In today’s Gospel we talk about repenting of our sins. One thought I always had growing up was, you will suffer based on the type of sinner you were. Not true. A sinner is a sinner, big sin, small sin, it is all sin in the eyes of our Lord. But the good news is that you are not alone, we are all sinners, which also means we all need to repent. God longs for everyone to be with Him, not thinks it would be cool, not thinks it would be neat, but LONGS for us to be with Him. So much so that he sent His Son to pay for our sins so we would be with Him. God Loves all of us equally, whether we choose to love Him is up to us. So even if we call ourselves Christians, if we don’t repent, are we really being true to our name? We have a wonderful Sacrament, Confession, where our Priest is in persona Christi (in the person of Christ). We can go in, tell our sins, and be forgiven, not by the man, but by God himself. Forgiven by GRACE. We cannot do this on our own, only through the blood of Jesus can we be forgiven. So today tell Jesus that you want Sin out of your life. Get on your knees in a quiet place and ask Jesus from your heart to walk with you and guide you. Then go to confession and feel the weight of your sins go away, repair the relationship with the God who is longing

to be close to you. I realized a few years ago that I cannot do this on my own, that I need Jesus at my side to be able to do it. As we all work on this we need to remember that to repent is to turn away from our sinful way of life and turn toward God. We need to change our life. Roman 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I know going to confession is not easy and can even seem scary, and there is also an issue of pride that we can do it on our own. I am no different than anyone else, but I can tell you that the anxiety will go, and a feeling of peace will replace it, but you have to take the step into the confessional for that to happen. Please do not let this opportunity escape. Jesus will never come to us and say confess your sins, we need to step up to the plate and just do it. Let this be the day we get back on track, confess to Jesus, and live a full and happy life. Today is the day to give your life entirely to Jesus. Speak Lord, your servant is listening.

“Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.” 1 Peter 3:15

God Bless Don Barry