CONFESSION

One of the great surprises to me as a new Catholic was the wondrous sacrament of confession. The bane of most protestant converts; it was to me the most liberating thing about the whole process. Once I understood the nature of the Priesthood, and Christ's delegation of the power to bind and loose sins on earth, I realized the sacrament was one of the finest and kindest gifts God has given us.



Imagine, I've sinned, my conscience knows it, my spirit grieves because of it, my soul yearns for communion to be re-established with the God it was made for. Does God leave me hanging out to dry? Does he require me to use my imagination to come up with some sort of formula for confessing my sin that will be satisfactory? Does He just ignore the issue and leave me to wonder what the state of my soul is? No, He gives me a Church that comes up with the sacrament of confession, based on authority given by Jesus Himself. And even better, for me especially, he gives me a Church that through the years has modified the concepts of penance to NOT involve seven years of bread and water, or expulsion from the community, or any of the other severe penances Christians of the early Church were sometimes made to suffer. What could be better?



Well, ok, not to sin could be better, but let’s face it, if Adam and Eve hadn’t sinned, and the whole of the human race had lived in unfallen splendor until I showed up, I’d have done it, and ruined it for everyone. Doggone me.