This, the fourth Sunday of Lent, is Laetare Sunday. The liturgical color for the day is Rose. The only other time this color is used is the third Sunday of Advent. Laetare Sunday sets within the Lenten season as a point where we begin to anticipate the joy of our salvation brought to us by the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus which we celebrate on Easter Sunday. The regular color for Lent is violet. It symbolizes the suffering of Christ and the sorrow for our sin that we express during the penitential season. I have heard the Catholic faith referred to as a “guilt trip”, mainly in reference to the necessity of Confession and our regular confession of sin at the beginning of Mass. I can only conclude that folks who feel this way are not willing to seek God’s forgiveness. Perhaps they have never really “heard” the Gospel with their heart. Some folks still live with the illusion that our good works just need to outweigh our bad and we will be okay. Not true. The sin that damns us is unrepented sin. Our good works and/or intentions cannot undo the damnation of our sin. But God can and does by the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. We tend to push back against the idea that we cannot save ourselves. That is our evil pride at work. Pride is the root of all sin because it prevents us from recognizing our personal fault and hinders us from repentance. Healthy guilt is good. It means that our properly formed conscience is working. The purpose is not to make us feel bad, (guilty feelings) but to bring us to the remedy, forgiveness by God through Christ Jesus. It’s just like when you feel bad with a fever or headache. Your body is telling you something is wrong and needs a remedy. Our properly formed conscience does the same thing. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.