Jesus, don't you dare tell me what to do!

I had a friend of mine tell me her story of why her mother left the Catholic faith and it had to do with guilt. You know the kind, 'Catholic guilt'. Don't do that you'll go straight to hell. Isn't it just like the devil to present half truths or present truths upside down? As soon as you tell someone not to do something, that's the first thing they will attempt to do as they berate you with, "Don't you dare tell me what to do!"

But Jesus isn't like that with sinners. He's seen us wandering looking for him in all the wrong places. If we choose to look for him where he can't be found we'll be rewarded with restlessness, and unhappiness because as St Augustine said 'Our hearts are restless until they rest in you, Lord'.

 Looking straight in the face of all our shortcomings, all our wanderings far from God, guilt and shame lead us to set things right. The Catholic guilt my friend explained was like a dog who'd been reprimanded and sitting in a corner without hope, but to be Catholic is to live in hope, to be saved by hope. Catholic guilt looks first to self because ultimately sin damages a relationship, the relationship between self and God. Then guilt longs to see those crooked ways made straight, and knowing that it cannot, it looks to the only one who can, God, who is forgiving, and longing for our return to Him. The only response one can give in the face of such generosity is a repentance that says, 'Lord, if there is anything good about me, it is you. I give myself back to you. I only want to live, love and serve you from this day forward.'

After a good holy confession, Jesus himself wipes away our sins, and God is pleased to forget our sins. If He is pleased to forget my sins, who am I to be dredging them up repeatedly?