God has already forgiven all of our sins. He did that on the cross. It’s a done deal. We don’t need to earn His forgiveness. So why repent? Why go to confession? We do that in order to receive the benefit of God’s forgiveness, which is reconciliation.

Love means more than just getting along. Loving someone means being willing to tell them uncomfortable truths for their own good.

Does God ever deceive us? That question may enter into our minds this Sunday when we hear the prophet Jeremiah say, “You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped” (Jer 20:7). It sounds like Jeremiah was being tricked or deceived, and that seems incompatible with the actions of a perfectly good and loving God.

Pope Francis is the 266th person to hold the office Christ established in Peter. Because of the promises made by Christ in the Gospel, Christians today continue to look to the Bishop of Rome as the principal steward of the faith and governor of the Church that Christ established, not because we have faith in the main in the office, but because we have faith in Christ who established the office for the good of the Church.