Confession...
Pope Benedict spoke about the Sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation) a few months ago. Here are some of the insights that he gave:
In the administration of the Sacrament of Pardon and of Reconciliation, the priest—as the Catechism of the Catholic Church recalls—acts as "the sign and the instrument of God's merciful love for the sinner" (n. 1465). What takes place in this Sacrament, therefore, is especially a mystery of love, a work of the merciful love of the Lord....
...we see a humanity that would like to be self-sufficient, where more than a few consider it almost possible to do without God in order to live well; and yet how many seem sadly condemned to face the dramatic situations of an empty existence, how much violence there still is on the earth, how much solitude weighs on the soul of the humanity of the communications era!....
In a word, it seems that today there is even loss of the "sense of sin," but in compensation the "guilt complex" has increased....
Who can free the heart of humankind from this yoke of death if not the One who by dying overcame for ever the power of evil with the omnipotence of divine love?
...The priest in the Sacrament of Confession is the instrument of this merciful love of God, whom he invokes in the formula of the absolution of sins: "God, the Father of mercies, through the death and Resurrection of his Son, has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church, may God grant you pardon and peace."(Papal Address on the Internal Forum: "The Priest Is the Instrument of This Merciful Love of God." VATICAN CITY, Clementine Hall, March 16, 2007)
This Sacrament is most powerful because it is Christ Himself Who, through the priest, decimates the evil confessed. The devil fears the confessional and will do anything to dissuade us from going there. Let him be afraid; but we should never be afraid of confessing our sins. Remember priests and even the Pope go to Confession on a regular basis. Because God is happy each and every time we make a Confession, then each priest is happy to hear the confessed sins and to absolve them. Repeating the same old sins in each Confession nor the character of the sin should never cause us embarrassment. Our Lord waits with a loving Heart and complete forgiveness for the sins which we confess completely with sincere sorrow and a purpose of amendment.
May we never hesitate to go to Confession regularly.
Fr. Stanley
