14 Feb 2016
1st Sunday of Lent, Year C
If we could put the spirit of Lent in a nutshell, it would
the call to: “Return to the Lord, our God.”
Of course, that’s what we heard from the Prophet Joel on Ash Wednesday: “Return
to the Lord, your God.”
Now, for catechumens and candidates, Lent is a time of preparation: it’s a time of looking ahead to Easter when they’ll be
fully initiated into the Catholic faith.
But for us who’ve already been
baptized, and confirmed, and who participate in the Eucharist—for us, Lent takes on the flavor of re-turning to the Lord.
And so, it’s a time to renew
and return to that most basic
relationship we have as Christians: our relationship with God through
Jesus. That’s why we pray and fast and
give alms. And it’s why we talk so much
about the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
That sacrament is all about restoring
right relationship with God and his Church.
And, since it’s such an important part of Lent, I thought it
would be helpful to talk about and review the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
---
At the ends of your pews are copies of a little brochure,
called “The Sacrament of Penance.”
Please take one and pass them down.
These are for you to keep. We
have plenty more, so please take these home with you.
---
I remember my First Reconciliation pretty well. I was just a little Second-Grader, and I went
in and told the priest that I’d taken some bubble gum from my brother. And he said to me: “Is that it??”
I think he wanted me to say more, but I just shrugged my shoulders and
said, “Yea.” And it wasn’t a bad
experience, but I didn’t understand the point of it.
And so, it was about twenty years before I had my second reconciliation. Of course, by then, I’d forgotten how the
sacrament went. So I was a little
nervous when I went in; I didn’t entirely know what to expect. And so, a little refresher might be helpful.
[1- Go through the “mechanics”
of the sacrament]
[2- Sin]
Sometimes people will say to me: “I don’t know what to confess.” And the short answer is: “Your sins.” But I think would be more helpful to back up
and talk about “sin.” I suppose a simple
definition of “sin” would be: When we do wrong things or make mistakes. But that’s almost too simple; it’s over-simplified
and kind of “misses the mark,” because “sin” has to do with relationships: our relationship to the
Lord, to others, and to ourselves. “Sin”
happens when we disrupt those
relationships in some way—by what we say or do or think . . .
Now, in the readings today, we have some examples of
relationships without sin. In Deuteronomy, we see the people were
offering to God their prayer and their work; they were offering thanks for what
God had done for them. They were in right relationship with God; they knew they depended on God, and they were
grateful and happy about that fact. And
we see this in Psalm 91 as well, with those prayers to God the “Most High;” God
who was acknowledged to be a “refuge
and fortress.” The Psalmist knew that God was God and not him.
He was in right relationship
to God the Most High.
Even in the Gospel, we see an example of being in right relationship with God. Jesus was tempted by the devil, but his
relationship with the Father was such that he could go against temptation with divine wisdom and fortitude and love . . .
all those things that his relationship with the Father gave him. He was able to be loving and strong because he was in right relationship with the Father.
But “sin” disrupts
that right relationship with God, with others, and ourselves. And so, we end with things like: pride, envy,
gossip, laziness, selfishness, and all the rest. Now, sometimes “sin” only puts a bruise on a relationship—we call that “venial
sin.” But other times, “sin” breaks and destroys
a relationship, and we call that “mortal sin.”
And it’s “mortal” because the one thing we need to live is love.
If we cut ourselves off from love
(especially from God who is love), we’re
essentially cutting off our air supply; we’re starving ourselves to death
through lack of love. That’s why they’re
“mortal” sins.
And so, “sin” isn’t just about doing bad things or wrong
things; it’s more deeply about rupturing a relationship through our mistakes and failings.
We go to confession to repair
those relationships.
[3- Mortal and Venial
Sin review]
[4- Penance review]
Something to note about penances is that we have the right to
negotiate a penance. When the priest
gives you the penance, if you think it’s too light or too heavy or not helpful, let him know. Often times I’ll ask the penitent if there’s
a penance they would find helpful. I usually have something in mind already, but
the penitent may also have something
in mind. Again, the sacrament is about
restoring your right relationship to God and Church, and yourself. The penance should help with that.
That’s why the sacrament is not only called the Sacrament of
Reconciliation, but the Sacrament of Penance.
Penance itself is a channel of
God’s grace and mercy—just as much as Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist and
the other sacraments.
But, on one last note, is should be admitted that this
sacrament can be one of the hardest to engage.
After all, it makes us be honest with ourselves—both the good and the
not-so-good parts of ourselves; and that’s not always a pleasant thing. And sometimes, too, the idea of admitting our
sins to another person is nerve-racking.
Perhaps it would be helpful to know that the priest is very
much aware of his own sins, and he is
there with you before God as a fellow sinner; there’s no judgment there, only
mercy and forgiveness. And, it might be
helpful to know, and remember, that you can confess your sins to any priest you
want; you have a canonical right to do that.
That’s why we post the name of the priest who’s hearing confessions.
And, lastly, the sacrament can be difficult because we’re
embarrassed of our sins; maybe we wonder how the priest is going to react. But even in my short time as a priest, I can
say I’ve almost everything—and nothing has shocked me. About the only “big” sin I haven’t heard is
murder. But I’ve already heard about:
adultery, abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, pornography, lust, gossip,
gluttony, blasphemy . . .
I’m not shocked by what I hear in the confessional. Instead, every now and then it hits me how beautiful it is to see one of God’s
children working to set things right . . . with faith, with hope, and with
love. Confession isn’t just about confessing
our sins, it’s also about confessing our faith in God’s infinite mercy—that’s
the part the Pharisees and scribes never understood: it isn’t about our sins,
it’s about God’s mercy. It’s about
confessing our desire to love and be
loved by our God who is: “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and
abounding in steadfast love.”
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