism, rising to new life in him.  Even though we strive toward perfection as disciples of Christ on our journey of faith, that does not me we still don’t struggle with sin, that we don’t face temptations on our journey.  In his letter to the Romans, Paul acknowledges the reality of sin. He acknowledges that sin is still powerful and active in the world of believers. That is one of the aspects of our Catholic faith that I really like, that our faith openly acknowledges this power that sin can have over us even as we continue on our journey through life as believers.  We are called to an on-going cycle of conversion and repentance on our journey of faith.  We are called to confess our sins, to repent, to do penance and to strive to do better.

     I remember reading an article in America Magazine in which Pope Francis was asked: "Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?"  He answered: “I am a sinner. This is the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.” We are all sinners, this is true, but we have the help of God’s grace, which Paul says is the source of our liberty and our security.  It is hard to believe that it is nearing the end of October, which means that Thanksgiving and Advent are around the corner, as we will start our preparations for the Christmas season.  We have the sacrament of reconciliation each Saturday afternoon here at St Jude before our Vigil Mass.  We also will be having our Advent Reconciliation Service the first week of Advent.  We ask the Lord to lead us and guide us in our fight against temptation, against the sins we struggle with in our lives.  Without his help, we cannot do anything. 

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