O my human Brothers, I am heartily sorry for having offended you and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell. But most of all because I have offended you and the Lord, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of my Father's grace and your support, to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life.

Forgive me, Brothers, for judging my fellow men without caring to know them. Every day I judge people for what they do or omit to do, for how they look, for their lifestyle, for the way they speak. Every day I look at people and forget that they are your beloved children, made holy through your divine mercy and not through my approval. Forgive me and my fellow Christians for snickering at the lady in the funny hat, for staring at the man with only one arm, for quickening my pace on the sidewalk when I pass by the man with his hand reached out to me. Forgive us, Father, for forgetting that the hand of the needy beggar extended to us is indeed the hand of Divine Mercy. Forgive us for assuming that we know your children better than you do. Forgive us for forgetting that your are the only Judge and that your righteous judgement is and always has been forgiveness, love, and grace.

Forgive me, Brothers, for leaving the lights on and turning the heat up, for driving to work instead of biking, for doing what is convenient for me rather than acting as a good steward of this beautiful Earth, as God has charged us. Forgive us for poisoning our own planet, our own people, our own children. Forgive us for ignoring the gaping wounds of the Earth in favor of economic prosperity. Forgive us for pretending that we are the masters of creation, when all creation was made to glorify its Creator.

Forgive me, Brothers, for hurting you and killing you. Forgive me when I read reports of thousands dying from a tsunami halfway across the globe without caring. Forgive me for believing that I have the right to defend myself with bodily force. Forgive me for hating my enemies and wishing them death: Forgive me for not speaking out against a people that tortures and kills and silences its opposition in the name of democracy, and even in the name of the divine. Forgive me because I fail at every turn to love you as our Lord has commanded me. Forgive me and my fellow Christians for fighting and slaughtering, for raping little girls in Iraq, for subjecting foreign journalists to torture and prison because we do not agree with their message. Forgive us for squabbling and bickering among ourselves, for judging even each other before we show each other love.

Forgive me, Christ, for finding new reasons every day to crucify you once more. Forgive me for loving my earthly life more than your promise of salvation. Forgive me for fearing to be truly selfless, forgive me for refusing to reach out to those most in need. Forgive me when I use your name when it is convenient for me. Forgive me, because I forget your love and mercy when it is convenient for me. Forgive me and my fellow Christians for worshipping the Bible instead of the Lord. Forgive us for worhsipping our own ideas and seeking the authority of scripture to back them up instead of quietly listening for your spirit. Forgive us for pretending that we know your will. Forgive us for pretending we have a monopoly on moral authority. We forget that we have no right to set any kind of limit to your Loving-kindness, but it is our duty only to understand and see it as being still greater than we had seen before. Forgive me, Christ, for denying you in deed even as I speak your name with trembling lips.

Brothers, forgive me. Father, forgive me.

Amen.