CONFESSION - A GIFT OF GRACE

Lent is a time for conversion. The word in Greek is metanoia, which means a change of heart. The Church invites us to experience the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the sacrament of new beginning, healing and freedom. God’s mercy works in more powerful and incredible ways to make us change our hearts.

In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, our Lord Jesus touches us and heals us. In our Parish, the Sacrament of Reconciliation will take place on Thursday, 11 April 2019 at 730pm. I strongly encourage everyone to participate in it and join as a community to make a good confession this Lent. As we encounter Jesus through this sacrament, we will attain true conversion of heart – a new and clean heart, free from our sins.

Once a month, during the Monthly Priests Recollection, we, the priests have a session on self-examination and reflection, as preparation for our individual confession. As Christian Catholics, we should go regularly for confession, or at least twice a year especially during Lent and Advent. If we don't do confession, we will be easily swayed or bullheaded with our own sinful ways. Confession will open our hearts and minds to God’s way and not our way. Have we been sincerely sorry enough to ask for forgiveness over and over again through confession and do penance in order to have a change of heart?

Why are we keeping our sins a secret for so long? Most of us are just afraid to go for confession because we feel guilty, embarrassed and shy. We rather live a hypocrite life and avoid it as long as possible or we make excuses. We feel shy to meet a priest and afraid that he will misjudge us. However, remember that no matter what terrible and sinful things we have done, the priest will not judge nor will he reveal your sins. Instead, he will assist you and set a new beginning in your life.

We should not let our souls remain contaminated with stain, dust and dirt because of our sins. All our mortal and venial sins, which have wounded our souls, need healing and forgiveness. Jesus is present in the confessional through the priest. When the priest gives you penance and says the prayer of absolution, the penitent’s soul completely heals at once. We walk out of confessional through the mercy of God, consoled and free from all our sins. The Lord will refresh our souls and we receive graces from Christ in order to live a holy life. The more frequent we go for confession, the more graces we receive from the Lord Jesus. God wants our ongoing conversion and for us to be perfect in His eyes.

The Sacrament of Recollection is a great gift of grace; a way to God, a way back to God and to our fellow brothers and sisters. Jesus will be waiting for you in the confessional in the person of the priest, to grant you his mercy in abundance. Do not let fear, guilt or embarrassment dissuade you as you come for confession this Thursday.

How to make confession? Please remember this simple step-by-step formula, as a guide, before going for confession.

1.     Go to the priest and begin with the Sign of the Cross.

2.     Then say, “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been ____ weeks / months / years since my last confession.”

3.     Tell your mortal and venial sins honestly to the priest.

4.     Then, listen to the advice the priest gives you and accept the penance from him.

5.      Then say the Act of Contrition: “O my God, I am truly sorry for I have sinned against you. By the help of your grace, I shall not sin again.”

6.     The priest says the prayer of absolution and dismisses you with: “The Lord has freed you from your sins. Go in peace." And you respond by saying: "Thanks be to God.”

SIN NO MORE

“Let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to throw a stone at her,” (Jn 8:7)

The Scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. Jesus does not initially respond to them but remains silent.

They showed absolutely no interest in the woman as a person. They ignored the whole person, and focused only on her sin. They rushed to condemn her act and they dismissed everything else about her life and her personhood.

Jesus did not condemn the woman. He did not belittle, shame, or humiliate her,  nor did He condone her sin. Jesus’ encounter with the woman changed her life forever.  Her past was behind her.  She was ready for a new life.

Lent is a time to examine our conscience and go to confession. First, we confess our sins with sorrow, and then firmly amend and change our life. Otherwise we cannot be forgiven. After confession, let us walk with confidence to go in peace and sin no more.

“What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad!” (Ps 22).

A LENTEN JOURNEY IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

We are already halfway through Lent.If it has been a time of growth - well done! But if we have not practiced the Lenten observances well – almsgiving, prayer and fasting - we need not give up hope. Perhaps we have become a bit negligent in some areas of our lives, and need a little extra self-discipline to become more spiritual in mind and body.

Lent is not all about giving up sweets, chocolates or going on diets. It is about abstaining from TV shows, video games, surfing the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp or other things that we enjoy. Do we realise how much time they consume? Lent is a time to give up the things we enjoy and instead, utilise our time wisely and fruitfully until Easter. It is a time to give up our sinful habits or sinful attitudesand focus on God. It is about repentance, which means giving up sin in order to prepare our hearts for Easter. We need to prepare our hearts for Easter by setting aside time for self -examination, repentance and change.

When I was younger, I was dissatisfied with my life. I wanted to make changes, because I knew that something was wrong. I also wanted more out of life, but I did not know where or how to start. It was during Lent that I found a path in the right direction and I got myself started afresh - so I exercised discipline and I improved my spiritual life. Certainly, these changes helped my spiritual journey and gradually my life became better and my path surer and clearer.

We cannot expect immediate miraculous events to take place in order for our lives to change for the better. We have to work hard and we have to make a sincere effort to nourish our spiritual life, so that God can nurture and strengthen us. I am sure that when you engage in spiritual discipline, especially during this season of Lent, you will see an improvement in your journey, as your life becomes more holistic.

This Lent, do your best to slowly root out sin and cultivate holiness. Lent is also a very good time to refocus our efforts and renew our commitment, even though we may fail – “for though the upright falls seven times, he gets up again...” (Proverbs 24:16). Even failing in our commitments can help us grow in humility and provide insightful knowledge of our own spiritual existence. The practice of spiritual discipline helps you and I integrate our lives into a whole.

I hope and pray that we all experience the best Lenten Season ever, this year. It can be our best Lent if we get ridof our sins, our failures, our worries and feelings of rejection, resentment, hurt, anger and bitterness. 

The Lenten Season should help strengthen our commitment to this lifelong journey towards Godand become more connected to His will.Let us observe a Holy Lent, where we rediscover and relearn what it means to be holy.Let us become a more merciful and compassionate community, a community that does not condemn others, but rather a community, which loves and forgives unconditionally. That is the true heart of Lent.

“Even if I fall a thousand times a day, I would still rise and say to God, ‘Nunc Coepi,’ (Now I begin)” - (Venerable Bruno Lanteri, 1759-1830).

COMING HOME

The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15: 1-3, 11-32) is about a son who desperately needs the power of forgiveness in his life.

Jesus knows forgiveness is not an easy task, but we struggle living out. Jesus gives the power of forgiveness. We all struggle at one time or another with selfishness and wanting to do things our own way. 

We have free will to choose our way, but if we choose our way instead of God’s way, we have to accept the consequences.

No matter how far we have turned from God, no matter what we have gone through, no matter what state we are currently in and no matter what we have done - God forgives us when we return to Him. His love is embracing us, and He is waiting with open arms.

His love is unconditional and always available. He is ready to receive us back. Have our heart changed to forgive those who have wronged us?

Forgiveness starts with love and ends with joy. Forgiveness is the greatest gift that we can receive and the greatest gift that we can give.

“Taste and see the goodness of the Lord,”(Ps 34).

PATIENCE – A FRUIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Since the beginning of the Lenten season this year, I started watching short video clips from “FORMED: Lenten Reflection”. The Augustine Institute Studios has produced a series of daily reflections on Lent (each approximately 2 - 4 minutes long) on Christian Catholic spirituality. There are many materials available with Catholic content and perspective, such as video-based study programs, audio presentations, movies and eBooks. Do subscribe to “formed.org” and enter parish code: JG2JDZ

On Day 13 of Lent, there was a short video clip by Dr. Tim Gray, President of Augustine Institute on a remarkable virtue – patience. He referred to “patient endurance”, referring to the Book of Revelation chapters 2 & 3 – “Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial...”(Rev 3:10). In the Jerusalem Bible, the author used the word – “perseverance” instead. Endurance and perseverance are translated as “patience”. As we go through trials, we are called to be patient and to persevere.Dr. Gray highlighted two questions pertaining to patience from his discussion.

i) What do we mean by patience?

ii) How can we grow in patience?

Lent is a great opportunity to reflect on and practice the virtue of patience. Like many virtues, patience is a hard one to practice. For good and lasting relationships, we need patience. Whether it is with our children, our spouse, our parish community, our colleagues in the workplace, or our neighbours. We need patience in dealing with people – “Be patient with everyone,” (1 Thes 5:14).

It is easy to say but it is tough to do as we are not a patient people. We get impatient when things go wrong. We get impatient when we are running out of time. We get impatient when there is no instant gratification. We live in a world where everything needs to happen immediately. We sometimes get impatient for what seems like no reason at all!

Patience is in our mind set - our way of thinking and feeling. We tend to get irritated or easily angered by those who always disrupt our plans. The Bible tells us that patience is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22). It starts as a little seed and it takes time to grow and mature. We should cherish this fruit of the Holy Spirit, which God has given to us. Patience is the ability to remain calm in the midst of trials and tribulations because weknow God is in control.

Patience is a Christian virtue. The heart of patience is love… “Love is patient, love is kind…” (1 Cor 13). Patience is an act of love. We can learn to be patient when we trust in the power, strength and encouragement, which comes from God. On our own, we may find it tough to be patient, but with Christ all things are possible.

Is patience a strong quality and virtue in our lives? Christians are called to be patient. We should not grumble about another or have grudges or complain about others. It is not part of our nature. Are you a patient person? We will never become patient over night. We need to be patient with ourselves. Lent is not so much a diet plan, but the Church is asking us to exercise patience in our way. Let’s watch what we say and how we say it. We should restrain our anger and irritation. Instead, we should deal with others with the same patience and compassion that God has shown to us.

In this season of Lent, we should learn and act on what God says about patience, and trust God to give us the grace to be patient. Be patient with ourselves and with others as how God has always been with us! Trust in God and let Him be in our lives during this season of Lent.