Before I begin, just another thank-you to all who came to my installation this past Saturday and made it a beautiful and memorable experience for me and the parish. It was an awesome evening and all of you blessed me in a great way.
In my homily on Sunday, I preached about the importance of humility (the Tax Collector) in our relationship with God and that pride (the Pharisee) has no place before the Father. I mentioned that one way we can grow in humility is to go to Confession on a regular basis. It’s here in the Sacrament where we humble ourselves, recognize our need for repentance, and are embraced by Mercy.
Confession, as one of the Seven Sacraments instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church to dispense divine life to us, should be a regular part of our lives as Catholics. What does this look like? Well, the Church asks that we confess at least once a year (CCC2042). However, out of personal devotion and the desire for grace to overcome struggles with sin and temptation, some people confess every month or every few months. It is said that Pope St. John Paul II would go weekly for the grace because of how important he understood the Sacrament to be!
If through our Examination of Conscience there are serious or mortal sins on our soul, then we need to confess before we receive Holy Communion. Venial Sins can be confessed, but they are taken care of during the Confiteor (I confess to almighty God…) when we attend Mass every week. And just as an FYI, missing Mass without a serious reason would fall under the Mortal category.
In my next post I’ll explain the Scriptural and Traditional bases for the Sacrament.
Tomorrow, around the world we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. In short, we celebrate the lives of all canonized Saints of our Church and rejoice that we have their example. They were regular joe’s and jane’s like us but responded radically to grace. As we celebrate All Saints, we look to their example and intercession so that we can do the same!
Saturday, we celebrate All Soul’s Day. On this day as we remember all the faithfully departed—family members, friends—who have gone before us. As members of the Church Militant, we offer prayers for the Church Suffering—those who have not yet attained heaven and await release from Purgatory—in order that they may soon be members of the Church Triumphant. Check out the links that explain these terms in greater detail.
I will see you all at one of our All Saint’s Masses and invite you to attend one of our All Soul’s Masses on Saturday.
Peace!
Fr. Paul
