Well, we have spent
the past week spiritually preparing ourselves for the New Year. We have one final
step left, and that is to make a good confession and start on a clean page. I
offer you just a few thoughts on this incredibly refreshing and cleansing
sacrament, one where we get the chance to speak to God through his priest ‘In Persona
Christi’ and receive the amazing gifts of forgiveness, mercy and love. We leave
the confessional rid of all our personal weeds which have turned the gardens of
our souls into ugly patches of overgrowth. We transcend the physical world and
enter the spiritual one, where God waits for us with loving arms and great
expectations for us. We mirror the day we pass from life to death. Only in this
sacrament, we pass from the death of sin into the life of God. How beautiful is
that!
John 20: 22-23: “Receive
the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven. Whose sins
you shall retain, they are retained.”
Archbishop Chaput,
Diocese of Philadelphia, tells us in his book “Living the Catholic Faith”: The
key to unlocking the richness of the Eucharist and the fullness of the
Christian life is the Sacrament of Penance, which prepares the heart to
recognize and receive its Savior. The most important single thing any of us can
do to grow in Christ, reform our hearts, renew the Church, and change the world
is simply this: God back to Confession, regularly and sincerely. Forgive and
seek forgiveness. Everything else will follow.
Rosalind Moss tells
us in the “Women of Grace” study guide: “What
if I have been away from Confession for years?” you may ask. “What if I have been away from the Church?”
God will say to you, “Come home, dear
child. I've already paid for all your sins at Calvary. I came that you might
have life and have it abundantly. There is no sin that is greater than my
mercy. I will forgive you. I will restore you. I will heal you. And you’ll find
rest for your soul, and peace, and happiness, and life beyond all you've ever
known.” Don’t wait. Run to the nearest confessor. God will meet you there.
God bless you.
Saint Elizabeth Ann
Seton tells us: Oh my soul, when our corrupted
nature overpowers, when we are sick of ourselves, weakened on all sides,
discouraged by repeated lapses, wearied with sin and sorrow, we gently,
sweetly, lay the whole account at his feet, reconciled and encouraged by his
appointed representative, yet trembling and conscious of our imperfect
dispositions, we draw near the sacred fountain. Scarcely the expanded heart
receives its longing desire, than wrapped in his love, covered with his righteousness,
we are no longer the same.
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