In our culture today, we have interesting views of sin. One        extreme is scrupulous anxiety over any failure, and the other is a denial that anything is wrong at all. The truth, like many things, lies somewhere in the middle. One of the most ancient meanings of the word sin is ‘to miss the mark,’ like an archer who fails to hit the target. God calls us to perfection (bullseye), and through Christ this is attainable. But on our own, we often miss; and after missing once, it’s harder to hit the target again. In this analogy, we have a few options to respond:
1. We toss a fit and quit playing (if I can’t do it anyway, why bother?)  
2. We aimlessly seek to blame (the target is systematically flawed!) 
3. We change our stance and try again. Maybe we’re holding our bow wrong, perhaps we’re aiming in the wrong direction, or maybe we just haven’t put in the effort that we should.
This is what the Sacrament of Reconciliation is for! Confession and penance aren’t just asking God to get rid of our stray arrows. It’s an opportunity to clean up the field, dust off our bow, and stretch properly before aiming once again at the bullseye God wants us to hit.