In confession, we take our sins before the Judgment Throne of God. There is no sin we can possibly commit which God is not willing and eager to forgive. What an amazing concept to consider. Acting in the person of Christ, the Catholic priest assures us of God's forgiveness every time he pronounces the words "I absolve you" after a good confession. God pours out His Infinite Mercy, and our sins disappear.By taking our sins to Him now, in this earthly life, we will receive nothing but infinite mercy and forgiveness. If we do not, we will receive nothing but His justice when we die. We deserve eternal damnation for our sins, but the Good Lord has given us the means by which we can be forgiven and sanctified in this life.
Confession remits our sins, clears our consciences, corrects our bad habits, strengthens our will, conforms us to Jesus, and makes us more submissive to the workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives. How can we avoid this Sacrament of Love?
This mercy is available to every living person. How have we chosen to respond to God's offer? Do we presume upon it, or perhaps ignore and avoid it completely?
Jesus spoke about confession and His infinite mercy in a revelation to a Spanish nun, Sister Josefa Menendez (1890-1923). In His words, we hear the voice of a Loving Father ready to embrace us over and over again:
"I am God, but a God of love! I am a Father, but a Father full of compassion and never harsh. My Heart is infinitely holy but also infinitely wise, and knowing human frailty and infirmity stoops to poor sinners with infinite mercy. I love those who after a first fall come to me for pardon... I love them still more when they beg pardon for their second sin, and should this happen again, I do not say a million times, but a million million times, I still love them and pardon them, and I will wash in My Blood their last as fully as their first sin. Never shall I weary of repentant sinners, nor cease from hoping for their return, and the greater their distress, the greater My welcome...This is what I wish all to know. I will teach sinners that the mercy of my Heart is inexhaustible... It is so easy to trust completely in My Heart!"
"I am God, but a God of love! I am a Father, but a Father full of compassion and never harsh. My Heart is infinitely holy but also infinitely wise, and knowing human frailty and infirmity stoops to poor sinners with infinite mercy. I love those who after a first fall come to me for pardon... I love them still more when they beg pardon for their second sin, and should this happen again, I do not say a million times, but a million million times, I still love them and pardon them, and I will wash in My Blood their last as fully as their first sin. Never shall I weary of repentant sinners, nor cease from hoping for their return, and the greater their distress, the greater My welcome...This is what I wish all to know. I will teach sinners that the mercy of my Heart is inexhaustible... It is so easy to trust completely in My Heart!"
- Jesus to Sister Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, p. 377
4 comments:
I'll go this weekend.
Philip,
Excellent post!
I shall pass this on to friends.
Lets hope the FSSPX recieve faculties soon to hear confessions.
Hi, I notice that you are discussing the throne of God. We have been led to believe by our ancestors that when Jesus was resurrected he went up to a throne in heaven. However I just read a fascinating book by the New Testament scholar Stephan Huller that in earliest Christianity that the original gospel writer (St. Mark) might have had a physical throne ON THIS EARTH in mind - one which originally sat in Alexandria and which he rediscovered in Venice - see the photos of the object in the Basilica di San Marco which Italian sailors stole from the Church of St. Mark in Alexandria along with the body of St. Mark in 828 AD - see photos of the throne here - http://www.therealmessiahbook.blogspot.com.
The point of Huller's book is that St. Mark was the first Pope and that Jesus ruled 'on his right hand' as he sat on this throne (it is a universally acknowledged - albeit ignored - fact that the title 'Papa' or Pope was originally associated with St. Mark rather than St. Peter and with Alexandria rather than Rome; the bishop of Rome only acquired the title after the fifth century).
I was really fascinated by this book. It wasn't anything like what I had been taught in Sunday school. It really made me think and learn about the language that Jesus and the original gospel writer (St. Mark) spoke.
For instance in Hebrew or Aramaic (the language of Jesus) there would be no way to distinguish the concepts of 'divine throne' or 'heavenly throne' - i.e. it would be easy for white Europeans to get misled or confused (like the Gospels of Matthew and Luke speaking about 'the kingdom of heaven' and 'God' even though the Aramaic would be one and the same).
It is an amazing book and here is some background information on the author http://www.stephanhuller.blogspot.com/
Just thought I would pass this along
Peace
Jacob
Hi, I notice that you are spamming people's blogs promoting Stephan Huller's idiotic book. I just read and picked apart his book and found it to be full of half-truths, obfuscations, poor reasoning, and insufficiently documented claims. A bunch of us are discussing Huller's nonsense here:
http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/showthread.php?t=130969
The point of the thread is to expose Huller as the fraud that he is. Huller is a circus performer by trade, and we can believe that, given the sort of gymnastics he uses in the book.
I was really digusted by his book. It wasn't anything like what serious scholars have to offer, which I guess is why he can only get fringe nutcases like Robert Price and Robert Eisenman to endorse it. It really made me think Huller needs some psychotherapy and exposure to serious historical scholarship and critical thinking.
It is a goofy book and it belongs in the trash can.
Just thought I would pass this along
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