Reconciliation

What do you think of when you see a cross or crucifix? Does it remind you that Jesus Christ dies on a cross to save us from our sins? It should Jesus did come to this earth as our Savior the one sent by God to redeem us.

God sent his only Son to become human so we could know the loving embrace of his forgiveness for all of us that is a big idea to wrap our minds around right? He loves each of us as we love our own children if we are blessed to have them. God loves us through our good days and our bad days. He forgives us for ignoring Him for extended periods of time. The trials that we face in our lives will find Him walking with us and at times carrying us. So why then is it so hard for us to ask for forgiveness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation?

We all sin. Yes, I said that we may not want to admit to ourselves that we sin but let’s face it we do, it may not be mortal sins but venial sins take us away from God’s love just as easily. It may not be more than telling a little white lie every now and then to protect someone’s feelings. That’s OK right? Not really, we need to at least admit to God and ourselves that we lied and that we will definitely try not to do that again. We will most likely fall back once in a while, but remember God is a loving and forgiving God.

We do not sin in a vacuum that is why the Sacrament of Reconciliation is important. Jesus instituted this Sacrament, in John 20: 21- 23 Jesus says, “…’Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’.” Ok, you say so why doesn’t the priest just have everyone come into the church once a month, 2 times a year or even yearly and we can pray a little and then everyone does a personal examination of conscience and the priest says the prayer of absolution over everyone and voila we are absolved of our sins and we are forgiven. Well…stating our sins out loud to another person who is the representative of Christ here on earth helps us be accountable to ourselves. And just like our conversations (prayer) with God no one else can find out about what we discuss with the priest in confession under the seal of confession unless we chose to share that with someone else. Fr. William Saunders says this in his article The Seal of the Confessional, “The standard of secrecy protecting a confession outweighs any form of professional confidentiality or secrecy. When a person unburdens his soul and confesses his sins to a priest in the Sacrament of Penance, a very sacred trust is formed. The priest must maintain absolute secrecy about anything that a person confesses.”

Everything we say to the priest stays between him and you. Wow, isn’t that mind boggling? We are so used to the things said in what we believe is confidence finding their way to the world around us that we find it hard to believe but it is the truth. So think about that during Lent and attend a reconciliation service or go to confession during the time it is offered at your parish. Here at St. Olaf Father is in the confessional on Saturday mornings from 9 to 10 and on Saturday afternoons from 4 to 4:45. The area wide reconciliation services for Lent are listed in the bulletin.