HAVE YOU GONE TO CONFESSION YET?
Memorial of Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
My dear encountered couples:
The Pharisees were right. When they heard Jesus tell a man, “My friend, your sins are forgiven,” they exclaimed, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Their mistake was that they couldn’t see the God in Christ. We have entered into a time when many Catholics seem to value very little the privilege of having the forgiving Christ in their priests. Few people in comparison to all who used to line up outside the confessionals can be found there anymore. The population has gone up; the number of Catholics has increased. Confessions are down. Why?
I suppose there are many answers to that. I am not going into all the possible reasons. What I do want to say is that the Son of God came to forgive people their sins in visible, human form so that people could know more assuredly that they were forgiven. And he wanted that assurance to continue. So, he shared his power with his Apostles and those they wished to pass it on to.
Through priests, Jesus still wants to forgive us, while at the same time curing the ills our sins cause within us - whether physical, psychological, emotional, or whatever.
Jesus not only showed that he could forgive sins by curing the paralytic in today’s story. He showed that there are effects from sin in us that also need his curing. Have we forgotten that?
This Advent, make a good confession and receive Christ’s miracles.
