Romans 6:3-11
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Homily:
Sin naturally brings shame to the soul. We deal with that shame in different ways.
Some take their sin into hiding, using all forms of cover ups, trickery and darkness, to hide their sin, so that no one sees the act and shames them.
Some take their sin and make it a counter-culture, an act of rebellion or a testament to their freedom. The logic here is that if more people are doing it, then there is no shame in it.
The thing with shame is that even though the effect is more debilitating when it is public, the soul does not really care about public opinion. It shrinks and gets deformed with sin.
To let go of sin, you have to confess that sin. When I say confess, I am not limiting it to just going to a priest. When I say confess, I mean you have to acknowledge the sin, feel sorry for it, surrender to God’s will and accept your penance. Sometimes, this process of confession happens privately and sometimes publicly.
What I have noticed is that those who have risen with Christ and conquered sin, are not ashamed to profess their struggles and victory over sin. It is part of the reconciliation process.
The shame of sin is converted to the pride of reconciliation, and the soul re-forms into the image and likeness of God.