Welcome to the 33-day preparation for total consecration to Jesus through Mary, right here on the Catholic Sprouts podcast.

Before we begin, let's pray.

In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, amen.

Mary, Mother of Jesus, be a mother to us now, and bring us to your son.

Amen.

Welcome back. Today is day 16 of our 33-day preparation for total consecration to Jesus through Mary. In this section of the preparation, we are talking about what it means to be

a human. We've already talked about the fact

that we are created in God's image, that through baptism we are part of God's family,

and that humans alone were created to seek knowledge, understanding, and relationship with God,

and we do this by encountering him and his tremendous love for us.

Today we are going to face the reality also that as humans, we are sinners.

No matter who you are, if you are listening to this, you share the fact that although you were created in the image

and likeness of God, you don't always live up to that. You fail. You sin. And so do I.

And so let's start this conversation by clearly understanding what sin is. So the catechism tells us that

sin is a failure to genuinely love God or neighbor or ourselves, to genuinely love. And remember,

we talked about that as people created in God's image, we can love,

which is when we can choose the good for another person, choose what is good for them,

even if we have to sacrifice.

So we commit sins through actions, inactions, words, and thoughts.

And we also know that we have the sacrament of confession to wipe away these sins and start again.

There are also different levels of sins.

There are venial sins which wound our relationship with God

...