This morning we made it to mass on time and with good attitudes. Our Gospel reading was the parable of the tax collector and the pharisee. Our priest related this to the sin of hubris and self-righteousness. He said that in many ways this may be the worst sin of all. He also took this in a new direction that I hadn't ever thought about, that of following the laws and rules of a culture to the extent that they allow one to override what is truly right the extent that allows them to rationalize injustices, in some cases grave ones. He cited the cases of the Nazi guards who when captured and interrogated became defensive when confronted with the atrocious nature of their misdeeds and said they were doing the right thing by doing their duty.

Later in the day I stumbled on a program called "Nazi Scrapbook from Hell". It detailed the daily lives of the administrative personnel of the Auschwitz concentration camp and the stark contrast of their gay livelihood with the evil deeds they were committing.

In the evening I got a notice from my human growth and development professor that we will be discussing the experiment of the Lucifer effect in which group dynamics can move people to perform evil deeds.

I also thought of this on the personal level as I usually have taken the moral. I thought of my recent resentment toward my wife in which I criticize her for her parenting mistakes even though I make mistakes myself.

My parents came to visit this afternoon and again for the third time or so my dad seemed to have taken a much more tolerant tone towards other groups of people and to the kids who don't play ball well. I am finding our visits getting a lot more comfortable these days. I had a weird feeling when they left. I walked them out alone and waved and said goodbyes. I felt the feeling that I might have when my son has to visit and leave in the future. That of longing for the time when it was just us every day together and we were the most important people in each others lives.

I came in and hugged my children extra tight tonight.

Thanks be to God for this day.