18 January. Sinners.  Jock said, ”Have you ever wondered why so many “tax collectors and sinners” were so keen to follow Jesus? Was it because of a guilty conscience or because they were treated as outcasts and found him open to accepting them?  What is a sin, and who is a sinner anyway?”  In the gospel Matthew just left his job and up and followed.  Zacheus even offered to make up for anything unjust and pay back what he overcharged as a Roman tax collector. Admitting you are wrong can be one of the most difficult things to do and then on top of that making up for the wrong you did is even harder. That is true mercy.  Don’t we see the need for that all the time around us, even at home and in nature and that also needs to happen in our country and our world ?    Going to confession can then become a new beginning.  

Reflect, share.  Scripture: As he sat at table in his house many tax collectors and sinners were sitting with Jesus and his disciples for there were many who followed him. “I came not to call the righteous but sinners.” Mark 2:13-17. Pope Francis. Let us open our hearts and trust in God’s love for us. It accompanies us and remains with us despite our sins. MM 5.   JUBILEE The intention of reparation, to make amends, and to do so in a concrete way, is essential for the process of reconciliation and a return to peace of heart.” Good intentions are not enough. There has to be an inward desire that finds expression in our outward actions. Reparation, if it is to be Christian, to touch the offended person’s heart and not be a simple act of commutative justice, presupposes two demanding things: acknowledging our guilt and asking forgiveness… It is from the honest acknowledgment of the wrong done to our brother or sister, and from the profound and sincere realization that love has been compromised, that the desire to make amends arises”. DN 184-5. Pray: for openness to making reparation when needed in the Church and the world.   Choose appropriate action.