Forgiveness is at the heart of our readings today, and the recognition that we may have to give a little of ourselves to do this, yes even to taking up a cross the bare it. Sunday Newspapers are always full of people’s, especially celebrities, failures; the papers seem to revel in the faults of others mainly because their readers enjoy the scandal too. The Media seem to be so unforgiving, it is almost impossible to recover, even when the slip up’s of youth are long gone. The truth that you and I know is that we are human, we are not perfect, we make mistakes some we are able to recover from easily others stay with us, and others haunt our dreams and thoughts from time to time that only we are aware of. That is why the Sacrament of Reconciliation is so important; it allows us to put a full stop in our lives and to begin a new chapter: it acknowledges that we are weak and prone to reoffending and that we need the grace of God to build us up again. At times when life was drowning us, it was the firm hand of Jesus who grasped our hand and saved us from drowning and unlike the Media when he forgives he does not keep reminding us what we did but rather encourages us in our new life of grace to do good.