GOING TO CONFESSION....

Today after bringing my son to school for varsity basketball practice, I decided to go to the Saint Jude Shrine to go to confession....I made a reflection first and tried to remember all of my faults and my sins.

To everyone, most particularly to some of us, who have tried their very best to live a spartan life, to be good and respectful at all times.....you may not see the need to go to confession because you've been very good and have tried your best not to hurt anyone......you may rationalize that if ever I did something wrong, it was only because I was pushed or forced to do it.....If ever I swore or cursed anyone, it was only because they cursed me first....If I was disrespectful, it was only because they were disrespectful too.....If ever I had hurt someone through my words or my actions, it was only because they hurt me too and they deserved it....this is the kind of rationalizing that we always do....and strangely enough we even feel proud, at times, saying this.

Pope John Paul II lamented the loss of the "sense of sin"  and said..."Sin is an integral part of the truth about the human person. To recognize oneself as a sinner is the first and essential step in returning to the healing love of God,"


Well.... I am a sinner and today, I went to confession, and when I was inside the room together with the priest, I told him my sins....it flowed out of me....I was never asked why I did them...I did not rationalize...I simply said, these are my sins.....I never explained why I did them....I just wanted to be forgiven....The priest never asked why I did them, he just listened with compassion and then told me....that when you say sorry for your sins, it shouldn't end with the apology, it should come together with a promise, to try your best, never to sin again....Then, in the name of our Father, my sins were forgiven.

This is the beauty of going to confession.....you do not talk to the priest to explain why you did whatever it is you did....you are there to state with all honesty....that these are my sins, I humble myself before God and I ask for forgiveness.....You then realize, that the reason for hurting someone does not really matter.... as much as the fact, that you have hurt someone and have sinned before God in the process......In the end what matters is that we have sinned and that we should be humiliated and embarrassed.

The Lord has provided us a way to get rid of the humiliation from sin...confess and ask for forgiveness.

Today, I left the church...refreshed...as if I took a bath a million times.

I recommend it  to everyone.....in this heat....nothing like a cool bath to refresh yourself....so clean yourself...inside and out.