We'd like our children to be perfect angels. As parents, we spend a lot of time teaching them proper manners, coaching them on moral behavior, and

helping them understand right from wrong. And while we would like everything they do to be good and right, we know that sometimes our sons and daughters

have to learn from their mistakes. We just hope and pray that the mistakes in their lives are minor and give them an education, as opposed to serious

problems that lead to calamitous results. Sometimes, as parents, we have to take a stand (tough love, some call it) as a way of holding firm to certain principles of behavior.

The woman in the Gospel today is described as a sinner, although Luke never specifies the actual sin. We like to imagine the worst-adultery, harlotry.

Maybe we do that because if she's guilty of really awful sins (after all, Jesus said that her many sins were forgiven), then she's not quite like us. We can stand on the side of righteousness-just like the Pharisee! (Whoops! Is that really the side we want to be on?)

Well, yes, it is. We do want to be on the side of righteousness. But we don't want to be on the side of self-righteousness. That is the delicate balance that

each of us must strike. When our own children behave badly, we have to be prepared with correction. But we also have to be ready with forgiveness. Mercy is also one of the certain principles of Christian life. And just as God's justice is tempered with eternal mercy, so must our own desire for the right be guided by a merciful love. It's not always an easy balance to strike, but as we'll hear throughout this year as we read from Luke's Gospel, God's mercy is without limit or end.

"He said to her, "Your sins are

forgiven." The others at table said

to themselves, "Who is this who

even forgives sins?" But he said to

the woman, "Your faith has saved

you; go in peace." - Luke 7:48-50