American culture transmits the notion that God (if there is a God) loves us so much that he loves everything we do, including our “mistakes.” It’s a Big Lie that can be countered only by repetitively reminding Catholics that true happiness comes from conforming ourselves to God’s will,  and that such conforming begins with a frank, transparent, and always painful examination of conscience—but it’s a pain that ends in the joy of knowing that our sin is gone, replaced by the sanctifying grace that makes us, once again, friends of God.