ON CONFESSION

 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 them make the best confession in your life: “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”(Psalm 34:8)  By Father Ed Broom

1. Prodigal Son: Luke 15:11-32

Read and pray over the Parable of the Prodigal Son before going to Confession. Beg for the grace to understand what God really 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 is God, the Father who is full of love, mercy and compassion to all those who trust Him. Saint Pope John Paul II wrote an entire encyclical on this one Parable: Dives in Misericordia. Read it and meditate it!

2. Psalm 51

Pray before and after going to confession Psalm 51.  This is the heart-felt Act of Contrition that King David prayed after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered Urias the innocent man.  Beg for the grace to have true repentance for your sins.

True sorrow, true and heartfelt contrition, is essential to 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 own sins and blame only ourselves always, like David, trusting 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 and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit: whose sins you shall forgive they shall be forgiven; whose sins you shall bind shall be held bound.”

Be exceedingly thankful for this great gift bestowed upon the Church and its members the same day we celebrate His victorious triumph over death, the day of His Resurrection from the dead. In fact, every time we go to confession we personally celebrate the death to sin in our own person and rise to the new life of grace! Every confession is a Paschal-Easter experience! The Lord Jesus is risen in us, Alleluia!

4. John 21: 15-19

Read and meditate this conversation between Jesus and Peter. After the Apostles have made the miraculous catch of fish Jesus walks with Peter along the shore and asks him three times if Peter really loves Him. Peter is repairing for the three times that he denied Jesus three times shortly after the Last Supper.

Pray for the grace to truly be repentant for your sins and make a perfect act of contrition — a contrition of love!  Love covers a multitude of sins. You become the repentant Peter; tell the Lord you are truly sorry for your sins and how much you really love the Lord.

5. Luke 15:1-7

The Good Shepherd leaves the 99 to pursue the one lost sheep. Recognize that you are the lost sheep and you have great value in God’s eyes. 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

Jesus is the Good Shepherd that 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 have experienced and we Taste and see the goodness of the Lord in Confession, then let us bring others to the loving embrace of the Good Shepherd!

7. Luke 23:39-43

Jesus and the Good Thief. In this passage 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 of Mercy in My Soul, by Saint Maria Faustina.

8. Matthew 8:1-4 

Every Sacrament has a specific sacramental grace — that of Confession is healing! Jesus came to cure and heal the sick, all of the sick that trusted in Him.  We have to see ourselves in the leper; 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 allow Him.” ”Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them as white as the snow.” 

Saint Damien who worked with the lepers on the island of Molokai in Hawaii suffered most because he had no priest to heal his own spiritual leprosy of sin. Thank God that you have access to priests who can heal your spiritual leprosy through Confession!

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, conquer the desires of the flesh and conquer them and live the true freedom of the sons and daughters of God.

10. John 11: A Lazarus Experience

Saint Augustine compares Confession to Lazarus. Lazarus was dead and buried for four days and Jesus came and brought him back to life. What happens spiritually in Confession is the same: we leave our old life of sin, our spiritual death in the Confessional (the bandages—symbolically our sins) and we rise to new life in the spirit.

On Confession from Pope Benedict XVI:

In a novel speech, he connected the New Evangelization and confession, saying that the effort to spread the Gospel draws life from “the sanctity of the sons and daughters of the Church, from the daily process of individual and community conversion, conforming itself ever more profoundly to Christ.”

“Thus each confession, from which each Christian will emerge renewed, will represent a step forward for New Evangelization.”

Priests are also able to become collaborators in the New Evangelization by hearing confessions, the Pope said. They have as many possible “new beginnings” as sinners they encounter, he noted, because those who truly experience the mercy of Christ in confession will become “credible witnesses of sanctity.”

Pope Benedict also reflected on what happens spiritually during the sacrament of confession. The repentant sinner is “justified, forgiven and sanctified,” thanks to the divine mercy, which is the “only adequate response” to humankind’s need for the infinite, he said.

The forgiveness of sins has a direct impact on efforts to spread the Gospel, he explained, pointing out that  only those “who allow themselves to be profoundly renewed by divine grace can internalize and therefore announce the novelty of the Gospel.”

On Confession by Pope Francis:

“Some say, ‘I confess only to God.’ Yes, you can say, ‘God forgive me,’ but our sins are also against our brothers and sisters, against the church,” he said at a general audience in February 2014. “This is why it is necessary to ask forgiveness from our brothers and sisters and from the church in the person of the priest.”

Embarrassment or shame is another reason people stay away from the confessional, which the pope sees as a normal feeling, but one that should be overcome. “Sometimes when you’re in line for confession, you feel all sorts of things, especially shame, but when your confession is over, you’ll leave free, great, beautiful, forgiven, clean, happy — this is what’s beautiful about confession,” he said.

On Confession by John Paul II

“It would be illusory to desire to reach holiness — according to the vocation that each one has received from God — without partaking frequently of this sacrament of conversion and sanctification.”

The Luminous Mysteries - The Mysteries of Light

 

 

The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan: 

            The Baptism of Fire:  “I saw God’s Holy Spirit – as a devastating fire – inundate the world.  This fire did not bring peace, not mercy, but devastating punishment.  Where ever the flame of the Holy Spirit swept through, the evil spirits by the thousands fell back to hell.”  (Sr. Natalia, The Victorious Queen book, pg. 122)  (Contemplate what Baptism with water does for the soul)

 

The Wedding Feast of Cana:

            Contemplate how Jesus will come for His Church.  “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”  Rev. 21:9-27, Rev. 22:6 “And behold, I am coming soon.”  

 

Proclamation of the Kingdom:

            Read “On Evangelization in the Modern World” by Pope Paul VI – and also, Pope John Paul II spoke many times about a “new evangelization” in which the Gospel would be proclaimed throughout the world

 

The Transfiguration:

            “When Jesus will return in His divine glory and appear to all humanity, each one will be called to undergo the same experience as Peter, James and John underwent on Mount Tabor, because Jesus will manifest Himself in his splendor and his humanity will be completely transfigured in the most brilliant light of his divinity.”  (Our Lady to Fr. Gobbi #597)

 

The Institution of the Eucharist:

            “…you can very well shrink all of yourself within my Will to be able to form the host of yourself in my Will.  For every act you do in my Will, you will make a host for Me; and I will feed Myself from you, as you do from Me.  What forms the host?  - My own Life in it.”  (Book of Heaven, Vol. 12, Oct. 20, 1917), read about “Living Hosts” in St. Faustina’s Diary, Conchita’s Diary, and others.)

 

“This last stage of the world belongs very specially to Him (the Holy Spirit) that He be honored and exalted…”  (Jesus to Conchita de Armida)

 

 

Lynne Bauer

A New Pentecost

 

A NEW PENTECOST

Excerpts from Blessed Conchita de Armida - A Mother's Spiritual Diary

"On sending to the world a new Pentecost, I want it inflamed, purified, illuminated, inflamed and purified by the light and fire of the Holy Spirit. The last stage of the world must be marked very specially by the effusion of the Holy Spirit. He must reign in hearts and in the entire world, not so much for the glory of His Person as for making the Father loved and bearing testimony of Me, although His glory is that of the whole Trinity" (Diary, Jan. 26, 1916).

"Tell the Pope that it is My will that in the whole Christian world the Holy Spirit be implored to bring peace and His reign into hearts. Only this Holy Spirit will be able to renew the face of the earth. He will bring light, union and charity to hearts.”

"The world is foundering because it rejects the Holy Spirit, and all the evils which afflict it have therein their origin. The remedy is found in Him. He is the Consoler, the author of all grace, the bond of union between the Father and the Son and the supreme conciliator since He is charity, uncreated and eternal Love.”

"May the whole world have recourse to this Holy Spirit since the day of His reign has arrived. This last stage of the world belongs very specially to Him that He be honored and exalted.”

"May the Church preach Him, may souls love Him, may the whole world be consecrated to Him, and peace will come along with a moral and spiritual reaction, greater than the evil by which the world is tormented.”

"May all at once this Holy Spirit begin to be called on with prayers, penances and tears, with the ardent desire of His coming. He will come, I will send Him again clearly manifest in His effects, which will astonish the world and impel the Church to holiness" (Diary, Sept. 27, 1918).

"Ask for this renewal, this new Pentecost, for My Church has need of priests sanctified by the Holy Spirit. The world is foundering in the abyss since it lacks priests who will help it from falling in; priests who bear the light to shine on the paths of good; pure priests to pull out of the mud so many hearts; priests afire who will fill the entire universe with divine love.”

"Ask, supplicate heaven, that all may be restored in Me by the Holy Spirit" (Diary, Nov. 1, 1927).

"I want to return to the world in My priests. I want to renew the world of souls by making Myself seen in My priests. I want to give a might impulse to My Church infusing in her, as it were, a new Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, in My priests" (Diary, Jan. 5, 1928).

"To obtain what I ask, every priest must make a consecration to the Holy Spirit, asking Him, through Mary's intercession, to come to them as it were in a new Pentecost, to purify them, to fill them with love, possess them, unify them, sanctify them and transform them into Me" (Diary, Jan. 25, 1928).

"One day not too far away, at the center of My Church, at Saint Peter's there will take place the consecration of the world to the Holy Spirit, and the graces of this Divine Spirit, will be showered on the blessed Pope who will make it.”

"It is My desire that the universe be consecrated to the Divine Spirit that He may spread Himself over the earth in a new Pentecost." (Diary, March 11, 1928).

 

Lynne Bauer, JMJ

KNOWLEDGE OF THE DIVINE WILL

 

“Every time I speak to you about my Will and you acquire new cognitions and knowledges, your act in my Will has more value and you acquire more immense riches. It happens as to a man who possesses a gem and knows that this gem has the value of a penny: he is rich one penny. Now, it happens that he shows his gem to a competent expert, who tells him that his gem has a value of five thousand lira. That man no longer possesses one penny, but he is rich five thousand lira. Now, after some time he has the opportunity to show his gem to another expert, even more competent, and this one assures him that his gem contains the value of one hundred thousand lira, and is ready to buy it if he wants to sell it. Now that man is rich one hundred thousand lira. According to his knowledge of the value of his gem, he becomes richer, and feels greater love and appreciation for the gem; he keeps it in custody more jealously, knowing that it is all his fortune, while before he held it as a trifle. Yet, the gem has not changed – as it was, so it is; he is the one who went through the change, by understanding the value that the gem contains.

Now, the same happens with my Will, as well as with virtues. According to how the soul understands their value and acquires knowledge of them, she comes to acquire new values and new riches in her acts. So, the more you get to know about my Will, the more your act will acquire Its value. Oh! if you knew what seas of graces I open between you and Me every time I speak to you about the effects of my Will, you would die of joy, and would make feast, as if you had acquired new kingdoms to dominate.”  Vol. 13, Aug. 25, 1921

 You must know that I acted with you like a king who begins to love a friend, who is very dissimilar from him in status; but his love is so great, that he has decided to render him similar to himself. Now, this king cannot do everything at once and render his friend like himself; he does it little by little. First he prepares for him a royal palace similar to his own; then he sends him the decorations to adorn the royal palace. He forms for him a little army; after that, he gives him half of the kingdom, so as to be able to say: ‘What you possess, I possess. King am I - king are you’. However, each time the king gave him his gifts, he looked at his faithfulness; and giving the gift to him was the occasion of new contentment, of greater glory and honor for himself, and of a new feast. If the king had wanted to give to his friend, all at once, everything that he gave him little by little, he would have embarrassed his friend, because he was not trained to be able to dominate. But, little by little, through his faithfulness, he has become instructed, and he finds everything easy.    Sept. 2, 1921

A Poem for Jesus: (prayer given to me by Jesus)

Feb., 1998

All that is mine is Yours –

All that is Yours is mine–

Therefore, I give you my mind,

            And I take Your mind to think with

I give you my eyes,

            And I take Your eyes to see with

I give you my mouth,

            And I take Your mouth to speak with

I give you my ears,

            And I take Your ears to listen with,

I give you my hands,

            And I take Your hands to work with,

I give you my feet,        

            And I take Your feet to walk with,

I give you my heart,

            And I take Your Heart to love with!