Many of you have heard the term Eucharistic Adoration (or Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament) but need a bit more explanation of this centuries old prayer experience.

First a little history. Our Catholic Faith in Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist began that first night when Jesus gathered with the apostles at the Last Supper. “This is my body.” Jesus said. “This is my blood.” From that time on, our unbroken Faith tells us, “He is there.”

By the third century the Eucharist, consecrated at mass, was afterwards reserved in a place of beauty and honor (what today we have reserved in the Tabernacle). Centuries later (1264) there developed in France the tradition of “exposing” the consecrated Host (Blessed Sacrament) on special commissioned altars there.

There’s lots more to say about the evolution of Eucharistic Adoration. What’s most interesting is that this desire to “see” the Host was fostered by the simple Faithful. It was the people who hungered for this prayer experience. The Pope and bishops had to catch up!

Fast forward to today. What happens during Eucharistic Adoration? The priest or minister takes the large consecrated Host (the Blessed Sacrament) from the tabernacle and places it in a beautiful receptacle called the “monstrance” (from the latin monstrare – “to show”).

This is accompanied by a hymn and introductory prayers. Incense is usually used to further signify the holiness of what is now present on the altar.
And then? Silence.

Jesus Christ, the entire person, born of Mary, nailed to the cross, and now in the Resurrection, is present to us on the altar under the visible appearance of bread.

So what does one do with that stark statement of Faith? That’s the question Jesus asks in the silence of the church. “I am truly with you. Do you believe?”

Your answer may take some time. You’ve just come from the business of the world. Your ears may be still ringing from the traffic outside, an incident on the phone, a personal worry you’ve been carrying. It takes time to silence the world and get down to being with the Lord.

Over time something happens. The quiet becomes a blanket around you. The beautiful monstrance dramatically shows forth its precious content – – Jesus. You can begin to speak to him from your heart. There is no script to follow. It’s you and the Lord. What do you want to say to Him? Your fears, your joys, sadness, hopes . . . yes even your doubts. The Lord wants to hear it all.

St. Theresa of Lisieux, when asked what she did during Eucharistic Adoration, responded – it’s really very simple, “He looks at me. And I look at Him.” It’s a look of love. And Jesus wants you to experience it. It’s a moment of grace.

---

St. Theresa of Lisieux, when asked what she did during Eucharistic Adoration, responded – it’s really very simple, “He looks at me. And I look at Him.” It’s a look of love. And Jesus wants you to experience it. It’s a moment of grace.

---

Please join us each third Thursday of the month for Eucharistic Adoration at Holy Trinity Church. Exposition begins at 3:00 pm. and closes with a holy hour (7-8 pm) when a spiritual reflection and Benediction (incensing) will occur.

Friends, this is a powerful way to increase or restart your relationship with Christ. It’s an intensely personal en- counter with graces just for you and where you are in your life.

We begin November 17. I recommend you come for the 7-8 pm. hour to hear the spiritual reflection.

Bless you.

Fr. Tim

This will be the third year that Holy Trinity’s STAR Christmas program has collected monitory donations rather than gifts and food items. COVID made us think about the health and availability of our recipients and volunteers. I miss the comradery that this program brought to our Holy Trinity family. Do you remember setting up a “grocery store” in the old gym, picking out stars at weekend Mass and lovingly filling the sanctuary with gifts for our recipients? Not to mention the numerous other tasks that enlisted hundreds of volunteers each year? I miss that, it was fun! But there is a new joy discovered. We have been delightfully astounded the past few years with the generosity of our HT family. You should be too! YOU, the parishioners of Holy Trinity contributed just over $30,000.00 in 2020 and just over $32,000.00 in 2021. That is joyful!

Oh, come on, let’s do it again! Would you be able to give the same amount you gave last year, perhaps a bit more? Help create and celebrate the true joy of Christmas that is found in giving. In this small, small way, we can reflect the love of Jesus who gave everything…….for us.

Who are we helping?

Holy Trinity assists families at Nativity Preparatory Academy, ROC Love Will End Abortion, St. Monica’s Church, St. Michael’s Church and Corpus Christi Church. That is approximately 70 families or 360 individuals. We have also been able to provide some extra food to Sr. Regis Food Ministry and Webster HOPE. As a reminder, Webster HOPE has a Christmas Program that helps families from Webster that are in need of extra support. Please give Webster Hope a call for more information about their program @265-6694.

What is being asked of me?

We are asking everyone to take some time to consider all the ways you have helped STAR in the past. Did you bring in a bag of groceries each week? Maybe each one of your family members chose a star gift. Was your contribution a Christmas turkey or ham? Can you add that all up this year and put it in the form of a monetary gift to help bring Christmas to so many? Perhaps you are new to Holy Trinity in the past few years and you don’t remember “how it used to be”. To you dear friend, welcome! Welcome to this wonderful tradition at Holy Trinity and please join in with all the generosity you can muster!

How do I help?

There are three ways to donate:

Mail a check to Holy Trinity with “Star 2022” in the memo line on or before Sunday, November 27.

If you already donate online, login to your account and select the option for Star 2022.

In-person donations can be dropped in the Penny Sunday STAR Collection baskets the weekend of November 12th & 13th.

Please know how much your donations are appreciated and please do not hesitate to reach out if you have questions. Contact Helen Sleeman at 265-1616 x 337 or helen.sleeman@dor.org.

God gave us the sense of hearing. We share with the animal world a sense that alerts us to the world around us. We hear thunder and we know rain will soon fall. Sirens tell us of some emergency situation. Music soothes our soul or stirs emotion. A whisper gives us someone’s secret thought. To live without hearing is like eating a sugar free cookie. We lose the gusto and subtle meanings of life.

But, we take it for granted, don’t we? These days we are over loaded with sound. Our brains have to choose whether to merely “hear something” or to really “listen”. Remember Musak? It was that bland orchestra music that played on elevators to keep everyone calm waiting for their floor. Did you ever give it a listen? Of course not. No one ever said, “Oh, they’re playing my favorite song!”

It’s only when we LISTEN that we receive creation around us. To hear a bird’s song is different than listening to it. That bird . . . is singing . . . its song! How lovely.

Our brains make that same choice with people; whether to merely hear them, or to really listen to them?

We’ve all developed skills that give the impression we’re listening. We nod at the right times; we comment as appropriate. But, many times we’re simply waiting for our chance to start talking. Or hearing one or two sentences we think we already know what someone is going to say. And rather than listen, we’re preparing our response to them while they’re still talking.

That’s why, to truly listen is a gift to the one who is speaking. Have you had the experience of being listened to? What did it do for you?

I bet it touched you; gave you the feeling that you had connected with someone. Being listened to (especially with a friend) can lighten our burden – – Finally! Someone else knows what I’ve been carrying. Now you both carry it.

By the way . . . that’s one of the healing powers of telling your sins to Christ in Confession.

Yes, God gets in here too.

Sometimes, when we really listen, we hear something from the Holy Spirit. Something God wants us to hear. I’ve had that experience. A friend came to me at a very busy moment as I prepared for an important interview. “Tim, listen to me” he said. “I have to tell you something. They’re going to push your buttons. Stay calm and don’t be a wise guy.” I listened; and it was just what I needed at that moment. The Holy Spirit used my friend.

So husbands/wives. Listen, really listen to each other. You don’t have to fix things right then. Your full attention to what she’s saying is a gift. You might even reflect her feelings with words like, “that must have really surprised/ shocked/bothered/helped/made you happy.”

To be listened to is wonderful. Try it with your children. Withhold judgement for those moments . . . just listen. They’ll know you are with them in whatever they are going through. Scripture tells us, “bear one another’s burdens.” Galatians 6:2.

As you develop your listening skills, it will improve your prayer as well. You will look back over your day to see those moments when you heard something God wanted you to hear.

. . . . If you were listening.

Bless you.

Fr. Tim

Growing up idolizing Rocky Colavito of the Cleveland Indians and inspired by the greatest rock and roll ever written (Beatles forever!), like any young person, I hoped to make my mark on the world in a memorable way.

I would be a journalist, a writer, a teacher, a lawyer (if not a judge!), and later in life maybe I’d go into politics and make laws and stuff. Something big.

Well as you know, that’s all changed. I’m a priest who says your morning mass, hears your confession, and visits you in the hospital. Simple, but there’s a life there. (I smile at the headlines on People Magazine as I wait to check out at the grocery . . . “Be Your Passion”, “Don’t Let Anyone Stand in the Way”, “You Can be Anything You Dream”.)

Well dreams are good. They can light a fire in us. But most often we have to settle for less than we hoped for. Life comes in and best laid plans get put on hold – – – elderly parents need special care, money just isn’t there to support the dream, or . . . we find we just don’t have what it takes to do it right.

So what do we do? It’s a critical moment really. Some people can be embittered at life not turning out how they had imagined. Some people think that Plan B (or C or D!) for their life is second or third best. Sadness or disillusion can follow. We’ve all experienced it.

But there’s some help here from the Gospel. Jesus tells the story of The Ten Gold Coins. (Lk 19: 11-19. Read it!) In it three servants are charged with different amounts of money to watch over during the master’s absence. When he returns, he calls them one by one to see what they’ve done with the money.

Two of them had increased their master’s holdings and were equally praised for what they’d done. The third did nothing. He buried the little money he’d been given and handed it back to the master.

The point is, God doesn’t care how big the return on his investment is. What He wants is that we try. “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones.” Lk 16:10. God will increase our own faithfulness in the “small things”.

Let me give you an example. I stopped into a store to get a piece of foam rubber (I’m making rubber duckies for Fr. John’s Christmas present).

The young salesperson was there to help me find just the right piece. He crawled over shelf after shelf to find what we were looking for. Finally we got it – – but it needed cutting. “I can do that. No problem.” He said.

Cutting the foam rubber required a band saw which he carefully lined up. As the cut was almost through, the band jumped forward and nicked his hand drawing a little blood. I was mortified. “I’m sooo sorry”, I said. Washing his hand and putting a bandaid on his hand he said, “Don’t worry it’s just a little nick.” He smiled as he wrote up the order and handed me my foam rubber.

Simple, eh? No big woop. But something was visible in that young man that touched me. It was his simple kindness and desire to help. He wanted no praise and my going on about his great service only embarrassed him. I wrote his manager to tell him what a prince he had in the Foam Department.

That’s how it is with the “little things” – – – they mean a lot.

Let’s do the little things just right. God will help us when the big things come around.

Bless you.

Fr. Tim

(Give this to a 20/30 Something)

Just west of Des Moines, Iowa, Interstate 80 hits a fork in the road. If you’re going to San Francisco, you keep on I-80 heading west. If you want to go to Houston, you bear south on I-35 - two roads heading to two different places. Where do you want to go?

It’s like life. Where you want to go determines which road you take. Most times our choices are “day to day” and have to do with groceries or family gatherings or what’s on TV. Seldom do we think of the Big Picture (Where AM I going with my life?).

Two roads lie ahead of us. One directs our lives to God. Do you want to meet Him in heaven? The other road is in search of some happiness here on earth before the lights get turned off.

The God Factor is critical in how you experience life. Things go off in two very different directions depending on what you believe about God and whether this God has a purpose for your life. See what you think. . . . .

Here’s what happens if there is no God

(or if there’s no way of knowing anything about him anyway).

1. Nothing means anything. “Good” or “bad” is merely your opinion. What you think is “your truth”. What I think is “my truth”. In fact, there is no ultimate truth.
2. Since there is no ultimate goodness to guide our actions, then “lesser gods” will serve. Money, possessions, leisure and pleasure are what life is about.
3. Might makes right. My wanting more makes me a potential threat to what you have. (Why can’t I take what you have? You say, “that’s not right!” I say, “Says who?!”)
4. Sickness, poverty, or tragic happenings can only be seen as absurd or real bad luck. Flee these things. Pity those who encounter them. They are the “unlucky ones”.
5. Any moment of beauty or longing that our lives have ultimate meaning is an illusion and should be tolerated like Santa Claus with our children. (Let this God myth continue as long as it keeps people happy).

6. An “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” is the best way of dealing with human conflict. But who has the authority to declare something as righteous or criminal?
7. Our best hopes for our children would be that they were skillful hunters in getting what they want in a world that doesn’t care.
8. About the best thing we can wish anybody is “Good Luck”.

Pretty grim, wouldn’t you say? Yet that is the way of the human heart without God. You see, we humans were MADE FOR God. Made to enter into relationship with Him and without Him . . . . we lose our purpose for existing. We become, as the great theologian Romano Guardini put it, “clever animals”.

The revealed God of Christianity changes everything.

Here’s what happens when you let God into your life. (These contrast with 1-8 above).

Everything means something. The fact that something “is” gives it purpose in the plan of God. All that exists shares to some degree in the truth of its maker.

The “lesser goods” become what they were intended to be joys in life that point to a loving God who wishes our happiness. They are not an end in themselves.

By God’s love (revealed in Christ), we become brothers and sisters to each other, NOT “threats” or rivals.

The hard things in life (sickness, etc.) have been re- deemed. They too now serve God’s purpose. They reveal true love. (We only know this by Jesus Christ who took suffering and death to himself to reveal what God’s love is like.) “Love bears all things.” 1 Corinthians 13.

Longing for peace or purpose in life is a grace put there by God to remind us of our true home. “Our hearts are restless until they rest in thee Oh Lord.” St Augustine

“We hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator . . .”

Our best hope for our children is that they would grow to be good and kind and happy in “doing what is right and just”. And that they too would come to know the presence of God in their life.

Our best wish for someone? “Go with God”. Go with God.

Fr. Tim

One of the common human habits we all share to some degree is curiosity. At first glance it can seem a harmless practice; in fact, good things can come from it. For example, a student is curious about what causes thunderstorms or hail. It moves them to pursue a deeper knowledge of weather. Your doctor is curious about your blood pressure and why it’s so high. This is good curiosity.

Bad curiosity (or what we call nosiness) is something else. It’s a habit of inquiring about people   concerning matters that are none of our business. “I wonder what he makes at that job.” “Where do they stay when they go on vacation?” “Who is she dating?” “Why are those two friends?” “I wonder what their marriage is really like.”

Why do we do that? Because it brings us pleasure. Such knowledge about others brings a certain power; now we know something that unlocks a side of them they choose not to reveal to us. On the surface it can seem a harmless habit; “I just want to know more about this person.” (So why not just ask them?).

But let’s be honest. Underneath most of this inquisitiveness is a desire to find some “dirt”. Much of the grocery tabloids and the internet play on our hunger for seamy details about celebrities. Paparazzi make their living delivering photos to feed our curiosity. There’s a certain pleasure in seeing someone weak or out of control (the German’s call it Shadenfreuda – – pleasure derived from other’s problems).

Why can curiosity be sinful? Because it violates two virtues we owe to others. The first is Justice. People have a right to privacy about personal matters. Prying eyes and ears serve to “steal” something that doesn’t belong to them. Thou shalt not steal.

Secondly, Charity. Scripture tells us we are to do to others what we would want done to ourselves. How do we like it when someone wants to know our thoughts and feelings about matters we deem to be private? It’s not theirs to have. So that same respect must be shown to others.

But there is another matter sinful curiosity can cause. Sadness.

Think about it. “Love does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.” 1Cor. 13:6. There’s a certain darkness that happens when we wander into people’s lives in search of private things. We become less a good friend to that person (or at least a less respectful fellow citizen).

When we carry matters obtained through curiosity, it can affect the way we interact with that person. We become less transparent because “we know something”. Over time cynicism and suspicion can grow about anyone and “what they’re REALLY like.”

So what can we do to curb our curiosity appetite? These might help.

• Recognize what you’re doing. Ask yourself why you want to know or am I just curious?
• Would I like someone else to be inquisitive about me as I am doing to them?
• When prying thoughts about others occurs . . . change them to a quick prayer for the person.
• Parents have a right to be curious about their children. You are their guardians. (Teens need a little more slack!)
• Avoid conversations that deal in private matters about others not present. Gossip.
• Be glad you don’t know stuff!! It frees you up.

Bless you.

Fr. Tim

Picture in your mind a spiritual power that can observe the material world and come up with ways to change it and make it better (tools, shelter, etc.). This spiritual power can create beautiful sounds, using cat gut for strings, and plucking them in various rhythms (music). It can observe the goodness and proper order of things . . . and greatest of all, it can love and serve the one who created it.

Now picture a way for this spirit to live in the material world; a home to live in here on earth. What would that “spiritual container” look like? It’s that miracle called the human body.

And that friends, in very rough outline, is what makes a human being. It is the inseparable union of body and spirit that exists nowhere else in creation and is called MAN. Two partners are needed to bring this creature about; one to provide the “container” – – – parents. And one to provide the knowing spirit – – – God.

Catholic theology tells us that it’s the spirit (soul), that gives us the potential to be a “person”. Your mother and father didn’t know who you were when you were born. Mom knew she brought forth a girl or a boy. That’s all they knew. It will take a couple years for parents to know “who this child is”. But God knew you, and He gave you the soul that makes you . . you!

But let’s not forget the body, for it is an equal partner in making a human being. Again, theologians (St. Thomas Aquinas) tell us that the body is the visible “form” of the soul. The body is what gives the soul its brain to think, hands to grasp, eyes to see, lips to speak.

Now there’s a mystery. The body is mortal. It will die. The soul, like its maker, is immortal. It will never die. So what does the soul do without a body to carry out its activity?

The two need each other to be that union of body and spirit that makes a human being. When the body gets buried in the ground, some have imagined the soul flying off to heaven to become an angel.

That’s not what happens. God wanted you to be a human being, not an angel. You will always be human. So what happens then? The body goes into the ground . . . and the soul has lost its home! Without each other to complete a human person,where are we?

Science doesn’t know. You and I don’t know. Nobody knows. Oh dear.

Except . . . . there’s this guy named Jesus of Nazareth. God, the Creator of Heaven and earth, became a human being. Jesus is the human body and soul of God. So being human, God lived a truly human life. He was born of Mary, grew to manhood, suffered, AND DIED. Just like we will. His body was buried (for like ours, it was mortal).

But then . . . “God raised him up, releasing him from the throws of death.” Acts 2:24. And “If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you (by Baptism), the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you..” Romans 8:11.

This is why Jesus was raised body and soul in the Resurrection. His body and soul needed to be united in that union we call Jesus. So too, you and me. In the Resurrection we will be given a “new body, a glorified body.” No longer subject to the limitations of space and time, we will look upon the face of God from our bodily place in the Resurrected Body of Christ.

Fully human in a way even better than our lives here on earth.

Thought you’d like to know.

Fr. Tim

W. B Yeats called it the ever “widening gyre” *. The image was of a falcon and the falconer who calls the bird to its roost. The bird has flown to a distance it can no longer see or hear its master. “The falcon cannot hear the falconer. Things fall apart. The center cannot hold.” The poem refers to the forces of history or culture that take a person and a civilization away from their true self.

Something like this happens in every age of history, its effects appear in our culture today and our young people are most severely affected. We’re losing a sense of our center, our true selves, and what is most disconcerting   we don’t sense the loss. The forces that separate falcon from falconer are many and complex. To keep it simple we can point to an imbalance of the “inner world” and the “outer world”.

The inner world refers to that realization a person has of himself. His center. His likes and dislikes, personality, characteristics and values. It’s our soul, our center. It’s the “me” that turns when someone calls my name.

The “outer world” of course, is that environment outside ourselves; events, persons, circumstances in which we act and are acted upon. Some have called it “the daily grind”.

Between these two poles, my human life happens. I go out of myself to encounter the world, then I return to the inner world and the conversation with myself begins. “What was that? Why did that happen? Did I do the right thing?”, etc.

These two poles of life, the going out and the returning “home”, need to be in balance. The problem is the world with its unending chatter of social media, news and entertainment, overwhelms the “inner person.” There’s no home to return to. We are in turmoil. Things fall apart.

Ever have one of those moments when television, the phone or internet are all turned off? We grow restless or slightly embarrassed to be “alone with ourselves”. The sudden quiet catches us off guard.

In the silence a weird feeling of being a stranger to our- selves comes over us. And so we check our email, text someone, see what’s on TV, phone somebody . . . any- thing to avoid being with myself.

This estrangement from ourselves has sad consequences for our relationship with God. How can we hear the voice of God if we can’t hear the voice of our own conscience. (that inner voice urging us to “do this.” OR “don’t do that” OR “good job!” OR “shame on you!” OR “that was wonderful!”

Remember Jesus telling us “when you talk to God (pray), go to your room. Close the door. And pray to your Father in secret.” Matthew. 6: 5,6 ? Why in secret? Because that is where God can enter your inner world. Here you can give your full attention to the visiting Spirit of God. “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:9

In the quiet, over time, we return to ourselves and begin to hear things in our heart once again. I remember one year on retreat at a monastery walking down a country path. Suddenly it happened . . . I heard the wind blowing through the trees. I mean I HEARD THE WIND. I heard it because I was LISTENING.

Later on, if you continue to listen, you can hear the things your heart has wanted to tell God. “Lord, it’s me. I just want to tell you . . .” Many times it’s just being aware of your feeling and giving them to God “who sees.”

So how to end this? Get quiet. Put down the Iphone. Come home to yourself. Reaquaint yourself to what you’re feeling, thinking, loving, fearing. Then. . . turn to Him. Speak anything (anything!) you want to get off your chest, be grateful for, need help with. (Remember. Let the Holy Spirit guide your prayer.)

He is there. “Your Father who hears in secret. . . knows what you need.” Matthew. 6:8

That is a promise from Christ. Trust Him.

Fr. Tim

*W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming

Sometimes “religion” and believing in God can have a rather spotty start up. Or maybe there was little religion taught when you were young. Each person is left on their own to formulating their own philosophy of life. So where does one go to have a discussion about God and the purpose of life? It’s not something you bring up at a party or a family gathering.

Isn’t there a place where I can ask questions and give my thoughts about a topic that concerns everyone? Someplace safe where I’m with other people who have the same questions and are seeking answers just like me? Yes there is!

There’s something happening this Fall at Holy Trinity Parish that may be a help to you.

There will be a gathering of adults who want to talk about finding God in their life. These are not particularly “religious types”, just regular people who want to make some sense of their lives and see where God may be found. Let’s call them “searchers”.

Each Sunday at 12 noon we gather for one hour. Fr. Tim or Fr. John will speak on a particular topic for about 15 minutes. Topics like: Can we know God? Did God create us? Do I have a purpose in life? Who is Jesus Christ? What do Catholics believe?

It’s a lively discussion with no indoctrination. Our job is to share with you what the Catholic Church teaches and the solid reasons behind it. Over the Fall and Winter we will examine many of the spiritual gifts and teachings of the Church.

Over time, some discover a desire to join us in our community of Faith. This happens on Easter Sunday when members of the group are baptized or receive Holy Communion for the first time.

Would you like to join us? I promise you’ll meet some wonderful people who, like yourself, just want to make some sense of this life on earth. There will be no secret attempt to “get you to be Catholic”. But I’m confident you will be touched by what you learn.

So give it some thought. Talk it over with a friend or loved one (bring them along if you like!)

Mary Kramer is our Co-Ordinator for the “Searchers Group”. (Also called the RCIA   Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). Give her a call at (585) 943-0372 or email: mary.kramer@dor.org OR – – JUST SHOW UP!!

We start Sunday, September 25 at 12 noon. Join us in church. We’ll guide you from there.

Hope to see you. God bless you always.

Fr. Tim Horan, Pastor, Holy Trinity Church

PS Please share this with someone you know who may be searching.

If you’re over 50, you were brought up with a pretty clear idea about sin. Quite simply, it was doing something “bad”. Lying, cheating, stealing, lusting . . . are the first things that come to mind. And when we did any of these things, we pictured a “black mark” on our soul; some dirt or mud that covered our former innocence. To this day I don’t think that’s a bad start (at least for children) in realizing the damage sin causes.

But let’s go deeper. What IS sin? Does it exist? Can you hold it in your hand? The answer is “not quite like that”. It exists in a negative way. Let me explain.

Evil (another name for sin) can only be detected in the presence of Goodness. Think of the bright sunlight that falls on your apple tree. Both the sunlight and the tree have their proper being and purpose. There is a positive “good” to them. But there on the ground, is a shadow.

The shadow only exists because of your lovely tree. The most that can be said about shadows is that they lack sunlight! Shine a light on them and they disappear! Theologians say sin/evil is a “privation”, a “lack of being”. Something is wrong, only in light of what’s true. That’s why the devil is called the Father of Lies.

Many other images help us picture the negative nature of evil. Rust holes on your car’s fender, a vacuum that sucks up oxygen, a hole in a perfectly good pair of socks!

So what does sin lack? That’s simple . . . goodness. Another way to put it, sin lacks love. And what is the source of all love? God. And so, finally, we can come to an adult understanding of sin as “that which offends against God who is love.”

You can see now why the 10 Commandments are couched in negative terms, “Thou shalt not”. In other words . . . refrain from doing what is lacking in love.

And that’s why “confessing our sins” is not a matter of finding the times when we “broke the rules”. It’s recognizing when we have injured goodness as it exists in truth.

What does Jesus tell us about sin? Without abandoning “the shalt not” of the commandments, Jesus gives us a new law based on the positive. “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34.

So two things are at work here: refrain from doing evil, but also to DO good. A good check on ourselves and our actions is to ask the question, “What would love do?” St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is a reminder of what love DOES. (1 Corinthians 13).

Lastly, in going to confession, certainly there are things that we have done that are “bad” and for these we are sorry. But let’s begin to see these sins as lacking what love wants us to do. And in seeking to love as Christ has loved us - – – we grow in our union with God.

Lord, show us the way to your Peace.

Fr. Tim