Over the last three days I have had the privilege of hearing around 12 hours of Confessions... musing on the grace of this wonderful sacrament led me back to this reflection from last year...
Once again I am struck by the extraordinary nature of this Divine gift...
Old and young, they came....
Old ladies and men seeking more chat than Sacrament....
Young people needing counsel as well as Confession...
The long lost who at last have found their way home, only to discover that they had never actually left the house of Divine Love, nor could they...
The broken relationship...
The stressed out Mum or Dad...
The one making life decisions and unsure what is real and what is illusion...
The random walker in the woods who on passing the church receives a nudge from their Guardian Angel and thinks why not?
No one but God will ever know the dance of grace that takes place in and through the Sacrament of Reconciliation... those who come arrive for all kinds of reasons... and often we discover the real reasons together as hearts open, tears fall, and grace rushes into the gap between who we are at our lowest and who we may be at our best... And then the final extraordinary glimpse of the vision that Divine Love has for us when absolution is given, freedom received, heart is salved and wounds are healed and we realise that we never needed to carry these burdens at all... All that was asked of us was to let them drop one by one into the transforming furnace of Divine Love blazing eternally in His Sacred Heart... And this is a miracle beyond miracles that takes place in Confessionals and in sanctuaries every day, yes, but also in shops and on the street and in parks and at festivals and funerals and weddings and in pubs and on pavements and in prisons and beside hospital beds and in the strident voices of the young and in the whispered voice of the dying... when someone looks at you with that look and says, "Would you mind hearing my Confession?"
But if I could ask one thing of you... Please pray for us who are called to this ministry of Divine Encounter for we see and hear it all and carry within us not only knowledge of our own sins and darkness (which is tough enough for any person) but also the direct knowledge of the gaping wound at the heart of all humanity, and while, thank God, it is not our job to heal it, or judge it, it is our sacred duty to be the instrument through which He pours His healing and unconditional love into it...while we seek always that healing for ourselves too...
The best description of the Sacrament I ever heard was from an old friar who described it as "two sinners having a conversation in the presence of God, and remember where God is present everyone leaves healed."
Call it what you will: The Sacrament of Reconciliation, of Confession, of Penance, of Soul Beauty... maybe in these days He is calling you to such an encounter too... Lay down your burdens... and realise you never had to carry them at all.
Pic is of Pope Francis making his Confession in Rome
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