Ending comment: I have seen one or two people in my life who had that core confidence that allowed them to almost glow with love. It could be seen in their behavior, in their words and especially in their deeds. But even with them it was transient. Sometimes there, others gone. It seemed to depend on the circumstances of the moment. After all, one of them exclaimed one day when I questioned him on this very point, "We're all still fallible. Even Christ sinned."
I don't think he meant this as a means of escaping responsibility but rather for reliving guilt. Being raised Catholic, this relief is what I was taught to seek in confession. It took me seventy years to realize that.
