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_{Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 20, 2008}

        A university study shows that by the ago of ten, the average child has already developed "a non-condemning attitude" toward cheating.  A Chicago newspaper survey, backed up by lie detector tests, showed that 7 out of 10 employees steal at least some small item from their employers, jokingly referring to it as a "fringe benefit."  Another survey shows that one-third of all pregnancies in the United States end up with the unborn fetus being destroyed.  That comes to 1.3 million deaths a year or one every 23 seconds!

        When you read news items like these, you feel like the person who said, "Stop the world.  I want to get off!"  But even more disturbing than the cold-blooded sinfulness in our world is the growing tendency to joke about sin, to downplay it, or even deny it altogether.  For example, people today no longer lie, they merely stretch the truth.  People no longer steal, they just rip things off.  People no longer commit adultery, they just fool around.  People no longer cheat; they just pad expenses and juggle the figures.  Finally, people no longer kill unborn children; they just terminate a pregnancy or remove an unwanted fetus.

        All of this is simply a way of downplaying or denying sin.  The tragic part of this disturbing tendency is that by downplaying or denying our sinfulness, we also downplay or deny our need for Jesus Christ.  For if we have no sins that need forgiving, we have no need for Jesus Christ.  Many people do not recognize Christ because they do not recognize themselves as sinners.  If I am not a sinner, then I have no need of Christ.  No one will celebrate the mystery of Christ in joy if they do not first recognize in sorrow that they are a sinner who needs a Savior.  The focus is not on sin, but on Jesus Christ who saves.  This is also the focus of John the Baptist in today’s Gospel.  John’s focus is on Jesus, "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."

        The worst evil isn't to sin.  It's to commit sin and then downplay it or deny it.  Louis Evely, a great theologian, says "It is better to commit a sin than to corrupt a principal.  It is better to sin with sincerity than to lie to oneself in order to stay virtuous."  In other words, if we are weak enough to sin, we should be humble enough to admit the fact.  Stressing the fact of human sinfulness, the First Letter of John says bluntly, "If we say, 'We are without sin,' we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us…If we say, 'We have not sinned,' we make God a liar, and his word is not in us."

        The point of all this is clear.  All of us are fragile human beings.  All of us fall victim to various sins at various times in our lives.  All of us stand in need of Christ's forgiveness.  All of us stand in need of Christ's salvation.  Instead of downplaying our sinfulness, or denying it, we should admit it.  We should admit it and seek out Jesus, "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."

        This is the message of John the Baptist to the people of his time in today's Gospel.  It is also the message of the Church to each one of us here today.  We should seek God’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Along with Anointing of the Sick it is known as the Sacrament of Healing and that is exactly what it does.  It heals us! 

        How fortunate for us to have been given the gift of this sacrament.  How unfortunate for us to neglect it.  How tragic for us to fail to appreciate it or fail to use it.  For it was for this gift that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, offered Himself for us on Calvary!