@ MASS TODAY, THE PRIEST MADE the MOST COMMON PREACHING MISTAKE TODAY

He was making a point about the afterlife and how great it will be to be in heaven with "all the other good people". The only problem is that heaven is not filled with good people but forgiven people. Jesus Himself denied being "good" saying only the father is good. He said this to prevent people from self-righteousness. Sure,most people who regularly attend church are decent citizens and don't commit felonies or even many misdemeanors. And they give to the church financially,etc etc. But that alone doesn't make them good. There are too many "sins of omission" that we make on a daily basis that keeps all of us from being truly good. And so we miust keep reminding ourselve that our justification is not by good works,but by faith & grace alone;from which springs the fruit of the Spirit.And from whcih we are inspired to do good things. But these good things can never justify us.Only repentance & grace can justify us.

Its REALLY important for preachers to remind the parishioners they will be in heaven with other FORGIVEN people rather than GOOD people. Yes,they (we) will even be amongst forgiven murderers in heaven.But the unforgiven thief will not be there,because he refused to repent. The unforgiven person who doesn't forgive others will not be there either. The unforgiven person who doesn't try to reconcile wtih others will not be there either. And there's only one reason they won't be forgiven. Because they didn't think they needed to be forgiven. It was their haughtiness & hardness of heart that made them blind to their own sinfulness.