SATURDAY HOMILY: Confession: God's CPR
Sometimes people may feel that they have offended God so greatly
that they are beyond God's reach. This is a thought which comes from the
pit of hell and must be firmly and resolutely rejected. Confession is
the last place that Satan wants sinners to go because he knows full well
that there they will be set free from his stranglehold by the power of
God's love and mercy.
PrintLONG BEACH, CA (Catholic Online) - In today's Gospel we hear the world's greatest storyteller tell one of the greatest stories ever told. Commonly referred to as the Parable of the Prodigal, a more apt title would be the Parable of the Prodigal Son and His Elder Brother.
Both sons wandered from their father's side. The younger son did so in dramatic fashion, wasting his father's inheritance on a life of dissipation. The elder son also strayed but without ever actually physically leaving his father's side. The father in the parable represents God the Father whose love for His children is indomitable even in the face of their selfishness and lack of love.
When I think about this parable, there immediately comes to mind the beautiful hymn composed by Father Frederick William Faber (1814-1863) who, abandoning Anglicanism, followed Blessed John Henry Newman into the Church. The title of the hymn is "There's A Wideness in God's Mercy."
There's a wideness in God's mercy like the wideness of the sea ... There is welcome for the sinner, and more graces for the good; there is mercy with the Savior; there is healing in his blood.
What appealing words! What an alluring message! Indeed, there is welcome for the sinner. And this is the point of this great parable of the Lord. God is lavishly merciful toward sinners. If we are paying attention at all we will have noticed that the scriptural readings that the Church places before us in this Season of Lent are making precisely this point.
Today's first reading tells us: Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance? And today's responsorial psalm: He pardons all your iniquities, he heals all your ills. He redeems your life from destruction, he crowns you with kindness and compassion.
Earlier this week we heard these famous words from the prophet Isaiah: Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool. Are we listening? Are we allowing this message of God's extravagant mercy to penetrate our hearts? Can we not hear the Lord say to each one of us, "I want to set things right"?
In this Year of Faith which His Holiness Benedict XVI inaugurated on October 11, 2012, we have been recalling the great Ecumenical Council Vatican II which was convoked fifty years ago by Blessed John XXIII. We are also giving thanks to God for the Catechism of the Catholic Church which Blessed John Paul II promulgated twenty years ago.
One of my favorite quotations from the Catechism is paragraph 982. I have prayed, pondered and preached on this section innumerable times. In fact, I have visited this passage so frequently that I almost have it memorized word for word. Here's what it says:
"There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive. There is no one, however wicked and guilty, who may not confidently hope for forgiveness, provided his repentance is honest. Christ who died for all men desires that in his Church the gates of forgiveness should always be open to anyone who turns away from sin."
What more encouragement does one need to turn to the Lord and seek His mercy? Those "gates of forgiveness" are the doors of the confessionals of our churches. There Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is waiting for us, ready and willing to heal our wounds.
I understand how difficult it can be to take the plunge, as it were, and enter the confessional especially if months or even years have passed since one's last good confession. But, as I like to say, the most difficult step in making a good confession is turning the door knob of the confessional door and getting inside. Once there, with the help of God the Holy Spirit and with the prayers of our Mother Mary, the rest is easy. Really.
It doesn't matter how many or how great our sins may be. It doesn't matter how long we may have been away from the Sacraments. Jesus is waiting there to forgive us and heal us through the ministry of the priest in this most beautiful Sacrament of Divine Mercy.
Regarding the role of the priest in administrating this Sacrament, the Catechism teaches:
"When he celebrates the sacrament of Penance, the priest is fulfilling the ministry of the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost sheep, of the Good Samaritan who binds up wounds, of the Father who awaits the prodigal son and welcomes him on his return, and of the just and impartial judge whose judgment is both just and merciful. The priest is the sign and the instrument of God's merciful love for the sinner" (1465).
This Sacrament is called by various names. It is called "Confession" because it does necessitate the confessing of our sins, in particular any grave or mortal sins of which we ...
Both sons wandered from their father's side. The younger son did so in dramatic fashion, wasting his father's inheritance on a life of dissipation. The elder son also strayed but without ever actually physically leaving his father's side. The father in the parable represents God the Father whose love for His children is indomitable even in the face of their selfishness and lack of love.
When I think about this parable, there immediately comes to mind the beautiful hymn composed by Father Frederick William Faber (1814-1863) who, abandoning Anglicanism, followed Blessed John Henry Newman into the Church. The title of the hymn is "There's A Wideness in God's Mercy."
There's a wideness in God's mercy like the wideness of the sea ... There is welcome for the sinner, and more graces for the good; there is mercy with the Savior; there is healing in his blood.
What appealing words! What an alluring message! Indeed, there is welcome for the sinner. And this is the point of this great parable of the Lord. God is lavishly merciful toward sinners. If we are paying attention at all we will have noticed that the scriptural readings that the Church places before us in this Season of Lent are making precisely this point.
Today's first reading tells us: Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance? And today's responsorial psalm: He pardons all your iniquities, he heals all your ills. He redeems your life from destruction, he crowns you with kindness and compassion.
Earlier this week we heard these famous words from the prophet Isaiah: Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool. Are we listening? Are we allowing this message of God's extravagant mercy to penetrate our hearts? Can we not hear the Lord say to each one of us, "I want to set things right"?
In this Year of Faith which His Holiness Benedict XVI inaugurated on October 11, 2012, we have been recalling the great Ecumenical Council Vatican II which was convoked fifty years ago by Blessed John XXIII. We are also giving thanks to God for the Catechism of the Catholic Church which Blessed John Paul II promulgated twenty years ago.
One of my favorite quotations from the Catechism is paragraph 982. I have prayed, pondered and preached on this section innumerable times. In fact, I have visited this passage so frequently that I almost have it memorized word for word. Here's what it says:
"There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive. There is no one, however wicked and guilty, who may not confidently hope for forgiveness, provided his repentance is honest. Christ who died for all men desires that in his Church the gates of forgiveness should always be open to anyone who turns away from sin."
What more encouragement does one need to turn to the Lord and seek His mercy? Those "gates of forgiveness" are the doors of the confessionals of our churches. There Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is waiting for us, ready and willing to heal our wounds.
I understand how difficult it can be to take the plunge, as it were, and enter the confessional especially if months or even years have passed since one's last good confession. But, as I like to say, the most difficult step in making a good confession is turning the door knob of the confessional door and getting inside. Once there, with the help of God the Holy Spirit and with the prayers of our Mother Mary, the rest is easy. Really.
It doesn't matter how many or how great our sins may be. It doesn't matter how long we may have been away from the Sacraments. Jesus is waiting there to forgive us and heal us through the ministry of the priest in this most beautiful Sacrament of Divine Mercy.
Regarding the role of the priest in administrating this Sacrament, the Catechism teaches:
"When he celebrates the sacrament of Penance, the priest is fulfilling the ministry of the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost sheep, of the Good Samaritan who binds up wounds, of the Father who awaits the prodigal son and welcomes him on his return, and of the just and impartial judge whose judgment is both just and merciful. The priest is the sign and the instrument of God's merciful love for the sinner" (1465).
This Sacrament is called by various names. It is called "Confession" because it does necessitate the confessing of our sins, in particular any grave or mortal sins of which we ...
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Matthew 24 (NIV)
The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’[b]
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.[d] 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it[e] is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
The Day and Hour Unknown
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[f] but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Footnotes:
a.Matthew 24:15 Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11
b.Matthew 24:29 Isaiah 13:10; 34:4
c.Matthew 24:30 Or the tribes of the land
d.Matthew 24:30 See Daniel 7:13-14.
e.Matthew 24:33 Or he
f.Matthew 24:36 Some manuscripts do not have nor the Son.
Kent: great news and welcome home! Thanks for sharing
B: Ditto. At this particular parish there were 2 priests giving confession with 2 decent sized lines of people waiting to give their confessions
Wonderfull article
I hope to go to confession today! it's only been about a month but it is a wonderful grace to work on everything big or small. Our whole family goes regularly. What a gift! Thanks Pater for the JoseMaria meditation: i have trouble understanding this concept but the clearness does come and go!
@Francisco: That's strange. I just went two weeks ago. Mt. 24:36. God bless.
Confession is gone; just one of the many signs of the End Times! Catholic End Times: http://catholicguidance.blogspot.ca/
I was away from the Church for about 40 years at the urging of my wife I made an appointment with the Pastor at our Church and we had a long talk about why I had left the faith and what had changed. A couple of weeks later I made an appointment with a priest in the parish and went to his office where we talked andI mad a confession that spanned the time I was away from the Church. I cannot find the words to describe the feelings that I had at the completion of that confession and receiving absolution. A tremendous weight was lifted from me and I left feeling like a new man. At Mass a week later I was kneeling in the pew before Mass and I felt a tremendous fullness, happiness and joy that cannot be described, I felt so good that I actually began to cry, it was like nothing I had ever felt before or since. I know that deep in my heart is was God telling me I was forgiven and welcoming me back to the Church. I'll never stray again!