“May the Lord be in your heart and help you to confess your sins with true sorrow.”
What prevents us from doing that? We won’t confess our sins unless we are convinced of the reality of God and the possibility of a personal relationship with Him. Vaguely identifying as Christian is not enough. It must affect the way I live my life. A well spent Advent nourishes this sense of reality. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” God exists; God cares; God gets involved. Very soon we meet Him in the Crib. We will meet Him at the end of time. We want to do so prepared and at rights with Him.
Do we believe this God offers us forgiveness? Jesus tells us this is the reason why His Precious Blood was poured out on Calvary – “for the forgiveness of sins”. The very first thing He did on meeting His apostles that Easter Sunday evening was to share with them this ministry of forgiveness: “As the Father has sent Me, even so I send you … If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” The life and ministry of Jesus are all about the forgiveness of that which separates us from union with God.
Have I done anything which requires forgiveness? Today this is probably the greatest problem. Some people seem genuinely to think that they have never done anything wrong. If they took a moment to ask those around them, they might be forced to revise their opinion rapidly and radically.
We should not be afraid nor embarrassed of the word “sin”. It has a good scriptural pedigree, and it appears in today’s Gospel (Mt 3.1-12). When John the Baptist preached, those who heard him “confessed their sins”. If we have hang ups about the word, let’s focus on the reality, which is as relevant as ever – because it concerns the human condition.
Sin is deliberately saying “yes” to self and “no” to God and to the other. Can we honestly say that has never been the case? When we failed to attend Mass when it was feasible? When I chose to enjoy myself rather than put myself out for family, friends and those in need? When I opted for selfishness rather than honesty, faithfulness and kindness? When I put the other down to place myself in a better light? When I yielded to temptation? When I chose the easy option rather than Gospel truth and love?
To make a good confession we need to avoid two traps. First, we are to confess our sins, not our mistakes. If something was an accident, it is not our fault. We don’t need to bring it to the sacrament; there is nothing to forgive. But so much of our behaviour was not a mistake. We freely chose it. We need to own it and bring it to God. Secondly, we confess our sins. There is a great temptation to confess the sins of other people – our spouse, mother-in-law, work colleague. No; leave them to acknowledge their own wrongdoing. This is a personal encounter between me and Christ.
“I may not make a good confession because it’s been so long… I feel embarrassed… I can’t remember the procedure.” Take courage. Be generous with God. He wants to remove whatever weighs you down. He looks lovingly upon you and wants to welcome you back. The same is true for the priest. This isn’t a memory test of the formula. The priest admires your courage. He is there to help and guide you.
“I may feel ashamed of what I have done in the past”. Welcome to the human race. It is precisely that shame that God wishes to erase. After all, He knows anyway. “He does not judge by hearsay … but judges … with integrity, and with equity.” He loves us so much that He wants us to behave in a mature and responsible way. All of us desire health and wholeness. We don’t avoid the doctor when we are sick. We name the symptoms so that we might receive healing. The same is true with the sacrament.
The honest and regular use of the sacrament of Confession is a good litmus test of the health of our spiritual life. We are acknowledging the obvious: that we are not perfect. We are recognising that healing is available. We know where to find it – in this personal encounter with Christ in the sacrament.
Many people are looking for Confession without realising it. They have a sense of listlessness, of alienation, of distance from God and from neighbour. They might not have identified the root cause, but this is the consequence of accumulated wrongdoing. We need to tell them the solution is here in the sacrament. Encountering the mercy of our loving Saviour, we are restored to fellowship with God and man.
Jesus gave us the sacrament for us to use it. Hearing the words of John the Baptist, let us do so in this season of Advent: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
This homily was preached at the Church of the Holy Ghost & St Stephen, Shepherd’s Bush, West London, on the Second Sunday of Advent 2022
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