Over the last two Saturdays, we heard First Confessions for our OLM First Communion Class. It was a joyful celebration of Christ’s mercy and forgiveness for the children and their parents. Several priests joined us and heard Confessions for the adults. During Lent, outside Confessors are also available every Monday night at 6:00 pm. Additionally, on Wednesday of Holy Week, April 1, we will have two hours of Confession with six priests.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Sacrament of Confession is given several other important names that convey its very nature and the benefits it confers on the person who avails themself of it. Confession is rightly and beautifully referred to as the Sacrament of Conversion, the Sacrament of Penance, the Sacrament of Forgiveness, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
These five titles should tell us something about the magnificent “scope” of this sacrament and its aid to the human soul, human life, and the spiritual life. The Sacrament of Confession is one of only two sacraments that can be received both repeatedly and frequently (the Sacrament of the Eucharist being the other). These two sacraments sustain us in our daily journey through life, regardless of one’s vocation and state in life. Whether one is single, married, widowed, or a pope, cardinal, bishop, priest, deacon, or consecrated religious man or woman, Confession greatly aids us in our journey to our ultimate end, Heaven!
The Church teaches that Catholics should receive Holy Communion at least once during the Easter Season. Traditionally, this has been called the Easter Duty. The Code of Canon Law states, “each of the faithful is obliged to receive holy communion at least once a year during the Easter season.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church adds that this Easter duty for Catholics should be preceded by confession. It states: “The Church obliges the faithful to take part in the Divine Liturgy on Sundays and feast days and, prepared by the sacrament of Reconciliation, to receive the Eucharist at least once a year, if possible during the Easter season.”
There are many benefits to frequent Confession. Many saints make it clear in their writings and teaching that self-knowledge is needed to grow in holiness, and Confession provides it. This means knowing and admitting our virtues to advance them in our lives, and knowing and admitting our vices so we can uproot them. Confession also helps us to grow in the virtue of humility. The very act of making a good examination of conscience is itself very humbling , and it also helps us to grow in self-knowledge.
Frequent Confession helps us overcome bad habits. Confession of one’s sins brings with it a purification and peace of conscience. Through the practice of frequent Confession, our wills become strengthened to help us more frequently choose good over evil, virtue over vice, and the beneficial over the malicious. Frequent Confession makes us simply want to “do better” in all aspects of daily living. It’s the grace of the sacrament that propels us to control our lives better.
Every sacrament, when it is received worthily, increases sanctifying grace in the soul. For Eucharist and Confession — again, the only two sacraments that can be received both repeatedly and frequently — this is especially true. When Pope Saint Paul VI promulgated the new rite of the Sacrament of Penance following the Second Vatican Council in 1973, he stated that frequent Confession “is a constant effort to bring to perfection the grace of our Baptism.”
How blest we are at Our Lady of Mercy to the availability of the Sacraments! Two daily Masses and five Sunday Masses. Confession on Mondays and Saturdays and daily during Lent. Certainly plenty of opportunity to make our Easter Duty.
I thank those who helped with our St. Patrick's Day and St. Joseph Day celebrations. We also commend Fr. Brodeur on his excellent Italian at the Mass on St. Joseph’s Day and Father Patrick O’Connor for his excellent St. Patrick's Day sermon. Join us for Living Stations of the Cross with the OLM students on Friday at 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm.
Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless!