Dear Parishioners,
Jesus Christ loves us and wants to
forgive our sins through the Sacrament
of Confession.
At his Resurrection, which is proof
that he is God, Jesus 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
love for us! On the night of his
Resurrection, Jesus Christ instituted
the Sacrament of Confession
that we might be assured of
the forgiveness of our sins and the
grace to be on the path to heaven!
In the early Church people had to
confess publicly! Although the
form of confession has changed,
the essentials of confession remain:
1) Examination of conscience:
Ask the Holy Spirit to help
you to know your sins in light of
the Ten Commandments and Beatitudes;
2) Be sincerely sorry
(detest them for harming you and
the Church); 3) Honestly confess
the number and kind of mortal
sins to a Catholic priest; 4) Receive
absolution and firmly resolve
to avoid/change (this may
take time and practice);5) Firmly
intend to do penance.
There are two kinds of personal
sin, venial and mortal. Venial sin
is not serious in nature, but it
harms our relationship with God:
a white lie. A mortal sin destroys
the sanctifying grace in a person‟s
soul because of its degree of gravity
- serious nature. Hopefully
they still have the virtues of faith
and hope to make a perfect act of
contrition and then go to Confession.
When a person subjectively commits
a mortal sin, they intentional
place a serious sin before
God who loves them, and gives
and sustains their every heart
beat and breath, and gives them
all that is truly good, especially
himself in the Sacraments.
Three simultaneous conditions
needed for a person to commit a
mortal sin: 1) the thought, or
word, or action, or sin of omission,
is of a serious nature; 2)
must have sufficient understanding
of gravity of what is being
done; 3) and sufficient freedom of
will, that is to say, no extreme
pressure.
Temptations are unintended evil
thoughts or feelings. If a person
does not try to eliminate them
but dwells on them with
selfish pleasure and
succumbs, then they
should be confessed.
If a person uses God‟s
name in vain because they stub
their toe, that is a venial sin because
of physical duress. But if a
person uses God‟s name in vain
because of impatience in slow traffic,
that should be confessed before
receiving Holy Communion because
it‟s a mortal sin and they
are of age to know better.
At the age of reason, every person
is responsible for knowing the
most important truth, how to love
God first above all things. Plus,
God speaks to every human conscience
about good and evil. Some
people choose to darken their conscience,
but God constantly seeks
to bring his light of true love to
them and the community, especially
calling us to weekly Mass
and to confess our sins at least annually,
but monthly confession is
recommended.
We need to help each other keep
that light of faith, hope and love
alive! To that end, please note
that there will be a Communal
Penance Service, Friday, August
27, 7:30 -8:30 p.m. at Holy
Trinity, with 4 priests so that
individual confession can take
place.
Peace in Jesus Christ,
Fr. Thomas McCabe