At Mass today there was quite a long long for confession stretching over halfway between the confessional in the back and the sanctuary. We have confession available before every Mass and there is always somewhat of a line, but today being a Holy Day of Obligation those working downtown take advantage of both the location of the Church and the access to confession. As the line would shorten more people would start to get in line. If you have it they will come according to a paraphrase of the theology of Kevin Cosner and in this case I would agree with him.
For me there is something joyful about seeing such a line. Not that people have sins to confess, but that they will be forgiven of their sins and as the Psalmist wrote there sins will be as far away as the East is from the West. This sacramental action of Christ through the priesthood is really something wonderful to behold. I also love attending the Easter Vigil to see the adult converts who have never been baptized to get baptized for the first time. In a fell swoop of the Trinitarian formula and the use of water not only are all their sins forgiven, but all temporal punishments due to sin. You can quite well understand why some in the early Church put off baptism as long as they could to take advantage of this fact, but it is well and good that this practice has long since disappeared.
We can easily look at the Immaculate Conception and think that Mary got off quite easy as if this in and of itself prevented her from sinning. She was very much in the same type of state as Adam and Eve, yet they managed to sin. She had no concupiscence, but she could have chosen to disobey God just as Adam and Eve did. Her yes to God was a real and resounding yes that was not just something programmed into her by the grace of the Immaculate Conception. Though we also are given great gifts of grace also. Baptism, Confession, the Holy Eucharist and of course the other sacraments based on are state of life. Though we lack the exactly same gifts Mary received we can obtain the same goal and she will even help us out along the way. Hail Mary full of grace.
7 comments
On the other hand, we don’t watch our only son die by crucifixion…
Funny, in your last paragraph, you expressed exactly what the priest did at noon Mass today in re “getting off easy.” Great minds think alike.
Peace,
Lisa
It’s funny, I too just made a post about the lines of confession and for a moment, thought you were talking about my own parish!!!
I’ve been saying for some time now, that people respond to a priest in the confessional, but first he must till the soil and plant the seeds.
I believe the banality of many homilies today contributes to the lack of use of this sacrament. On days when there is a sermon which makes us dig real deep inside ourselves, the confession lines seem to be even longer than usual.
Key example is explained in my post here, which includes such a homily. This is second year priest who has not been speaking English for very long and the simple message he communicates is clear.
A young priest, a good sermon, and long confession lines…
“I believe the banality of many homilies today contributes to the lack of use of this sacrament.” Good point, Diane, but might it also be that when parishoners are really using the confessional, our priests are able to have a better sense of how to minister to us through their sermons? I’ve always thought that our priests had an great advantage to have this window into the hearts and minds of their flock, though only a priest could really say if it’s so or not.
Her yes to God was a real and resounding yes that was not just programmed into her by the grace of the Immaculate Conception.
Bingo. I can’t stand those who try to reduce Our Lady to this marshmallow figurine, all sweetness and air, and no real substance. She was freely able to say yes only because she could have said no.
At the same time, I think we all have difficulty imagining what the “yes,” what the freedom, of a person untainted by original sin would be like. It must be a much deeper freedom than any of us have ever experienced.
Hello…
I went to confession today, and vigil mass afterwards… I wanted to thank you(God works through even a blog sometimes). I’ve been having a moral struggle over a couple things and finally found how to confess them…
At mass, the priest spoke of a book called “What ever happened to sin anyway?” which spoke of the reality of sin and how we like to deny it in this modern era.
Bless you CJ.
We don’t have long confession lines in my parish. Just finding a priest at the posted time is the penance, “sometime after the Saturday evening Mass.” One sometimes shows up for a half-hour or so, and another ambles in in chinos and flipflops and waits for penitents on a folding chair in front of the altar…if he gets there at all!