Last Wednesday, parishes across the diocese held an evening of confession. I heard confessions for nearly 3 hours, and I know some priests who heard them for about 3 ½. It was truly an evening of of grace. Before confessions, I said a little prayer, “A priest’s prayer before hearing confession”: O Lord, give me wisdom to assist me when I am in the confessional, so that I know how to judge your people with justice and your poor with good sense…Grant that my intention be pure, my zeal sincere, my love patient and my ministry fruitful.” And so on.
Well, I felt inspired to put this little prayer on my Facebook page on the internet. And a few hours later, a Protestant lady was questioning the Catholic practice of Confession, particularly the priest’s role in hearing confession. “Who are you to forgive sins?” basically...as if the Catholics had been in error for 2000 years in offering God's mercy to the contrite.
To non-Catholics, Confession is difficult to understand. After all, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Catholics believe that Jesus, by his divine authority, instituted the priests for to continue his ministry of mercy. “Those whose sins you forgive are forgiven them”
The Catechism has a beautiful passage: “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.”
All Catholics should go to Confession during Lent whether or not they are in mortal sin. As the prophets tell, God desires such a contrite heart more than sacrifices. The Sacrament of Reconciliation humbles us to admit that we make mistakes -- sometimes grave ones -- that divert us from the path of holiness.
We stand up like Azariah in the fire, with contrite hearts asking God to deliver us. Azariah lamented, "no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you." We are blessed to have the Sacrament of Confession which does restore our favor with God.
And he does, over and over, not just 7 times, not just seven times seven times, but as often as we seek his mercy.
My aforementioned internet conversation gained some attention from some of my other Facebook friends, and one good Catholic woman shared, so beautifully: “There is no peace on earth like that experienced after going to the sacrament of confession. Nothing, absolutely nothing compares to it. Only Jesus, coming to sinners in the form of the priest, can give that kind of peace!”
If you haven’t gone yet, please go to confession this Lent. "Get thee to a confessional" as they say. And if you have already gone, pray for someone who hasn’t. Invite someone who hasn’t. Offer to drive someone who hasn’t. That they can know the Father’s mercy and peace, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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That this holy season of Lent may be for the Church a call to deeper conversion and experience of the Father’s mercy.
For all those who have fallen away from the Church, those who have fallen into mortal sin, for those who have lost faith, for their conversion, and the conversion of all hearts.
For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter, that these weeks of Lent may bring them purification and enlightenment in the ways of Christ. We pray to the Lord.
For our young people preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation this week, that the Holy Spirit may increase his gifts within them for the spreading of the Gospel and the living of the faith.
For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness: that the tenderness of the Father’s love will comfort them. We pray to the Lord.
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