Reconciliation
one
Today we meditate on the Sacrament of Reconciliation
I want to begin by telling you the true story of an Exorcism that took place in Earling, Iowa in 1928. After all the psychological and psychiatric testing was completed, it was determined there indeed was a case of demonic possession and an Exorcist was called in. Men of the parish were asked to assist b/c when the exorcism began the possessed person became very violent and had to be restrained. However, the devil took a new strategy and fought back in a very surprising way, by revealing the deepest darkest sins of those present in the room, making them so embarrassed they fled for shame. After many instances of this, one person blurted out to the demon, “Why do you say nothing of the Priest?” To which the devil responded, “What has been confessed, I do not know.”
You see, Scripture calls the devil the Accuser “Who accuses us day and night before the throne of God.” However, Satan apparently only knows the sins we have not confessed. What has been confessed is out of the devil’s reach and he cannot use against us. The Exorcist made a practice of Regular Confession, therefore the devil had no ammunition to use against him. But when we don’t go to confession, the guilt piles up and the devil uses it against us.
The devil Accuses us to Discourage us. He uses discouragement to drive us away from God. Confession dispels the dark cloud of discouragement; it removes the Sin and Guilt; It gives us a clean start; and it brings the light, grace and healing of Christ.
two
If someone asks you, “Why do you have to go to a priest to have your sins forgiven? You should answer, “Because Jesus set it up this way.”
In John 20, On the evening of the Resurrection Jesus came and stood among the disciples and said to them…As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them, saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
Jesus was sent to reconcile sinners to the Father by the forgiveness of sins. Now He sends the Apostles to do the same. But to carry out this mission of reconciliation, they will need a special gift of the Holy Spirit which is called Holy Orders, the is the sacred power that makes Jesus present to His people so that He might continue to forgive our sins.
Finally, Jesus did not give the Apostles the power to read souls. Therefore, they will need to hear the sins confessed before they can determine whether to forgive or to retain.
Why do we go to a priest to have our sins forgiven? Because, Jesus set it up this way.
three
One of the visionaries of Medjugorje, Mirjana Soldo relates that on August 2, 1981, Mary appeared and said: “All of you together go to the threshing floor in the meadow. A great struggle is about to unfold—a struggle between my Son and Satan. Human souls are at stake.” In the Bible, John the Baptist used the same word when he figuratively described Jesus’ mission as a harvest of souls: “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” About forty local people joined there. We prayed and waited, and suddenly Our Lady appeared in front of us. Some of the people had asked us if they could touch Our Lady, and when we presented their request, she said that whoever wanted could approach her. One by one, we took their hands and guided them to touch Our Lady’s dress. The experience was strange for us visionaries—it was difficult to comprehend that only we could see Our Lady… as more people touched Our Lady, I noticed black spots forming on her dress, and the spots congealed into a large, coal-colored stain. I cried at the sight of it. “Her dress!” yelled Marija, also crying. The stains, said Our Lady, represented sins that had never been confessed. She suddenly vanished. After praying for a while, we stood in the darkness and told the people what we saw. They were nearly as upset as we were. Someone suggested that everyone there should go to confession, and the next day repentant villagers inundated the priests. On August 6, 1982 Our Lady said: One must invite people to go to confession each month, especially the first Saturday. (Here Our Lady renewed her request as she had from Fatima for all her children to go to confession, to receive communion and to pray the Rosary on the first Saturday of five consecutive months). Then Our Lady said: I have invited people to frequent Confession…Monthly Confession will be a remedy for the Church in the West. One must convey this message to the West.
four
If we desire to obtain reconciliation with God and with the Church, we must confess to a priest all the unconfessed grave sins we remember after having carefully examined our conscience. If you would like to understand better mortal, grave and venial sins please see paragraphs 1854-1862 of the CCC
CCC 1457 Jesus does not want us to carry unnecessarily the weight of guilt of unconfessed sins and he does not want Satan to have ammunition to use against us to cause us undue shame that drives us away from God.
Anyone who is aware of having committed a mortal sin must not receive Holy Communion, even if he experiences deep contrition, without having first received sacramental absolution…
Without being strictly necessary, confession of everyday faults (venial sins) is strongly recommended
Indeed, the regular confession of our venial sins helps us
1. form our conscience,
2. fight against evil tendencies
3. let ourselves be healed by Christ
4. and progress in the life of the Spirit
5. By receiving more frequently through this sacrament the gift of the Father’s mercy, we are spurred to be merciful as he is merciful. CCC 1458
five
Now, what prevents me from experiencing the mercy of God in Confession on a regular basis is Amnesia – I can’t remember my sins because I am lazy about my daily examination of conscience. I’m not an ax murderer. But I have my vices, my bad habits that diminish my happiness and those around me. With a simple examination of conscience each day I could identify my sinful habits and bring them to Christ the physician in confession for Him to heal me.
Here is a simple examination called 3-2-1:
a. Begin by finding 3 ways your day went well. These should include ways you resisted temptation. Thank God for his blessings and graces of the day.
b. Next, review 2 problematic ways you could have done better that day. If you have failed to complete any resolutions, wasted too much time entertaining yourself, done something you shouldn’t have, failed to do something you should. The point is not to beat yourself up, but to find what weaknesses the enemy is exploiting in you.
c. Finally make 1 resolution for the following day that will help to counteract the vices by practicing the opposite virtue.