We say “love the sinner; hate the sin” all the time, yet in this age of sound bites and Facebook quotes, where judgment and anger are so easy, and so, so tempting, I can forget that behind every sin there’s a sinner, just like me, worthy of love and mercy.

If we are to be truly be a “hospital for sinners,” like Pope Francis says, we need to remember the words of his predecessor Saint John Paul II: “The Church proposes; she imposes nothing.” (Redemptoris Missio, 39) During difficult times we’re called to live out our faith in a way that makes others take notice. This cannot be by condemning and imposing on others, but by standing by our beliefs and proposing God in everything we do and say. As a sinner I have no right to judge but rather a responsibility to love. In my prayers, I ask God for the grace to live this responsibility each day.