26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
The words of our beautiful Readings have been ingrained within us since we were young! Sin is wrong and evil, and it is directly offensive to our loving Father when we turn our face away from Him. However, when we pray today’s Psalm, we are given hope and reassured that the Lord is good, and that the way to Him is to ask humbly for His infinite mercy.
Through the Father’s unlimited love, He bestowed upon us the gift of Jesus, our Redeemer, to walk the same path of human life that we travel with all of the world’s temptations. Jesus taught us “the way to eternal life.” Ultimately, He took the sin of humanity upon himself and shed His blood on the Cross so the gate of Heaven would be open to all of us when we follow what He taught us.
Jesus preached that we must repent of sin, so we may say, “I’m sorry.” However, we often say those two words indiscriminately. Perhaps we accidentally bump into someone (I’m sorry), we spill something on the table (I’m sorry), we offer condolences (I’m sorry). True sorrow is deep, and true sorrow can be painful because it beckons us humbly and without reservation to surrender a piece of ourselves, however sacrificial that may seem. Let us also repent of “what we have failed to do.” We pray the Act of Contrition, acknowledging sin’s ugliness as we confess and repent of our sins humbly and sincerely, asking for our Lord’s mercy.
Let us walk the path the Lord sets before us today, confident in His love, mercy, and forgiveness, and let us actively live the words, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Let Us Pray:
Merciful Father, I am truly sorry for any time I have put myself first and sinned against you. Forgive me for ever being blinded to what is right and good. As I travel my path today, I ask that you pour out your Holy Spirit within me, guiding me to follow you as you walk before me, beside me, and through me, spreading your message of love, peace, and hope. Amen.
