"Bless me Father, I have sinned." Image by SFA Union City via Flickr
St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria Dear Family of Mary!"Dear children; today I call you to a difficult and painful step for your unity with my Son. I call you to complete admission and confession of sins, to purification. An impure heart cannot be in my Son and with my Son. An impure heart cannot give the fruit of love and unity. An impure heart cannot do correct and just things; it is not an example of the beauty of God's love to those who surround it and to those who have not come to know that love. You, my children, are gathering around me full of enthusiasm, desire and expectations, and I implore the Good Father to, through the Holy Spirit, put my Son - faith, into your purified hearts. My children, obey me, set out with me." (July 2, 2011)Our Lady is calling us to Confession. I think that our relationship to Confession is a good way to monitor our progress in holiness. If Confession is a regular part of our life, if we go to confession every month, or better, every week, we are probably growing in purification. If we have issues with Confession, if we delay in going to Confession or avoid it, we are probably in need of help. We need to be honest with ourselves and before God, and that happens most surely in the context of Confession! Our Lady would not call us to Confession if it were not very important.Pope John Paul II wrote an Apostolic Exhortation on the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He told the Church that Confession is essential in this modern era:
Image by Fergal Claddagh via Flickr
"Deceived by the loss of the sense of sin and at times tempted by an illusion of sinless-ness which is not at all Christian, the people of today too need to listen again to St. John's admonition, as addressed to each one of them personally: 'If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us,' (110) and indeed, 'the whole world is in the power of the evil one.'(111) Every individual therefore is invited by the voice of divine truth to examine realistically his or her conscience and to confess that he or she has been brought forth in iniquity, as we say in the Miserere psalm. (112)"Nevertheless, though threatened by fear and despair, the people of today can feel uplifted by the divine promise which opens to them the hope of full reconciliation."The mystery of pietas, on God's part, is that mercy in which our Lord and Father-I repeat it again-is infinitely rich.(113) As I said in my encyclical on the subject of divine mercy,(114) it is a love more powerful than sin, stronger than death. When we realize that God's love for us does not cease in the face of our sin or recoil before our offenses, but becomes even more attentive and generous; when we realize that this love went so far as cause the passion and death of the Word made flesh who consented to redeem us at the price of his own blood, then we exclaim in gratitude: "Yes, the Lord is rich in mercy and even: 'The Lord is mercy.'" (Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliation and Penance of John Paul II to the bishops, clergy and faithful on Reconciliation and Penance in the Mission of the Church Today. N. 22)We live in a world that denies sin. We live in a world that denies God! No God, no sin. And this attitude can creep into our hearts, and blind us to the sin in our lives. Even worse, once we have sinned, the shame we interiorize can be an even stronger barrier to Confession. Our shame can hold us bound in that sin for many years. In either case, Confession is the answer. God's Mercy is so rich, so plenteous; we have only to approach Him with honesty and trust!
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"To a great extent, the renewal of the Church in America and throughout the world depends on the renewal of the practice of Penance and the growth in holiness which that sacrament both inspires and accomplishes" (Pope Benedict XVI, Washington D.C., April 17, 2008)If Confession is so important, we must respond to Our Lady's call. She is strongly suggesting that we begin to examine our consciences, and go to Confession. This is advice not to be ignored! Let's pray for the grace to examine our hearts and make good confessions as soon as possible. With God's help, we can set out on the way of purification and joy!In Jesus and Mary!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2011The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has a beautiful website devoted to Reconciliation. I offer it as a good tool for preparation for Confession.
http://rosaryea.org/sacramentofmercy/
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