to avoid the near occasions of sin...

went to confession last sunday, and my penance ofcourse... was to say the act of contrition.. one prayer i never fully learnt, haha i knew how to write it out for my grade 8 confirmation test, but that's cuz... i need to know it to pass religion -____-" so 4 days later, here i am eating lunch and remembering that as part of my penance, so my confession actually wasnt complete.. whoops, anyways, i searched online and here it is.......

Act of Contrition
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmlyresolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin.

that's exactly it... to avoid the near occasions of sin, how many times do we put ourselves into temptation, how many times can we actually avoid sinning if we can only think clearly, ahead of time. Honestly, more than half the times before we sin, we know its coming, we know the possibility of sin is increasing as we continue to put ourselves into a situation, where we convince ourselves that we're vulnerable, then self justification follows, and after everything, the guilt... it all becomes a repetitive cycle, the priest said on sunday, that never to expect that we can fully change our minds and souls and actions through a confession, a confession is a way to receive God's grace, to HELP you do these changes, to GUIDE you in difficult decisions when they come again, and especially in these times, when we're sinful and desperately in need of help and our desire for a better life that we may open ourselves fully to His grace to ask Him finally to help and DO something to help us, this reminds me also... another prayer... and another line that always make me ponder...

Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.And lead us not into temptation,but deliver us from evil. Amen.

asking God to forgive our trespasses, in the same way that we would forgive others... now in all truthfulness, if we forgive everyone that offend us all the time in every single situation, then we have no problem with God forgiving us for everything we do wrong.. but the fact is, there ARE people out there, that we have trouble forgiving, its because of this flaw in ourselves that we find it so amazing and almost unbelievable that God is all loving, that his unconditional love is powerful beyond measures, that all our sins are forgiven... that's exactly it, if we can forgive others in this unconditional way, we will be in perfect harmony with God and everyone, then we'll understand what this true relationship of love is, wow... Jesus is smart... Anyways after all that... i realize the need to pray more... "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen."