Go To Confession!
By REY FLORES
Of all of the beautiful sacraments our Church affords us, my favorite one is the Sacrament of Confession.
As a sinner and lay person, I only know the experience from one side of the confessional. Imagine the weight of the cross our holy priests carry every time they walk out of the confessional. Can you imagine the satanic attacks our priests are under every time they enter that confessional?
That might be the last chance Satan and his minions have a chance to silence us from a true and honest Confession. I’m sure that if I were Satan himself, I’d fight like Hell (isn’t that where that term comes from?) just to make sure that we hide our darkest sins before entering the confessional.
One thing I’ve written about previously is the lack of Confession times at Catholic parishes. While some pastors are great about offering Confession times throughout the week, the majority of parishes across the land only offer it on Saturday afternoons – usually for no more than a measly half hour to 45 minutes. Some parishes only offer by appointment.
Aside from Holy Communion, I can’t think of a more important and crucial role a priest has in his vocation than to hear the Confessions of his flock. Absolution of our sins is of the utmost importance; why would any priest reduce this eternal life-saving sacrament to an almost nonexistent practice?
I bring this sacrament up because of a friend of mine who was baptized Catholic but had been lapsed for a long time. I started bringing him to Sunday Mass with me, and he really enjoyed attending. We even went to his childhood parish here in Chicago, St. Jerome’s.
It’s a gorgeous old church with all of the traditional hallmarks of a historic European Catholic church sanctuary. Statues of the saints abound with the most gorgeous stained glass, especially the round window above the choir loft, depicting our beloved patroness of music, St. Cecilia.
My friend called me the day before I wrote this column to tell me that he had gone to Confession. I cannot express to you in words the joy that phone call brought to my heart. My friend was excited and said that he was proud of himself. He said that he was tired of going to Mass with me on Sundays, but not being in the state of grace to receive Holy Communion.
Imagine that. Me, a sinner, helping to bring back one of Jesus’ sheep back to our Lord. It wasn’t surprising that my friend felt called to finally go to Confession after so many years, given that the previous Sunday’s Gospel and homily were all about the lost sheep, the prodigal son, and the woman and her one lost coin.
Confession is of such importance because it cleanses our souls. It is a spiritual shower which removes all of our sinful dirt from our souls.
I know we’ve got a heck of a lot of debt to pay off in Purgatory — I know I do. But to be in a state of grace is such a beautiful thing. To remain in a state of grace is an imperative thing, for nothing unclean is to enter Heaven.
I love the concept of not being worthy to receive our Lord in Holy Communion if we are soiled and tainted in sin. As one priest put it in his homily, “…Sure, Jesus, come into my dirty and filthy dwelling.”
We want to welcome the King of Kings into our hearts and souls, our temple of the Holy Ghost, after we’ve tidied up the place, swept it, mopped it, and cleaned it up for Him to come home into our abode. “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and I shall be healed.”
That healing we speak of is only found in the confessional. That is when we go see the Physician of physicians. We go into the confessional the same way a sick and dying person goes to a hospital. The thing is that while a hospital may be able to heal our bodies, our souls are much more important.
If you haven’t been to Confession in a while, I beg you to go and free yourself from your sins. Jesus is waiting for you there with arms wide open. He already knows our sins, but like a loving father, He wants us to be one hundred percent honest with Him and ask Him to forgive us our sins.
Like the Lord’s Prayer reminds us: “. . . forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” He wants to forgive us because He loves us. At the same time, that part of this prayer reminds us to also be forgiving to each other. How can we expect the Lord’s forgiveness if we cannot pardon the sins perpetrated against us by others?
If you are reading this and have not gone to Confession in a while, please do so at your earliest opportunity. If you are reading this and do go to Confession on a regular basis, make sure those among your family and friends who haven’t been to Confession in a while do go. Go with them. Share the joys of Confession with everyone you know.
It still amazes me how the Church recommends that we go no less than once a year to Confession. I don’t know about any of you, but that’s like taking one shower a year. Imagine how awfully dirty and smelly your body would be if you only bathed once a year.
Please go to Confession as often as possible for we never know the day or the hour we will be called to final judgment. God bless you all.
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(Rey Flores writes opinion and book and movie reviews for The Wanderer. Contact Rey at reyfloresusa@gmail.com.)