THE BISHOP'S CROZIER: A sacrament of healing

As we move into the month of February, we prepare to once again enter into the season of Lent.  This penitential season in the liturgical calendar is a great blessing for us because the Church knows that we need to be reminded of the importance of conversion, which is always at the center of the Christian life.  In the scriptures of the New Testament, the Greek word “metanoia” that is translated as “conversion” literally means “to turn around,” and for the Christian, this is a turning away from sin and turning back to God.  Our journey of conversion begins at baptism, when our old sinful self is crucified and buried with Christ and we rise with him to a new life of grace.  As St. Paul teaches:
        “Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” (Rom 6:3-4) 

In the ancient baptismal rite, the catechumen would face west and renounce Satan and sin and then turn around and face east and profess faith in Jesus Christ and his Church, so we can see that conversion has always been seen as this profound turning away from sin and towards Christ.   For Catholics, this is not a “one and done” event; rather, we are called to daily conversion away from sin and towards Christ.   

Lent is an invitation and a reminder of the importance of ongoing conversion and to open our hearts more to the grace and mercy of Christ. This is seen explicitly in the first reading of the Ash Wednesday liturgy from the prophet Joel:  

      “Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.” (Jl 2:12-13)  

So while during Lent we focus on giving up certain things as well as prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, all of these are ordered toward bringing about a more profound conversion away from sin and vice and to open our hearts more to the grace and mercy of Christ.  

With all this in mind, there is no greater means of conversion in the life of the Church than the sacrament of penance.  In fact, this great sacrament of forgiveness and mercy literally puts into effect the merciful love of Christ in the Church.   It makes real and present to us the mercy of Christ that pours forth from the wounded heart of Christ that was broken open out of love for us on the Cross.  This is why the very first action of Jesus after the Resurrection in the Gospel of John was to institute this great sacrament of mercy when he says to the Apostles:

    “‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” (Jn 20: 21-23)  

Jesus institutes the sacrament of penance so that we can have a real and personal encounter with him as he is really present and acting through the person of the priest.  The profound reality and depth of this personal encounter with Christ and his merciful heart was revealed by Jesus himself to St. Faustina:  

     “Daughter, when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. The torrents of grace inundate humble souls.”  (Diary entry No.1602) 

These “torrents of grace” that Jesus reveals to St. Faustina not only bring about the forgiveness of our sins and our reconciliation with God and the Church, but they also bring about great healing in our souls. I have often described the confessional as God’s healing room in which we encounter Jesus the Divine Physician who not only forgives but also heals our wounds and raises us up again to new life. This is why the sacrament of penance is one of the sacraments of healing — because Jesus desires to make us whole and new as sons and daughters of God.  

Therefore, this Lent, I especially urge all the faithful of the diocese to approach this great sacrament of mercy and healing with a new enthusiasm and trust, and if it is not already your personal practice, to receive this sacrament at least monthly so that you always remain close to the merciful heart of Christ and walk in the freedom of his grace.  The door is always open to respond to the Lord’s invitation: “Come to me, all who labor and are heaven laden, and I will give you rest.”  (Mt 11:28)