Stop calling me names!

As for that "we are a sinful people" thing, we should definitely cut that out. We are a holy people, dammit, and that holiness is a gift from God, which I grant we don't always live up to. But any parent knows that if you tell a child she is bad, she will be. If you tell her she's good, she'll probably live that way.

How 'bout this: Instead of a penitential rite every Sunday, where we remember our sins, let's remember our baptism. It's right there in the book for Mass, the rite of blessing and sprinkling holy water. How 'bout we remember we're a new people every Sunday, a forgiven people, a chosen, blessed, and beloved people. A good and holy people. Not a pack of sinners.

I dare any priests out there just to try it. Every Sunday for a year, do the sprinkling. Preach about it. Instead of yammering on about sin and conversion, tell people that they're holy. Believe it yourself--even if it's sometimes hard to believe.

But, dammit, that's the Good News. We're holy, blessed, because God makes us so.

Stop calling me a sinner! And don't call yourself one either. I know I sin, and I'm sure you do, too, but that's not who I am or who you are. I am God's beloved son, and so are you (or maybe you're a daughter, but you get my point). If we started really believing that, I think the world might change.

Sorry for being such an idealist. Well, not really.