The confessional is truly a sacred space.
It is a doorway into the inner sanctuary of the human soul and the heart’s point of entry for Divine Light.
No one should be left to carry the burden of sin alone. The weight of our sinful choices and actions can press heavily upon our hearts and lives, wounding us interiorly and distancing us from God and from one another.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation is the place where the wounded come to be healed. It is there that they acknowledge their wounds and receive healing and peace through the forgiveness of the God of infinite love.
During His earthly ministry, Our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, exercised this divine authority to forgive sins: “Your sins are forgiven”
On the evening of Easter, He entrusted this same power to His Apostles when He appeared among them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained”. In this moment, Christ instituted the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The priest who sits in the confessional is therefore one who is deeply humbled. Though himself a sinner, he is called by God to stand in His place and to pronounce forgiveness in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The priest-confessor is not the master of God’s mercy, but its servant.
The effects of the Sacrament of Confession are profound: reconciliation with God through the forgiveness of all sins; reconciliation with the Church, in which God desires us to make our home; and the restoration of the state of grace, enabling us to rediscover the person God created us to be.
Through this sacrament, the penitent also receives peace and serenity of conscience, spiritual consolation, and an increase of strength for the ongoing struggle of Christian life—a struggle which, through frequent confession, becomes a beautiful and grace-filled journey toward holiness.
Let us go to confession.