A story for every day...
Sinless? – An exception!
Some men imagine they are sinless because they have not killed or stolen and have never been in prison for any other crime. One day the Sacrament of Penance was discussed in the presence of a Catholic priest. One of the gentlemen, addressing the priest, said to him, “I never go to confession, for I have no sins.” The clergyman replied, “Since you do not sin, you are an exception.” Our man wanted to know at all costs how the priest meant this; had he perhaps meant that he was a saint. The priest made him promise not to get angry if he told him the truth, and then he replied, “I’ll tell you who doesn’t sin: children who don’t yet have reason and fools who have lost it.” This blunt but true answer put an end to the discussion about the necessity of confession.
A man without sin is arrested.
One day a priest met a man who had not received the Sacraments for many years. As it was Easter time, the priest asked him if he had already made his Easter. Our man replied, “Father, it would be difficult for me to confess, I have not committed any sins.” In vain the priest tried to make him understand that no man was without sins. While they were talking, a gendarme joined them and arrested the man for stealing wood. The parish priest was not too surprised and recognized that the good Lord had wanted to disprove by the fact of “the sinless man.”
Man being a weak creature of body and soul, no one can without lack of reason and common sense believe himself to be free from sin. Only the Mother of God was preserved from all stain by a special privilege. Every man is a sinner. Those who claim to be without fault are often the greatest sinners.
