I believe the closer we get, the more we see ourselves in truth and recognize just how sinful we are, but, there is no cause for despair! As we come to know His love and mercy in an intimate way, we gain the ability to see ourselves in truth knowing of His great love for us. Without knowledge of His love, we would certainly despair. That love manifests itself by coming to know Him in prayer, or through other people manifesting His presence to us.
Some people experience fear before entering the confessional. There is a part of us that worries God will reject us when He hears how sinful we are, but God already knows our sins before we even enter the confessional. If there is sorrow and a firm purpose of amendment, forgiveness is ours!.
Others are eager to go to confession knowing in the Sacrament we receive the gift of Gods mercy. It is as if we were covered in muck and welcoming a shower of water that cleanses us. His Mercy is a shower of grace washing away our sins and giving us a new beginning over and over again, in spite of the fact that even though good intentioned in our resolution, we probably will commit the very same sins!
I have been told that you can never really heal from an abortion. While I agree, that the memory will never go away (who would want to forget their child), I disagree about the healing. I know what He has done for me. I “choose” to trust. I “refuse” to put a limit on His Mercy. If He tells me I am forgiven, I believe Him, and even when I don’t feel His presence, I still “choose” to believe Him and know He is with me.
“In this Lenten season, may we all “choose” to “refuse” and partake of the shower of God’s Mercy, whether Catholic in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or in another faith. May we all trust “to the point of folly” in the Merciful love of God who died on the cross to save us from our sins.
- Theresa Bonopartis
“When you discover the truth about yourself it is very important to simultaneously invoke in yourself an act of trust, to the point of folly,
in God’s mercy”.
(Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock” S.C. Beila pg 38)
Do we really want to know the truth about ourselves? For those of us who are Catholic, we try to examine our conscience before the Sacrament of Reconciliation in order to confess all of our sins, but, the truth is, we probably are just skimming the surface. I know for me, it is easy to see the big things, the things I struggle with all the time, but I know there are thousands of other sins I commit that I am not even aware of. God is good like that, He doesn’t to allow us to see more than we can handle. He is gentle in revealing to us our sinfulness.
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