The Sacrament of Confession
It is the Sacrament of God´s mercy! It is the Sacrament of reconciliation! It is the healing Sacrament! It is the Sacrament of conversion! It is the Sacrament of penance! It is the power of love and forgiveness over sin! It is the Sacrament of salvation! It is God´s last word of grace over the condemnation the sin brings to us! Jesus died for our sins so we can live not under the power of sin, but under the power of his grace!
"We know that Christ has been raised from the dead and will never die again. Death has no power over him any more. For by dying, he is dead to sin once and for all, and now the life that he lives is life with God. In the same way, you must see yourselves as being dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus. That is why you must not allow sin to reign over your mortal bodies and make you obey their desires; or give any parts of your bodies over to sin to be used as instruments of evil. Instead, give yourselves to God, as people brought to life from the dead, and give every part of your bodies to God to be instruments of uprightness; and then sin will no longer have any power over you -- you are living not under law, but under grace. For the wage paid by sin is death; the gift freely given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Roman 6:9-14.23)
WE DESERVE ONLY ONE THING WHEN WE DO SIN: DEATH! IT IS THE WORST DISGRACE THAT EXISTS SINCE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. IT IS THE REASON DEATH AND SADNESS GOT INTO THE WORLD. SAINT AUGUSTINE, ONE OF THE BIGGEST DOCTORS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH USED TO SAY: 'SIN IS THE CAUSE OF SADNESS. LET HOLINESS BE THE REASON OF YOUR JOY!' (we will reflect deeply into sin in another time).
Jesus was sent to the world not to condemn the sinners but to teach and bring them back to live the kind of life that they were created for. In means of doing that he instituted in his Church the great sacrament of return to God´s arms, the sacrament that allows us to be back the life of communion with God and our brothers and sisters; the sacrament that gives back the life our soul always loses when we do commit mortal sins.
Many non-catholic Christians don´t believe and keep refusing to believe in the efficacy and the crucial reality that this is a wonderful grace of God which comes straight from the merciful heart of Jesus and it is not a human creation. It is a God creation! He himself is the one who conferred power and authority to his disciples to forgive sins in his name.
As good Catholics we don´t need to fall onto the same error of Martin Luther, his followers and the protestants that keep seeking answers for everything only in the Holy Scriptures ('Sola Scriptura') for we do have a triplex of faith: the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Tradition and the amazing Magisterium of the Church.
Anyway we would like to expose the moment when Jesus gave a mission filled with power to his followers to forgive sins in his name and instituted the sacrament of Confession in the Bible. Saint John is the one who will report that to us, the exactly moment when the risen Christ appeared to the disciples.
"In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, 'Peace be with you,' and, after saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord, and he said to them again, 'Peace be with you.' As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.' After saying this he breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone´s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone´s sins, they are retained." (John 20:19-23)
For those who are believers there are no arguments against the power of the Word of God! Jesus breathed on the disciples and throughout the power of the Holy Spirit gave to his disciples authority to forgive sins. The same thing have done the disciples with other disciples and other disciples, giving the authority Jesus conferred to them through breathing on them and with imposition of hands.
Nowadays the Catholic Church is the one who throughout the holy father and the bishops pass on that authority that came straight from Jesus to the priests (men like the disciples who receive power and authority to forgive sins in Jesus name) and we are the ones who can receive this abundant grace that flows from confessionals opened doors on the Church as it flew one day from the opened side of Christ on the cross!
Even in the midst of Catholics it is sometimes difficult to talk and explain the necessity we have of this amazing sacrament, for it is not a general thing to do as a rule but a great grace to receive to strengthen our soul against the wickedness ways of vicious and repetitive sins we have no ability to be free unless through the power of the grace of God.
There is a story about a monk who used to fall into the same kind of sin all the time. Week after week he used to go and confess his sins to the priest hoping to receive a special grace to get rid of that terrible habit but never happened. One day he said to his confessor he would gave up getting back to confession for he would never win: the sin was always stronger than him.
On this very occasion and for his big surprise, his confessor who was also a holy man said a phrase that was decisive in his struggles: 'Never give up! The power of the sacrament will act in your life through your perseverance!' That was exactly what happened. One month after that hard struggles, he overcame that terrible sin. We can also say that this is also a Sacrament of Perseverance!
On our Christian life we have no energy, no motivation, no good will, no good habits, no strong desire to keep on track of Jesus steps unless we get to know and experience in our lives the power of God. We do need to have an encounter with Jesus Christ. We do need to have an encounter with the Father. We do need to have an encounter with the Holy Spirit. And one of the best ways of doing that is opening ourselves and asking him, from the bottom of our hearts, to come and give us that such experience! (we will talk more about that in another time).
One way to start is to know that God loves us exactly the way we are and Jesus had died on the cross for our sins, while we were still sinners.
"When we were still helpless, at the appointed time, Christ died for the godless. You could hardly find anyone ready to die even for someone upright; though it is just possible that, for a really good person, someone might undertake to die. SO IT IS PROOF OF GOD´S OWN LOVE FOR US, THAT CHRIST DIED FOR US WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS. How much more can we be sure, therefore, that, now that we have been justified by his death, we shall be saved through him from the retribution of God. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more can we be sure that, being now reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. What is more, we are filled with exultant trust in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have already gained our reconciliation." (Romans 5:6-11)
THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION EXISTS TO THOSE WHO ARE SINNERS, FOR GOD WANTS TO SHOW HIS MERCIFUL LOVE TO THOSE WHO ARE IN NEED! GOD WANTS TO SHOW THERE IS A WAY BACK TO HIS HOUSE EVEN THOU WE GOT TO THE POINT OF THAT PRODIGAL SON, WILLING TO EAT THE HUSKS THE PIGS EAT! WE WERE NOT MADE FOR EAT WITH THE PIGS THE FOOD THE EVIL ONE HAS MADE TO HIS SERVANTS, BUT TO EAT THE FOOD OF ANGELS: THE FLESH AND BLOOD OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST!
We should not be hesitant on coming and confessing our sins for Jesus is the one who prepared our way back through his grace and power of purification of our sins and cleanliness of our soul. He is preparing a new robe, new sandals, a new ring (meaning a new covenant) and a new banquet (that is the Holy Sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world in the Holy Mass). The angels are always celebrating and having a feast when we come to confess our sins with the priest.
"In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner." (Luke 15:10)
There are some practical things we should take into consideration and reflect when we come to think about the sacrament of the confession. The first thing is we do need to repent with all our hearts and souls for sinning is to offend God, to create an abyss between we and him and to kill his life in our souls - that can be called grace. We do lose the grace of salvation he gave us when we were baptized.
So we call to mind our sins, acknowledge them, regret for having sinned, we repent and ask for God´s forgiveness over our wickedness and his grace in order not to sin anymore. We shall ask the light of the Holy Spirit to show us what is hidden and we can´t remember as well so we are faking a repentance but actually doing it helped by grace to be back to the fullness of his grace.
Next thing we come to tell to the priest (that acts in Persona Christi - it means In the person of Christ) our sins on the confessional. We should tell him verbally every single sin, even the worst things we did, with repentance in our hearts, that will be represented trough the act of contrition. At the end we will receive a penance in order to help correct ourselves from that sins confessed and the absolution.
Through human eyes it looks like a silly thing to do but if we look on the spiritual dimension, we can see that what happens is exactly what is shown in the first image above. The blood and the water that flew from the side of Jesus on the cross, flows over our soul, throughout the minister of God that is the priest. His rays of mercy and grace bring back the life we lost. His grace overflows in our hearts and minds!
The Church does recommend that we come to confession at least twice a year (for the occasion of the biggest times of the Church: Easter and Christmas) but the frequency of coming to receive this Sacrament will depend on the type of life the person has and want to have. Nowadays it would be more than recommended that we would come to confession at least every month.
One can say that that is too much if the Church just asks for two times per year. Well, we could get some examples on the life of the saints of the Church that knew very well what is such Sacrament.
Saint Francis of Assisi used to confess his sins in every two or three days. Saint Pio of Pietrelcina every week. Saint Vincent de Paul twice per week. Saint Philip Neri every other day. Saint Vincent Ferrer, Saint Charles Borromeo, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Louis Bertrand, Saint Andrew Avellino and many others every day. And even Saint Leonard of Port Maurice, Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Bridget of Sweden and many others twice per day.
One can ask then: 'Why coming so many times to receive this Sacrament?' 'Because it is the medicine to the illness of sin in our souls' Saint Thomas Aquinus would answer. For those who wants to be in a real big fervor and in an intimate union with God, it is recommended to come to confession at least weekly, for the Sacrament of Confession is not only medicine but also a strengthener and we need to receive it in short periods of time in order for its effects not lose interruption.
I myself had two wonderful experiences that I would like to share with you all about the graces of the Sacrament of Confession. I will try to be brief.
The first one happened when I used to live in Brazil and it was just after my spiritual director at the time, Father Gomes, heard my confession. I remember this day coming to confess my sins and I was weak, poor, sad, feeling that I could no longer be a christian, I was incapable of doing God´s work and I was inept to any good deed.
Whenever I finished it and left the confessional, I felt a great joy inside, deep in my heart. It was vibrant and I could not hold it inside and I started to smiling, showing the bright of what the grace of God did in my soul. I felt the power of God strengthening everything inside of me, healing and giving me another opportunity. It was a new start!
Getting back home I had a kind of a spiritual vision where I was knelt down in the floor and the blood of Christ came over me again to cleanse me from my sins. Then I wrote the following poem (in Brazilian Portuguese originally) that was named RECONCILIATION:
When I knew down at your feet I feel your blood flowing
Over my life, cleansing my sins
Guiding me and edifying me one more time
For I am remade with this reconciliation
Inside of my being I feel a deep joy pulsating
For your light surround me from my head to toes
Your grace is happening inside and outside
And strengthening all of me
I give you thanks for fulfilling me with your presence
For be healing me, setting me free and allowing me to be born again
Bringing me to a substantiate faith
I glorify you for your own self is manifested
In this priest, that always more than the double
Of what I understand, undo the sentences of death and condemnation
The second experience happened in Belfast, where I live now, in one of the annual retreats organized by the Legion of Mary. There is always an opportunity for receiving the Sacrament of Confession throughout the day and the priests put themselves in order of battle array in order to hear people´s confessions.
I went to confess my sins with a beloved priest, Father Black, and during the Sacrament, while he was giving me the absolution, I felt something and I had a spiritual vision. The first thing happened while he was with his hands drowned towards me and I felt a sort of dark forces (or black energy - or what the devils did in my soul - or whatever you want to call it; it was something black) being sucked out from inside of me and being extinguished with the power of his priestly hands. I am not saying something I was told, I am giving testimony of what happened to me.
The second thing was the spiritual vision. So I saw the place where I was like the world as a field of wars and difficult battles with loads of wounded men. There were some "mad doctors" in our midst that came to save our lives from the death and heal our wounds. The wounded men were all the people who were there seeking relief and the grace of the reconciliation with God and his Church. The doctors were the men who gave up their lives in order to serve and be there to heal God´s people - the priests.
I remember seeing it very clearly and the urge in my heart - we need to pray for more vocations and pray for our priests, for they give up their lives to save the lives of others who are in the midst of the war of this secularized world to be holy, offering the great sacrament of salvation and reconciliation with God´s heart that is the medicine to our souls. They are the warriors of the Lord!!!
So I told that feeling and vision to my actual Fiance (that at the time was only my ex-girlfriend) and she drew the picture you can see below.
In order to finish this post today I would like to leave a message to the priests, the chosen ones of God; the ones who were consecrated before their conception to be PERSONA CHRISTI; to work in the vine of the Lord and to be these mad and courageous doctors of the grace and salvation in this world, in order to generate in their hearts a big will of listen to confessions and help God´s people to be holy.
Some priests nowadays would consider themselves not so much spiritual directors but a sort of ecclesiastic secretaries. Obviously it is one of the deeds of the parish priest to look after the material and physical matters of a Parish but much more to look after the spiritual necessities.
Many times because of the compromises made with the world, priests don´t have time to hear a confession or to administrate the sacrament of the sick for they are too busy...
Saint Anthony of Padua used to preach to his people: 'Even if I am resting, come knock on the door for I want to listen to your confessions'. Saint Pio of Pietrelcina is said to have listened more than 2 millions of confessions and spent all his priestly life listening to confessions twice everyday, day and night.
Saint John Maria Vianney used to be assalted by the Evil One at night times, where he would have his bed set on fire and pass through big sufferings. The reason for that is because he spent really a lot of time on the confessionals. Instead of being upset and put down he would rejoice and keep up his head up saying: 'Tomorrow a big "fish" will come to the confessional'. Because of that the Evil One would press him against the wall and say: 'Stupid! If there were another three priests like you, my kingdom would be ruined here in France'.
We need holy priests that are compromised, first of all, with God and their own calling and vocation, for that is the path of happiness. Secondly, with their own holiness and sanctity. After that, they would be able to serve and be instruments of God to God´s people in order to sanctify and bring them to holiness as well, for it is God calling to everyone:
"Finally, brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: THE LIFE THAT GOD WANTS, as you learnt from us, and as you are already living it. You have not forgotten the instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus. WHAT GOD WANTS IS FOR YOU ALL TO BE HOLY". (1 Thessalonians 4:1-3)
If there were not holy priests like Father Gomes in Brazil and Father Black here in Northern Ireland, which I myself had these wonderful experiences with, I would not be able to give this testimony. But thank God there are! We need much more holy priests to be instruments of God, for such miracles and extraordinary graces starts with a YES to the Lord who is calling.
May God bless his Church in order for us to live the life he wants and send more holy priests to offer the medicine to our souls. Amen!
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