About six months ago, my nephews Nicholas and Andrew finally got their wish--a new dog. It answers to the name "Jake," and it’s a cross between a German Shepherd and a Shar-pei (Shar-peis are those wrinkly dogs that look like prunes with four legs!). Now I must admit, the dog is cute and very friendly (he will lick you to death if you give him the chance), but at times he also seems to have a bad case of "Canine A.D.D.," hence he has been given the nickname "Psycho-dog." I do not dispute the title, having seen him in action many times! And this unruly behavior has evoked many verbal responses from my sister and brother-in-law, everything from "No!" to "Bad dog!" to "Stop that!" to "Get into your cage now!" But of all the things they’ve said to this cute little pooch to reprimand him, here’s one I’ve never heard them say: "Jake, stop sinning!" Not once has that line come out of their mouths—and I’m quite certain it never will. Because Jake can’t sin! Yes, he can be a pest--and make a mess--and be a terrible annoyance at times, but he cannot commit a personal sin. Consequently, I will never hear his confession. He will never whisper his mortal and venial sins in my ear; he will only lick my ear--which he does every chance he gets!

Fr. Ray, what’s the point?

My point is to present you with a slightly different perspective on sin and repentance. I do this because the subject of sin and our need for God’s forgiveness is present in each of the three Scripture readings we just heard. So—pardon the pun—it’s hard to avoid sin today if you’re the preacher. When we talk about sin we normally speak in negative terms, do we not? For example, the New Catechism has this to say about sin in paragraph 1849: "Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as ‘an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.’" Speaking of sin in negative terms like these is, of course, quite understandable and quite appropriate, because sin is evil. But behind all these negatives is actually a very positive truth (and this is what I want to focus on today): the truth about our dignity and vocation as human persons! Jake, my nephews’ dog, cannot sin, because Jake does not share our dignity and call as human beings created in God’s image and likeness. We have free will; Jake doesn’t. He follows instinct, not reason—hence he cannot be held responsible for his actions in the same way that you and I can be held responsible for ours. He lacks the power we have as human beings to make free, rational decisions for good and evil. Notice again what the Catechism tells us: it says that sin "wounds the nature of man." That’s an important statement which implicitly affirms both our value and our destiny. As men and women with a human nature we were made for God; we were made to know, love and serve the Lord—to live in a dynamic, powerful, personal relationship with the Creator of the universe, a relationship which is supposed to begin here on earth and continue forever in heaven. Sin interferes with the fulfillment of that vocation, and in that sense it wounds our nature.

So the bottom line is this: admitting our sins may not be a very pleasant experience, but every time we do so we are actually affirming our dignity as human beings! We are affirming our worth in God’s eyes. Let me make this clear to you by restating the message of each of the Scripture readings we just heard. The first was from Acts 3. John and Peter have just healed a man through the power of the Holy Spirit, and afterward Peter says this to the people who witnessed the event: "The God of our fathers has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence when he had decided to release him. You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. The author of life you put to death . . . " With those strong words Peter was saying, "Look, you were made to love God, not crucify him! You were made to embrace goodness, not to reject it for the evil of murder. But you did not act in accord with your nature--you sinned!" Then he closes by saying, "Repent . . . and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away." In other words, "Acknowledge this offence against God and against your own dignity as human beings, and the Lord will certainly forgive you."

Then we have the text from 1 John 2, where the apostle says: "My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin." That is to say, "My children, I want to see you live lives of righteousness and holiness, because your human dignity demands it." He goes on, "But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world." In other words, "Jesus died to restore to us the righteousness that we should have as human beings created in God’s image and likeness. After we sin, this righteousness is restored by turning to Jesus in sincere repentance." Later he continues, "Those who say, ‘I know him,’ but do not keep his commandments are liars, and the truth is not in them. But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him." Paraphrased that means, "We have the power as human beings to speak and to act freely—a power which lower animals like Jake do not have. But our dignity demands that our words and actions correspond: we must speak the truth and also live it!"

And finally we have these words from Jesus in today’s Gospel text from Luke 24: "Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations." There Jesus is telling us: "I died and rose for every human being—not just those of a certain color, or nationality or religion—because every human being has an immortal soul and is called to eternal glory."

One of the great desires of people today is the desire to increase their self-esteem. With the proper qualifications, that is a good desire. But in seeking this goal many make a fatal mistake: they avoid examining their consciences and facing their sins. They think that if they do admit their sins, their self-esteem will decrease. I disagree. As ironic as this may sound, to admit our sins is to affirm our dignity! And that’s the perspective we should have on the matter—because it’s true. And so if someone says to us: "Why do you spend time thinking about your sins and then go confess them to a priest?", our response should be, "Why? Because I’m worth it, that’s why! I’m not a dog; I’m a human being with an eternal destiny: I was made to know, love and serve God in this life, and to live forever with him in the next. Why should I allow my sins to keep me from attaining that goal?! They’re not worth it! I want those things out of my life and off of my soul! Jesus died to give me a kingdom—an eternal kingdom! And I don’t want anything to keep me from entering it!"