Kill the Pet

And if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that cannot be put out.  Mk.9:43

Jesus is giving the causes of stumbling and warns about the seriousness of sin.

I hear people talking about confessing the same sins many times over. I have done the same. We have our "pet" sins that we indulge in time and time again. Jesus raises the stakes on sin in this passage from Saint Mark.  Hell is a real place and a real consequence of choices I make.

In the first reading from Ecclesiasticus we read much the same:

Do not be so sure of forgiveness that you add sin to sin. And do not say, ‘His compassion is great, he will forgive me my many sins’; for with him are both mercy and wrath, and his rage bears heavy on sinners.   Eccl.5:6

It's time for me to be as serious about sin as Jesus is. It's time for me to kill the pet.

Lord Jesus, I will always need your mercy to triumph over justice, but Lord, I need your help to stop indulging in my pet sins. Give me backbone and determination to break habitual sins in my life.
Saint Augustine, please pray for me.