John the Baptist‟s baptism was different from Christ‟s baptism. In a sense, you could say that John‟s baptism re-moved the sin from the soul, but that it was still in the soul. Whereas Christ‟s baptism completely removes Original Sin and any personal sin. John said, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire… to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Cf. Lk. 3:10-18.
Praise God we have been baptized Catholic and have the fullness of divine faith! Still, we need to help each other live the faith and keep growing in divine faith, hope and love to build up our parish community. To help attain this goal, there will be a Communal Penance Service, Thursday, December 19, 7:30-8:30 p.m. at Holy Trinity church with multiple priests available for individual confession. An “Examination of Conscience” will be provided for Young People and for Adults, so you might want to arrive 5 minutes early to review them.
The Lord Jesus loves us and wants to forgive our sins and strengthen our souls through the Sacrament of Confession, so that his divine love can become fully one with our thoughts and actions – a taste of the innocence and joy of heaven.
On the night of Jesus‟ Resurrection, when he proves that he is the Lord of Eternal Life and Love, he appears to his Apostles and shows them his wounded hands and his side:
“The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.‟ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.‟” Gospel of St. John, chapter 20, verses: 20-23 (Jn. 20:20-23).
Talk about 20/20 vision of God's merciful love for us! On the night of his Resurrection, Jesus Christ established the Sacrament of Confession that we might be as-sured of the forgiveness of our sins and the grace to be on the path to heaven!
In the early Church, Christians would make a public confession. Although the form of confession has changed, the essentials of confession remain: 1) Examination of con-science: Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to know the sins committed, and sins of omission, in light of God‟s Ten Commandments and his Catholic Church‟s moral teaching; 2) Be sincerely sorry and detest those sins for harming you, and your relationships with God, his Church and others; 3) Honestly confess the number and kind of mortal sins to a Catholic priest; 4) Receive absolution with a firm resolve to avoid sin (to overcome a bad habit and become virtuous takes time and practice); 5) Have a firm intention to do your penance (and please complete it to the best of your ability to receive more blessings and avoid the purifying fire of purgatory).
There are two kinds of personal sin, venial and mortal. Venial sin is not serious in nature, but it harms and weakens our relationship with God, such as skipping meal prayers, and it can lead to mortal sin, like skipping Holy Mass without a serious reason like sickness or caring for a sick baby.
A mortal sin destroys the sanctifying grace in a person‟s soul because of its degree of gravity – serious nature – although the person may still have the virtues of faith and hope to help them celebrate Confession, and thus be restored to the divine virtue of love. When a person subjectively commits a mortal sin, they choose to love the serious sin more than God, even though God gives and sustains their every heartbeat and breath and gives them all that is truly good for them, especially himself in the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
We should only receive Holy Communion when we are free from mortal sin and have made our first confession. The key to anyone‟s spiritual life is to strive to remain in the state of grace – full communion with God and his Catholic Church, and thereby receive Holy Communion as a pledge of Eternal Glory. To receive Holy Communion with unconfessed mortal sin on one‟s soul is a sacrilege (a very grave mortal sin), and it hurts the whole community. Yet, it is a good practice to make a perfect act of contrition, even before going to the Sacrament of Confession, which parallels the difference between John‟s baptism and Christ‟s baptism.
Three simultaneous conditions for subjective mortal sin: 1) when the thought, or word, or action, or lack of action, is serious in nature as defined by Christ and his Church; 2) the person is fully conscious and has sufficient understanding of what is being done and its gravity (context: the person is of the age of reason and had the opportunity to learn the faith); and 3) have sufficient freedom of will (not coerced by outside influences, parental neglect or mental illnesses).
An example: if a person uses God‟s name in vain because they stub their toe, that is a venial sin because of painful physical duress. But if a person uses God‟s name in vain because of slow traffic and their impatience to get to the beach, that should be confessed before receiving Holy Communion because it gravely breaks the 2nd Commandment, “You shall not take God‟s name in vain.” Within the heart of a practicing Christian, both venial and mortal sin should illicit sorrow and a hopeful desire to do penance and sin no more, with the help of God‟s grace.
Everyone, to the degree of maturity and well-being (no dementia), is responsible for knowing and living the most important sacred truth: loving God above all things and your neighbor as yourself. For God speaks to every heart about good and evil. Some people choose to darken their con-science by sinning and avoiding repentance, but God constantly seeks to bring his light of true love and divine mercy to them and the community through his Catholic Church – what a great mission of love and compassion we have!
Let‟s build up our parish community with the help of God‟s grace and truth by following Jesus Christ who said, “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Mt. 5:48. We all have a long way to go to enter into the fullness of heaven, so let‟s help each other on the way.
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