Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent Mass in the Morning

Lectionary: 200

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, 
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, 
to give his people knowledge of salvation 
by the forgiveness of their sins.

 T he world likes to remind Christians of their sins, a trait which they -- the world -- shares with our preachers. The Hebrew prophets from Moses to John the Baptist led the way as they loudly condemned Jerusalem and its citizens for their neglect of impoverished widows, homeless orphans, and displaced aliens. The rabbis courageously preserved the prophetic words, and the Church continues to contemplate and celebrate them. 

Yes, we are sinful people; but we are also saved from our sins by the mercy of God. He has delivered us because he wanted us for his own. We can sing with the Penitent David, "He rescued me because he loves me." 

Few Catholics boast of their practice of confessing their sins to a priest, but it is a sure sign of God's particular mercy for those who attend the Sacrament. If everyone can walk into a Catholic Church on Sunday morning and take the Sacrament as if they have a right to it, some actually prepare by frequently confessing their sins. 

Fools readily boast of their accomplishments, wealth, physical strength, success, popularity, or whatever. Some are adept at creating boasts out of nothing worth mentioning. Saint Paul boasted of his weakness, having suffered not only the hardships of travel but the violent opposition of Jews, gentiles, and some Christians. But he finally declared, 

"...may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (Gal 3:14)

As we practice the Sacrament of Penance, Catholics are profoundly aware of the cross of our sins. These habits, attitudes, and practices. which we may have learned from others, burden our every step. With Saint Paul, we willingly admit in the privacy of the Reconciliation Room, as we face a priest, 

I am carnal, sold into slavery to sin. What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate. (Romans 7:14-15)

But we also look forward to that day of freedom when, like our Immaculate Mother, we will enjoy complete freedom from sin. Neither the thought nor the temptation will have any attraction for us. 

In the meanwhile, we can pray with the great poet and Episcopal priest,

A Hymn to God the Father

By John Donne

Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,

         Which was my sin, though it were done before?

Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,

         And do run still, though still I do deplore?

                When thou hast done, thou hast not done,

                        For I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won

         Others to sin, and made my sin their door?

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun

         A year or two, but wallow'd in, a score?

                When thou hast done, thou hast not done,

                        For I have more.

I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun

         My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;

But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son

         Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;

                And, having done that, thou hast done;

                        I fear no more.