Reconciliation

In a recent interview, Pope Francis told the story of dealing with a Franciscan priest who thought he may have "forgiven too much" in the sacrament of confession.  Needless to say, Pope Francis emphasized the mercy of God which has no bounds.

It got me to thinking that I hope that I am a merciful confessor.  To the best of my memory I have never raised my voice during a confession.  Well, maybe once when dealing with an overly scrupulous person who had a set formula or list of sins to confess.  If something was skipped or even mispronounced, the penitent would start all over again.  After about the tenth time, I raised my voice to tell the person to stop!

More than once I have  had a penitent  tell me that they had done something really awful and did not know if God would forgive.  I always assure him/her that God is always willing to forgive.  I also tell them an old story about what God does with our sins after they are forgiven.  He throws them to the middle of a big lake and puts a sign there that reads "No fishing allowed".   In other words, while the sin is real and part of our past, we should not revisit it  time and time again and wonder if we have been forgiven.  We have!

In my 43 years plus hearing confessions, I am so grateful that we have this wonderful gift of "starting over again".  It is a great gift to be able to assure a penitent that they are loved by God and their sins forgiven.

If you have not celebrated reconciliation in a while, consider this an invitation.  In the same interview, the Pope said he celebrates the sacrament every 15-20 days. And if he does this so often, what about you and me.  Some spiritual writers suggest Advent and Lent as a minimum to celebrate the Sacrament  The Pope said he has never had to call an ambulance for his confessor and neither will we!!!

Monsignor Hoye