July 16.  As they sat together the elderly women discussed Confession.  “I know Pope Francis says we should go to confession often. I find it quite hard.  What sins do we oldies really have to repent about as we keep on hearing in these readings these days?” “I thought about that too and spoke to my spiritual director. I now see that for me a sense of sin is what I feel when I have done something to break a relationship, with God or someone else.” “For me it is not so much the act that you did but an inner sense that something, even thoughts was wrong, bad or even evil. 

Reflect, share, scripture: At that time Jesus began to upbraid the cities where most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent. From Matthew 11:20-24.     Pope Francis: The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast.   The ecological crisis is a summons to profound interior conversion. We all need an ecological conversion whereby the effects of our encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in our relationshi8p with the world around us.   Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue, not an optional extra.  We must Examine our lives and acknowledge the ways we have harmed God’s creation through our actions and our failure to act. LS 217-8. ACTION AND PRAYER. An examination of conscience can take the form of measuring our carbon footprint.