penance

Some people seem to think Monday is the worst day in the week.

I am one of those people.

But that’s besides the point. After confession last night, I thought it interesting the words that came to mind for me: accountability, culpability, forgiveness, mercy, compassion, sin, procrastination and repetition. What most alarmed me is the fact that I have, for the past few years, repeatedly mentioned certain venial sins in my confessions that could be grouped under the umbrella of ‘procrastination’. And, repeatedly, I have promised Jesus I would try to get rid of those sins.

But it keeps coming up again. A lot of people might give up on the Sacrament of Penance because of its seemingly everlasting inability to change a person for the better, but I don’t. I have realized that it takes a lot of time (and LOTS of effort) to get rid of certain sins. We must use all that is given us to do this – prayer, family, friends, and our talents.