Reconciliation
My Dear Friends,
I hope this letter/email finds you well and enjoying life and the freedom of lockdown being lifted? As we head into the month of August, while this month is often preoccupied with holidays and switching off from work, it is also the month of Our Blessed Lady, as the Feast of her Assumption falls on 15th August. Let us ask Our Blessed Lady to take care of us all, to refresh and renew us with her Motherly love, blessings and graces as we take some time out to renew our energy and find time to relax in the presence of those we love.
This week we are looking at the beauty of the sacrament of
Reconciliation.
In Saint John’s Gospel 3:16, God expresses His love for the world, for us:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”
You see – God’s love for us is not something that God keeps to Himself. In Jesus Christ, the love of God for all humanity finds its most concrete and palpable expression. Here, we can say that Jesus Christ is the sacrament of the love of God.
In his public ministry, Jesus used very concrete and palpable ways to make known to people the love that God has for them: he cured their diseases, he fed them, he taught them about God the Father, and, of course, Jesus allowed them to experience God’s love and mercy by calling them to repentance and forgiving their sins. And Jesus, because he is God, is able to forgive sins (see Mark 2:1-12).
Moreover, Jesus shared and entrusted to the Apostles his special ministry of making known and experienced God’s love and mercy (see John 20:22-23; also Matthew 16:16-19).
That the Church continues to celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation, even today, is our way of acknowledging the real gift of God’s love and mercy for us, and of remaining true to this great responsibility that Jesus gave us.
“Reconciliation”
Now, “reconciliation.” Remember baptism? In that sacrament, we were invited by God to share in His divine life – to be called His sons and daughters. In the same sacrament, we acknowledged such a generous invitation by accepting God to be our Father. In baptism, we begin to live as members of God’s family. As sons and daughters of God, we are called to become like God, holy (Leviticus 11:45) and perfect (Matthew 5:48).
To be holy and perfect is a tall invitation but, by God’s grace, it is possible to be holy and perfect – the reason why we recognize countless saints in the church. There are times, however, when we give in to temptation and end up committing sin – which is an offense against God because sin disrupts our relationship with God (Rite of Penance).
But God’s love and mercy is for the sinner (Luke 5:32). God unceasingly calls us, not to condemn but to save us, through
- Repentance– to humbly and honestly recognize our sins and failures;
- Contrition– to be really sorry for hurting God and others because of our sins,
- Penance– to concretely show in our thoughts, words and actions our ‘yes’ to God and our ‘no’ to evil. In this sacrament, we receive
- Absolution– our sins are forgiven by God through Jesus in the ministry of the priest, and therefore, we are once more reconciled with God and one another.
A priest once wrote, when I prepare to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation, I now ask myself,
“How am I holier this time than the last time I celebrated this sacrament?”
By asking this simple question, I become attentive as to how I live my life as one loved and forgiven by God. So instead of just being burdened by sin (which is the natural effect of sin), I am also more attuned to the God, who is only too willing to continually set me free from such burden (the evil one may tempt us to forget this bigger reality).
The sacrament of Reconciliation is truly a celebration because God sets us free from sin and eternal death. My friends that’s why this sacrament of Reconciliation, is a sacrament filled with Holy JOY!
In our journey to God, making the sacrament of Reconciliation an integral part of our life, is truly a stepping-stone to holiness and perfection. Through this wonderful sacrament of divine love and mercy, “God called us out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).