"In the Sacrament of Penance, Christ Himself is the priest..."
J.M.J.
September 11, 2013
Dear Family of Mary!
"...For the sake of Jesus, for the sake of my Son, love those whom He has called and long for the blessing only from the hands which He has consecrated. Do not permit evil to come to reign. Anew I repeat - only alongside your shepherds will my heart triumph. Do not permit evil to separate you from your shepherds. Thank you." (Message to Mirjana, (09/02/13)
Our priests bless us in
every liturgical gathering. At Baptisms, Funerals, Weddings, Holy Mass,
and especially at the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we receive the
blessing of the priest, "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit." This blessing carries with it the full weight of Christ's
Sacred Heart, which pumps out forgiveness and love for us constantly. We
Catholics may be so used to this loving ministration of Jesus, through
the priest, that may not register in our minds and hearts with its full
force. We are so blessed!
Denis and I just reviewed
three new testimonies that will air on "Fruit of Medjugorje" soon, and
in each testimony, the Sacrament of Reconciliation figures large. And so
I would like to focus on the incredible blessing we receive in
Confession, just to help us remember what a grace we receive from the
priest in that Sacrament. Here is a short excerpt from a book written by
Fr. Alfred Wilson, C.P., "Pardon and Peace". Fr. Wilson's words are
like fresh air breathed into our souls. He writes:
Which of us
does not know from experience the depressing effect of sin and the
harrowing mental torture of the sense of guilt? Sin produces a brooding
disposition and unconcealable depression. The sinner may pooh-pooh the
idea of sin as much as he likes, yet he cannot stop his natural
joyousness from departing with his innocence. Like Cain, the unforgiven
sinner develops melancholia, he feels that it is "no use trying," he is
"too bad," his past mistakes get between himself and God, and the
skeleton in the cupboard of his soul haunts him. Unforgiven sin festers,
as it were, in the soul and poisons life and paralyses effort.
Confession
is the only adequate spiritual and psychological remedy for unforgiven
sin. The remedy may be hard, but the alternative (constant mental
strain, spiritual uneasiness and possible derangement) is harder still
and infinitely more disastrous....
On the
merely human psychological plane, confession is amply justified and its
necessity proved. But confession is more than a clinic of
psycho-therapy; it is also a Sacrament of Divine Mercy, guaranteeing the
pardon of God as well as the pardon of society. It is in no sense an
arbitrary imposition, for even the hardest part of it, the obligation of
telling out our sins, is medicinal not punitive, and is inspired by
mercy, understanding, and a desire to help. The medicine is certainly
hard to take and not at all palatable, but it is medicine all the same! A
kind Lord could not let us off scot-free - it would not be good for us.
In this world, however, all penance is designed to be remedial and is
never merely vindictive.
Jesus
obliged us to confess our sins for our own sake rather than for His. He
took the institution of Confession, which is a natural necessity, and
safeguarded, facilitated and elevated it, raising it to the dignity of a
Sacrament. He made the inevitably difficult task of confessing as easy
as it possibly could be made. We confess in secret, to any priest we
choose; if we like, to one who does not know us and will probably never
see us again. We confess in secret to a man who is bound to secrecy. We
confess, moreover, to a man who is trained, not merely to listen with
tenderness and sympathy, but to instruct, advise and heal.
In the
Sacrament of Penance, Christ Himself is the real priest. There, in His
capacity of Divine Physician, He forgives sin, pours grace into our
souls, removes the traces of past sins, and gives us a title to actual
graces in future difficulties.
Confession
is simply a Hospital of Souls, where the Good Samaritan, through the
instrumentality of priests, goes about binding up wounds and pouring in
oil and wine: a hospital where the Divine Physician displays His healing
art. Object to such a Sacrament is too fantastically good to be true,
but please don't object to it as a bugbear.
I don't
think the majority of Catholics realize how much they owe to the
Sacrament of Penance. One of the greatest of Viennese psychologists, a
man bitterly anti-Catholic, had the honesty to admit that, among his
cases of serious psychological disorder, he had never had a genuinely
practicing Catholic.
Regular
Confession prevents our worries and fears and remorse from degenerating
into neurosis and melancholia. Test from your own experience what might
have happened to you but for Confession. There are few who certainly
retain their Baptismal innocence: few who have not, at some time or
other, committed mortal sin or had serious doubts of having committed
it. Remember that experience and the aftermath - your worry, misery,
joylessness: the joy of others merely accentuated your misery and seemed
almost to mock you; praise and approval rubbed in your unworthiness.
You went to Confession, you put yourself in contact with the Precious
Blood, "one drop of which could cleanse a thousand worlds of sin"; you
almost felt "the oil of gladness" being poured into your soul. You came
out a changed being. You were free, you were pure, once more a child of
God. Others noticed the change and wondered what had happened to you.
You simply had to indulge your feelings, you bounded along and almost
danced for joy, you felt that you could have jumped over the moon and
gladly played the clown in any harlequin show. He had restored unto you
the joy of His salvation.
Recall
those times of huge relief. That relief is being given daily to
thousands. (Rev. Alfred Wilson, C.P. "Pardon and Peace". Available from
BooksforCatholics.com )
As Fr. Wilson says, "In the
Sacrament of Penance, Christ Himself is the real priest." And that is
true of all priestly blessings. It is Jesus Christ who blesses us
through His priests. Who would not want to stay very close to such
shepherds??
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2013
PS. We remember today the
victims of the 9/11 bombings. May the peace of God, which passes all
understanding be with them all, and with all of us today.
"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world!"
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please no anonymous comments. I require at least some way for people to address each other personally and courteously. Having some name or handle helps.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.