It's time to clean house for Christmas. Literally, and internally. If you have been away for a long time, don't worry. The priests LOVE to hear from you! It gives them a deep sense of accomplishment for bringing a lost sheep into the fold. You haven't done anything they haven't heard many times before.If it hasn't been so long, but you are reluctant to confess something like me, "I lost patience and screamed at the kids AGAIN", read this article.
Go anyway, you need the grace of the sacrament to keep fighting the good fight.
Firm purpose of ammendment doesn't mean overcoming sins as a Lone Ranger, toughing it out alone before you are worthy to come back to confession.
It's more like a little child, with a hurt finger which he got while touching the hot stove Daddy had just warned him about, running to him for comfort in his pain nonetheless. Does Daddy refuse to pick him up, and, shaking a long finger at him say, "I told you so!" No, he scoops up the little one, kisses the burnt finger, and then says it. With tears in his eyes at the hurt he sees.
Come home to the sacraments for Christmas. You can give no greater gift to yourself, your family, and your God.
HT Danielle Bean
2 comments:
What exactly did Jesus do on the cross if we still need to go to confession everyday? Didn't Jesus say, "It is finished"? Does that carry any meaning at all?
"It is finished", meant that Christ's sacrifice for us was accomplished. Did that mean that all men were automatically saved?
Of course not, we have to repent of our sins, be Baptized, and live lives in conformity with the will of God, "Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole mind, and your whole strength, and love your neighbor as yourself".
Joshua, I don't know about you, but I fall constantly, as St. Paul says, my thorn in the flesh makes me do the very thing I hate.
That's where I thank God for His Body, the Catholic Church. Jesus comissioned the Apostles, to "receive the Holy Spirity, whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained. John 20:23. Today's bishops are the direct successors of the Apostles, and empower Catholic priests to give absolution from sins in confession. I can now celebrate Christmas cleansed of sin, and open to the grace I will receive in the Holy Eucharist.
Come, Lord Jesus!
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