The communal admission of failing is only made real by the participation of the whole community. Together those who profess faith in God the Father, Yahweh, publicly acknowledge wrong and sinfulness.
What would a nation, a state, a county, a city, a parish, a family be if all recognized in a public way that sin had become a part of life and that all stand in need of repentance and forgiveness?
As the gospel words of Jesus point out, turn the focus on oneself not on others. It is when I judge and condem others that I put them at a distance from myself ... and make myself in my own mind as sinless and above others.
How often has the sentiment of the last sentence of the first reading ever crossed my lips: "Yet [I] rebelled against you and paid no heed to your command, ... to live by your law you gave [me] through your servants the prophets [and, we might add, the teachings and precepts of our Church]"?
What would a nation, a state, a county, a city, a parish, a family be if all recognized in a public way that sin had become a part of life and that all stand in need of repentance and forgiveness?
As the gospel words of Jesus point out, turn the focus on oneself not on others. It is when I judge and condem others that I put them at a distance from myself ... and make myself in my own mind as sinless and above others.
How often has the sentiment of the last sentence of the first reading ever crossed my lips: "Yet [I] rebelled against you and paid no heed to your command, ... to live by your law you gave [me] through your servants the prophets [and, we might add, the teachings and precepts of our Church]"?
