Chapter 12: A Faithful Mindset, Discernment in Humility.
A faithful mindset in our day-to-day lives is achieved through daily reflection within a demeanor of humility and compassion. As we move forward throughout the arch of life, a faithful mindset is needed and can only be found in an active faith journey. The first step in this journey is through the acceptance that our heavenly Father loves us and forgives us our sins unconditionally as we confess our sins with true contrition and remorse in the sacrament of reconciliation. We consider how we as fathers must also unconditionally forgive our own children when they fall short in their humanity and come to us for forgiveness. We must recognize, promote, and nurture the unconditional love and forgiveness needed within our families to have this reflection of love present in the families we are nurturing. It is through understanding the power of our free will – our “will-power” – shown to us through God’s grace, revealed through the sacrament of reconciliation, that we gain the strength needed to choose to do well in our daily lives. We become competent in our understanding of the power of reconciliation as an important channel of grace, where we are made clean from sin, and at that moment restored in perfect union with our heavenly Father. It is in these moments of grace that we come to understand that we can separate ourselves from sin, just not from our sinful nature. It is in this realization that we share in the graces that support and strengthen the fullness of a faithful mindset.