Awareness of God's holiness leads to consciousness of our own sinfulness. Like the prophet Isaiah, we exclaim, 'Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. - 6:5 - By sinning we hurt ourselves and those closest to us; but first of all, and worst of all, sin is against God. Therefore, we must confess our sins to God and reconcile with Him, who promises to forgive us of all our sins and iniquity.

If we say we have no sin in us, we are deceiving ourselves and refusing to admit the truth; but if we acknowledge our sins, then God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and purify us from everything that is wrong. - 1John 1:8-9 -

Sin is before all else an offense against God, a rupture of communion with him. At the same time it damages communion with the Church. For this reason conversion entails both God's forgiveness and reconciliation with the Church which are expressed and accomplished liturgically by the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. [Confession] - CCC 1440 -

Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance[Confession]for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance[Confession] offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as "the second plank[of salvation]after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace." - CCC 1446 -

"Penance requires...the sinner to endure all things willingly, be contrite of heart, confess with the lips and practice complete humility and fruitful satisfaction." - CCC 1450 -

The confession (or disclosure) of sins, even from a simply human point of view, frees us and facilitates our reconciliation with others. Through such an admission man looks squarely at the sins he is guilty of, takes responsibility for them and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible. - CCC 1455 -

Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance. "All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret and have been committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue; for these sins sometimes wound the soul more grievously and are more dangerous than those which are committed openly." - CCC 1456 - Ex. 20:17; Matt. 5:28 -

The penance, the confessor imposes must take into account the penitent's personal situation and must seek his spiritual good. It must correspond as far as possible with the gravity and nature of the sins committed. It can consist of prayer, an offering, works of mercy, service of neighbour, voluntary self-denial, sacrifices and above all the patient acceptance of the cross we must bear. Such penances help configure us to Christ who alone expiated our sins once for all. They allow us to become co-heirs with the risen Christ, "provided we suffer with him."

The satisfaction that we make for our sins, however, is not so much ours as though it were not dome through Jesus Christ. We who can do nothing ourselves, as if just by ourselves, can do all things with the cooperation of "him who strengthens us". Thus man has nothing of which to boast but all our boasting is in Christ...in whom we make satisfaction by bringing forth "fruits that befit repentance". These fruits have their efficacy from him, by him they are offered to the Father and through him they are accepted by the Father. - CCC 1460 - Rom. 3:25, 8:17; 1John 2:1-2; Phil. 4:13; 1Cor. 1:31; 2Cor. 10:17; Gal. 6:14; Luke 3:8 -

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -