Confession: A Reflection

"The time of penance has come, the time to atone for our sins and seek our salvation"

 -from Mid-morning prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours

How can we "atone for our sins"? It is a good question, and one that when we dwell upon we soon realize is a futile exploit if but for Christ. Christ is our atoning sacrifice (1 John 2:2), truly he is. Yet, we must ask ourselves, is he? Is he my sacrifice? I don't mean to imply that there is another, for there is no Other, but have I encountered the Other as My Other?

Because today is the day of salvation! (2 Corinthians 6:2)

Am I seeking the atoning work of Christ in my life everyday? Is today my day of salvation, or am I satisfied with a distant memory of Christ? Don't I know that I am just as incapable of living yesterday as I am living 5 years ago? His mercies our new every morning.

Thus, we must ask ourselves, "do I seek my salvation"?

What in my life says, "I am seeking"?

Christ will meet you. Seek and ye shall find.

Knock and the door will be opened.

GO. TO. CONFESSION.

May God richly bless you this season of Lent.

Celebrating Repentance

Did you know that in every Catholic Church there is a room dedicated to celebrating repentance? They literally take an entire space in their churches and dedicate it exclusively to embracing the prodigal son who comes home.

See! I told you so. 

Now let's think about the story of the prodigal son. The son leaves. He spends his inheritance, and finds himself in the pigsty. He comes to his senses and realizes that he must return. The son does not make amends in the pigsty. Instead, he knows he must go back to his father's house because his sin is not just against God but against his father. Sometimes we miss that fact in the parable because we are so focused on the father acting as a type for God, but the parable makes it clear that his sin is against both God and his father:

"I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee" -Luke 15:18

Last night started First Communion classes for my eldest child. The first four sessions are about Confession, and last night the priest made the point that the Church, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, celebrates the repentant sinner. That thought really struck me as profound. Like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, the Church is literally waiting (v.20) to embrace any of her sons or daughters who have wandered away. However, that embrace is not impotent.

The Church's embrace is not impotent because she does not embrace the repentant sinner in Her own strength. As St. John records:

"He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. -John 20:21-23

God breathed upon the first Adam and made him a living soul. Yet through the first Adam's disobedience, all the sons and daughters of Adam were led into destruction and death. However, the Second Adam, God the Son, breathed upon his new creation -- the Apostles -- so that through their ministry all the sons and daughters of Adam could be made alive! This ministry is not in addition to the ministry of Christ, but is precisely His ministry. You see, when a priest receives you in Confession who has received his ministry by the laying on of hands through a succession that goes back to Christ, he absolves you not under his own authority but in virtue of a gift he has received. This gift is a gift given by Christ to make all things new.

Sons of Adam, come home! 

There is a room waiting for you...

Eucharistic Reflection

People lived with God Incarnate and thought him only a nice teacher, carpenter or prophet. St. John said, though, that when we beheld Christ we beheld “the glory of the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14). Even at the Cross, the soldiers were casting lots while the salvation of the world was happening above their heads. Do you fail to perceive the glory of God in the Eucharist? Of course, this cannot be the fault of the Eucharist; in the same way that it was not Christ’s fault that one woman touched his garment and was healed while the crowds thronged around him unfazed. Let us now consider the words of the holy ones regarding the most August Sacrament of the Altar: 

“Do grant, oh my God, that when my lips approach Yours to kiss You, I may taste the gall that was given to You; when my shoulders lean against Yours, make me feel Your scourging; when my flesh is united with Yours, in the Holy Eucharist, make me feel Your passion; when my head comes near Yours, make me feel Your thorns; when my heart is close to Yours, make me feel Your spear.” -St. Gemma Galgani

“This food we call the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ handed down to us. For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God’s Word took flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the Word of prayer which comes from him, from which our flesh and blood are nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus.” -St. Justin Martyr

“And just as He appeared before the holy Apostles in true flesh, so now He has us see Him in the Sacred Bread. Looking at Him with the eyes of their flesh, they saw only His Flesh, but regarding Him with the eyes of the spirit, they believed that He was God. In like manner, as we see bread and wine with our bodily eyes, let us see and believe firmly that it is His Most Holy Body and Blood, True and Living. For in this way our Lord is ever present among those who believe in him, according to what He said: “Behold, I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world.” (Mt. 28, 20)” -St. Francis of Assisi

Peace to you on your journey!

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I Am Giving Up _______ For Lent...

...because what you give up should be between you and God. 

May God richly bless you during this season of Lent. May you enter into the profound mystery of the passion of our Lord, obtaining the graces you need for victory over sin, true piety and a gentle spirit.

Pray for me and I will pray for you.

Go to Mass. Get Ashes. He Does.