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HUMBLING<\/p>\n
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First published November 20th, 2017…<\/em> This week, I am doing something different\u2014a five part series, based on this week’s Gospels<\/a>, on how to begin again after having fallen. We live in a culture where we are saturated in sin and temptation, and it is claiming many victims; many are discouraged and exhausted, downtrodden and losing their faith. It is necessary, then, to learn the art of beginning again…<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n WHY <\/strong>do we feel crushing guilt when we do something bad? And why is this common to every single human being? Even babies, if they do something wrong, often seem to “just know” that they shouldn’t have.<\/p>\n The answer is because every single person is made in God’s image, who is Love. That is, our own natures were made to love and be loved, and thus, this “law of love” is written on our very hearts. Whenever we do something against love, our hearts are broken to one degree or another. And we feel it. We know it. And if we don’t know how to fix it, a whole chain of negative effects is set off that, if left unchecked, can vary from simply being restless and without peace to serious mental and health conditions or slavery to one’s passions.<\/p>\n Of course, the idea of “sin”, its consequences and personal responsibility, is something this generation has pretended does not exist, or that atheists have dismissed as a social construct created by the Church to control and manipulate the masses. But our hearts tell us differently… and we ignore our conscience at the peril of our happiness.<\/p>\n Enter Jesus Christ. <\/em><\/p>\n At the annunciation of His conception, the Angel Gabriel said, “Do not be afraid.” <\/em>[1]<\/sup><\/a>Luke 1:30<\/span><\/span>
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