One of the greatest privileges I have as a priest is to hear another person’s Confession in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is truly a humbling experience to have someone trust me with their deepest struggles, yearning to experience the power of God’s boundless Mercy. The person coming in to Confession is hopefully a different person as they leave the celebration, for they leave filled with the power of Grace, sanctifying Grace, the most intimate of all graces.
At heart, the effect of sin is division, experiencing a division WITHIN one’s heart, a division outside of one’s self in relationships with family or friends, and most painful, feeling divided, or alienated from God. Sin divides, plain and simple. As Jesus teaches compellingly, a house divided against itself is a house that will collapse. Satan wants the various divisions to permeate the world, and Satan seems to be winning the battle. But satan is not winning, and will never win.
Christ is more powerful than all the forces of evil and sin that divide us. Christ’s love and mercy heal and dissolve all forms of division, if we surrender to Christ’s power. We will not be defeated, for Christ has the last word. Always and forever…
The sacrament claims us for inner unity and peace which only Christ can give. All past sins, no matter how grave, are absolutely and irrevocably forgiven by Christ. He wants you to live in freedom and to be united in and with God, who wishes each and every human being to live within the very heart of the Trinity of Divine Persons. When we live within this Community of Love, we exude unity, we become bridges and not barriers.