Confession, examination of conscience, offer us freedom from all our past sins.  Protecting us from remaining stuck in our own sins.  Just how important is that?  Very!  We will never, ever, outgrow our short comings, if we do not look at them head on.  When we look at them, we realize they truly exist.  We realize they are a part of us that needs addressing.  Correcting our imperfections is a good thing.  We stunt our growth when we do not look at our blind spots.  In order to be a child of God, we must look deep within with great honesty.  We have to in order to grow and better ourselves not just for ourselves, but for society as a whole.  We have our work cut out for us and we must be of sound mind in order to complete the task that lie ahead.  This is where honesty comes into play.  We can either choose to be gut level with ourselves and others or fall back in our growth process of being the best we can be.  The power of a great choice, is exactly that!  Powerful.  We need to be our best self in order to be like God's chosen people.  We do not want to let ourselves down, or others down for that matter, and we certainly do not want to let our creator down, who gave us eternal life.  

So we have important decision to make that will impact us and the lives of others if we choose poorly.  However, if we choose properly, we will experience great growth and prosper in this lifetime.  After all our creator is watching, and so is every one else, so let us put forth our best efforts this day to choose well in all circumstances in our lives that act as a dominos effect that will either build us up or set us behind, when it comes to affecting not only our lives but the lives that are closest to us, during our life time. 

Let us choose wisely.  Let us live fully in the life we are given by God.  May our lives become fruitful daily.  And not fruitless!  Let us lift others up and not let others down.  We have that power, let us tap into it, every opportunity we have, and be thoughtful, thankful, and blessed.  

Let us choose the blessings over everything else, and God will honor our choices and furthermore, He will show us his love through every decision we make that positively impacts the lives of everyone we care about.  Allow the light of God and Mary to shine right through you and I promise you, this world will never be the same.  The outpouring of joy, happiness, and peace will overflow all around us, and hearts will sing forever the hymn of joy, unlike we have ever seen.

Freedom has arrived. Freedom, begins with Christ, and it finds its ending, in Christ!  He frees us, he forgives us and we live great lives in his company.  Those of us who know this truth, understands the importance of communicating our deepest concerns, our deepest weaknesses, our deepest sorrows, in exchange of freeing oneself from the bondage of sin.  That person instinctively know's that all life begins, in Christ, all circumstances rely fully on Christ's intervention, and all out comes are purified through God's grace, and we come to realize we are nothing compared to the greatness of Him.  

And time and again, we return to him when we need his guidance and wisdom that help us to grow.  And we mature when we are honest in Him.  And I believe He is pleased by our efforts to take this initiative, this stance, this very choice, to grow in Him.  When we grow in Christ we become perfect and we go on to desire perfection and we can get pretty close to it with the assistance of God, and yet without God, we accomplish less than the actual potential he gave to us.  So let us live up to God's expectations and hold the bar higher than we usually do.  Let us not cut corners, but bridge the gaps, and make our Lord proud of us.