“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
THURSDAY, June 17th Mt. 6: 7-15 “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”
- Lack of forgiveness is a cancer that eats away at our heart, leaving us angry and bitter. The irony is that we are only hurting ourselves, not the one who hurt us!
- The only remedy is to turn to the Sacred and Merciful Heart of Jesus in the Sacrament of Confession. We need to confess lack of forgiveness and beg Jesus to soften our hard heart. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezek 36:26)
- Following is an original presentation of this great Sacrament based on a purely Biblical perspective. May we receive the grace to give freely what we receive freely – forgiveness! The captive we set free will be ourselves!
TEN SHORT MEDITATIONS FOR MAKING GOOD CONFESSIONS by Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
One of the greatest blessings and gifts that flows out of the Sacred Heart of Our Lord is Mercy, expressed most deeply through the Sacrament of Confession. This Sacrament is sometimes called the Sacrament of Pardon, Reconciliation, Penance, as well as the Sacrament of God’s Mercy.
Words that can produce inexplicable peace, joy, consolation and hope are the words that the Catholic priest expresses in the words of absolution at the end of the Sacrament of Mercy: “And I absolve you of your sins: in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. My son (or daughter), your sins are forgiven; go in peace!” The interior knowledge that all of my sins have been totally and completely erased, obliterated, wiped out and forgiven by the Blood of Jesus shed for me on Calvary should produce a joy and peace that goes beyond the ability of human words to express!
The two most important and sublime gestures that a Catholic can do on earth are the following: first, to receive with faith, devotion and burning love the Sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist — the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ; second, to confess our sins to the priest, who represents Jesus our Healer and Friend, and receive sacramental absolution and forgiveness of our sins.
This being the case, we should strive with all the energy and fiber of our being to improve our interior disposition to receive these sacraments better each time. In a word, each reception of both of these sacraments should be better and more fervent than the prior reception! That should be our ideal and constant goal! May God assist us!
Therefore, this brief article is on the Sacrament of God’s Mercy with the goal of enhancing within us greater appreciation for this great Sacrament which flows from the loving Heart of Jesus pierced with the lance from which flowed His Precious Blood and Water that first Good Friday. (Jn. 19:34)
This article expresses an original perspective and dimension in this sense, that it is totally and purely Biblical. Actually, ten Biblical passages will be cited manifesting ten different fruits, effects, and blessings, as well as the overall spiritual reality of this great Sacrament of the Mercy and Love of Jesus the Redeemer.
It is our hope that every person will be moved to have a limitless trust in the greatest of all of the attributes or virtues burning in the Sacred Heart of our loving Redeemer, His mercy for the sinner, and thereby have confidence to make good and frequent Sacramental Confessions. “For the just man falls seven times a day, but rises again.” (Prov. 24:16) The Lord is waiting for you with love.
The greatest sinners can become the greatest saints if they simply trust in the mercy of Jesus. That which wounds most the Sacred Heart of Jesus, even more than sin itself, is the lack of trust in His mercy. Saint Paul encourages us with these words: “Where sin abounds, the mercy of God abounds all the more.” (Rom. 5:20)
The following are ten Biblical passages related to the Sacrament of Confession, but each in a unique way. Pray over these, meditate on them, trust in God’s mercy and then make the best confession in your life: “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”(Psalm 34:8) Then continue to frequent the Sacrament of God’s Infinite Mercy!
1. Luke 15: 11-32
THE PRODIGAL SON! Read and pray over the Parable of the Prodigal Son before going to Confession. Beg for the grace to understand what God wants you to learn from this spiritual masterpiece. Every time you read and meditate upon this spiritual gem, God will enrich you with new and deeper insights.
However, in all times and places, the central message is that the Father in the Parable is God the Father who is full of love, mercy and compassion for all those who trust in Him. Pope Saint John Paul II wrote an entire encyclical on this one Parable: Dives in Misericordia. Read it and meditate upon it!
2. Psalm 51
Pray Psalm 51 before and after going to confession. This is the heart-felt Act of Contrition that King David prayed after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband, Urias, an innocent man. Beg for the grace to have true repentance for your sins.
True sorrow, true and heartfelt contrition, is essential for making a good confession. David humbly admits that his sin is his own doing and blames nobody except himself. May we own up to our sins and blame only ourselves, and as always, like David, trust in God’s Infinite Mercy!
3. John 20:21-23
Read and pray over the Institution of the Sacrament of Confession that first Easter night when the Apostles were in the Upper Room and Jesus breathed on them the Holy Spirit saying: “Receive the Holy Spirit: whose sins you forgive, they shall be forgiven; whose sins you bind, they shall be held bound.”
Be exceedingly thankful for this great gift bestowed upon the Church and its members the same day we celebrate Jesus’ victorious triumph over death, the day of His Resurrection from the dead. In fact, every time we go to confession, we personally celebrate death to sin in our own person, and rise to a new life of grace! Every confession is a Paschal-Easter experience! The Lord Jesus is risen in us, Alleluia!
4. John 21: 15-19
Peter and Jesus. Read and meditate on this conversation between Peter and Jesus following His Resurrection from the dead. After the Apostles have made a miraculous catch of fish and recognize it is Jesus on the seashore, Jesus walks with Peter and asks him three times: “Do you love me?” Each time Peter responds, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Peter is making reparation for the three times that he denied Jesus shortly after Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Pray for the grace to truly be repentant for your sins and make a perfect act of contrition — that is, a contrition of love! “Love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Pt. 4:8) Now you become the repentant Peter; tell the Lord you are truly sorry for your sins and how much you really love Him!
5. Luke 15:1-7
The Good Shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to pursue the one lost sheep. Recognize that you are the lost sheep and you have great value in God’s eyes! In truth, your soul has infinite value in the eyes of God! You were redeemed not by the blood of lambs or goats, nor bought back by gold or silver, but redeemed and ransomed by the Blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! (I Pet. 1:18-19)
6. John 10: 11-18
Jesus is the Good Shepherd who goes after the lost sheep. However, once you have experienced the loving embrace of Jesus the Good Shepherd, then it is up to you to be a Good Shepherd for the sheep that Jesus has put in your charge.
The key for us to be a Good Shepherd is that we must first be a good sheep of the Good Shepherd—to hear His voice and follow Him. After we experience, after we “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord” (Ps. 34:8) in Confession, then let us bring others to the loving embrace of the Good Shepherd in confession!
7. Luke 23:39-43
Jesus and the Good Thief. In this passage, let us firmly believe that the worst of all sinners can actually become the greatest of all saints, if we simply trust. JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU! JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU! JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU!
Venerable Fulton J. Sheen poignantly asserts: “And the good thief died a thief because He stole heaven.” Proclaim from the rooftops the Infinite Mercy of God, even to those who believe that their sin goes beyond His mercy! A truly inspiring experience is to read the Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul, by Saint Faustina Kowalska.
8. Matthew 8:1-4
“When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.”
Every Sacrament has a specific sacramental grace — that of Confession is Healing! Jesus came to cure and heal the sick, all of the sick who trusted in Him. First, we have to see ourselves as the lepers! For sin is leprosy, and all of us are sinners. As Jesus touched and healed the leper, so He can touch and heal me if I will allow Him to. “Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them as white as the snow.” (Is. 1:18)
Saint Damien, who worked with the lepers on the island of Molokai in Hawaii, suffered most because he seldom had a priest to heal his own spiritual leprosy of sin. He had to wait until an occasional ship came near the island, then row in a boat out to the ship, and yell his sins to the priest on board for all to hear, in order to receive absolution! Thank God that you have access to priests who can heal your spiritual leprosy through Confession, in the privacy of the Confessional!
9. Galatians 5:16-26
Saint Paul contrasts those who live according to the flesh and those who live according to the spirit. Those who live according to the flesh will have a harvest of corruption and death. Those who live according to the spirit will experience the fruits of the spirit and experience eternal life.
Confession helps us to put to death the works of the flesh and to be led by the Holy Spirit.
May we form the habit of frequent confession to conquer the desires of the flesh and live in the true freedom of the sons and daughters of God!
10. John 11: 1-44
A Lazarus Experience! Saint Augustine compares Confession to a Lazarus experience! Lazarus was dead and buried in the tomb in his burial cloths for four days before Jesus came and brought him back to life. What happens spiritually in Confession is the same! We leave our life of spiritual death in the burial cloths of mortal sin—and we rise to new life in the spirit! In that sense, every Confession is an Easter experience!
We pray and hope that these Biblical passages will shed new light on the precious gem, the diamond, the priceless gift that the merciful Jesus has given to us in the Sacrament of Confession, and let this serve as a jumping board to launch us into the confessional so as to experience the infinite ocean of God’s mercy! “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever.” (Ps. 118:1)
