It may surprise you, and you may have missed it, but the Scripture today, especially the first reading and the Gospel, (and they are always a couple that go together) are about something that, looking at the median age here and what I know about the background of people, fifty percent of you are very familiar with and the rest may have heard about, some aren't sure of. Both readings are about "good old Catholic guilt....good old Catholic guilt."

Let's look at the key figures for a moment. Let's see there's Peter in the gospel of.... Let me try something here. We're going to do a little survey. I'm going to ask for a show of hands, four times. You can hold them up and we can look around and see what our complexion is like. How many here have a parent, grandparent, brother, child, grandchild, someone in the immediate family by the name of "Peter?" How many? OK. Look around and see what that looks like. OK? Now the other people, there's "James." How many have a person in the family whose name is "James?" Ah, "Jim" is beating "Pete"! This was true at all the Masses too. Let's try the third one in the Gospel, "John." How many have a "John" in their family? Yeah, "John" sort of overwhelms us. "John" is very popular. OK.

Let's go to the first reading. The first reading is from the Prophet Isaiah. He is not named in the reading, although it's written by him and it's an autobiography. He is describing his own early life, but he talks about it happening in the time of the death of King Uzziah. How many have an "Uzziah" in their family?..... Nobody wanted to call their kid "Uzie!" They didn't think that would be too smart! But Uzziah was one of the greatest kings of Israel. He became king at age six, and he ruled for about fifty years. And he helped promote agriculture. He was honest at a time of corruption. He reinforced the city's walls. He kept the traditional enemies of the Jewish people at bay. He was one of their great heroes. And we know somewhere around age 56, 57, he caught a disease they called leprosy (We probably wouldn't call it that today.) and he died.

Now Isaiah, who is writing, is a young man from a rich family, aristocracy, probably knew him personally, and what does he do when his friend and hero dies? He goes to church to pray, goes to the temple. And in the temple, he has this fantastic religious experience! It's like an earthquake, he is so shaken by the presence of God. And in the presence of God, what does he say? "Woe is me. Woe is me. I am not worthy.".... Good old Catholic guilt! And, you know, he becomes the greatest of the prophets in an age of prophets. But his first reaction is good old Catholic guilt: "I'm not worthy." Peter... Jesus comes into his life and what does he say? "Depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man. I'm not worthy.".... Good old Catholic guilt. There it is again.

Now there are versions of it. And I think it goes all the way back to humanity and our beginnings, but we've got our Catholic version. Some of you will remember this. Remember when we used to fast before we'd go to Communion, to make sure we were worthy, from midnight the night before? And that was never quite good enough. We were always worried, because "Did I eat something a minute after midnight?" Although on the West Coast, we had figured it out that the sun hit Nevada first, and then in the rest of the time zone, we had 'till 12:09 to eat. But, then we'd get up the next morning, having fasted to get ready for Communion, and we'd worry if we had brushed our teeth. Did that break our fast? Did we chew some gum on our way to Church? Did that break our fast?

And we had to get to Confession before each Communion. I mean there was this great concern. Oh, you had very good people, leading very good lives. They figured, "You know, I hope if I do the best I can, when I die, I'll stay out of hell. I'll spend some long quality time in Purgatory, and then maybe I'll get into Heaven. That's the best we can do." You know, we believe Confession, reconciliation, is very important. We offer it here each Saturday, but not once a day, or once a week, or every time you turn around. "Woe is me....Depart from me, Lord. I am unworthy!" ...Good old Catholic guilt!

Now there is a Protestant version of it, you know. And I'm sure every religion in the world and everyone has it. But I'll give you one example of a Protestant version of it, because it's an interesting version. There's a group, a movement, began in England under Queen Elizabeth I, lasted until Charles I. That's a good long time. A religious movement, and it was called the Puritan Movement. And what it had to do with, was not feeling guilty. They were called "Puritans" because they were to purify their religion of everything and anything Catholic. So the movement, first of all, got rid of vestments, got rid of altars, got rid of priests, got rid of praying for the dead, got rid of bishops, got rid of everything Catholic, EXCEPT... good old Catholic guilt!... They kept that... They kept that! And so, from them, they named one of the distinctive marks of a Christian (Christian church) was strong discipline. And they introduced the "Blue laws" that we had in New England. And the term "Puritan" came to mean the Protestant version of good old Catholic guilt. Can't seem to get away from it.

And here we are, Christians celebrating the Good News. Why is this? I would suggest two reasons. First of all, the Good News is almost too good to believe. And secondly, the Good News, if we believe it, is a challenge to us.

The Good News is almost too good to believe. Jesus announces to us a God who looks at us, (And our God's eye is true. It's not make-believe.) looks at us and sees that we are good, looks in our heart (Doesn't make it up!) and sees that we are good; secondly, loves us as precious; and thirdly, comes and dwells within us by His Spirit. So that Jesus says, "The kingdom of God is within you." THAT is Good, Good News, so good we find it hard to believe.

For a long time, Catholics came to the Eucharist and said, "You know, I'm really not worthy because it's a reward for being good; it's a reward for being perfect. Unless I pitched a no-hitter since my last confession, I can't go to communion. Isn't that crazy? I mean, who pitches a no-hitter? In baseball today, you bat .296 and you get about eight million a year, you know... let alone a hundred percent! But, in the meantime the Eucharist is not about a reward for being good. It's food for the journey. It's nourishment for our daily life. And it's a celebration of the Good News of our loving God. And yet we find it so hard to believe.

Forgiveness... We do need forgiveness, forgiveness in our life. And we do things that are wrong. And when we do, and turn to our God, our God forgives us. But when our God forgives us, He doesn't forgive us by looking the other way. God doesn't forgive us by pretending it didn't happen. God doesn't forgive us by disguising what we did, or forgetting it. God enters into our life by His forgiving spirit, penetrates us, and transfigures us so we're brand new. Because, despite the fact there is sin and evil in our world, and our gracious world is threatened by sin and evil, at root we are good. We are loved. We are worthy. We are loveable. That's the root that we can't lose touch with. And, so with all the problems in the world, some days we don't feel that way. I'm looking good on the outside, feeling crummy on the inside.

The Good News is true. Our God knows us and loves us and dwells with us. But that leads to a challenge. The challenge is, if we live in a world that needs improvement, a world where all is not right, a world where things need to be improved, and we look to ourselves and believe the Good News, that we are good and loved and worthwhile and our God is with us, then we've got to be the people who are the prophets, the leaders, the people who, one way or another, each day of our lives, make a difference. And that's what we come to celebrate and be reminded. We celebrate and believe the Good News of God's love, and be reminded to say "Here I am, Lord. Send me." Amen.