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Holy Confession:
Apart from which you will never enter Heaven
“Whoever
eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily
will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord”
(I Cor. 11:27). But [the impenitent] spurn and despise all
these warnings; before their sins are expiated, before they
have made a confession of their crime, before their conscience
has been purged in the ceremony and at the hand of the priest
— they do violence to His Body and Blood, and with their
hands and mouth they sin against the Lord more than when
they denied Him.” (The Lapsed 15:1-3)
“Of how much greater faith and salutary fear are they who
... confess their sins to the priests of God in a straightforward
manner and in sorrow, making an open declaration of conscience.
God cannot be mocked or outwitted, nor can he be deceived
by any clever cunning ... Indeed, he but sins the more if,
thinking that God is like man, he believes that he can escape
the punishment of his crime by not openly admitting his
crime — I beseech you, brethren, let everyone who has
sinned confess his sin while he is still in this world,
while his confession is still admissible, while the satisfaction
and remission made through the priests are still pleasing
before the Lord.” (The
Lapsed
28)
St. Cyprian of Carthage (250 A.D.)
It is Lent
— perhaps the last Lent for many of us (or,
indeed, all of us). Let us repent with all our hearts and souls
and minds and being; let us do penance while yet we may ... for
to no man is assured tomorrow — indeed, not so much as the
next instant. Let us confess our sins to God through His holy priest
in the sacred Tribunal of Penance — for while the way is hard for
so many because our lives have been evil, the mercy of God is abundant,
and far exceeds our sins and even the depth of our sorrow.
Unless we sorrow and repent
we will die in our sins.
“Behold
I set forth in your sight this day a blessing and a
curse: A blessing, if you obey the commandments
of the Lord your God, which I command you this day:
A curse, if you obey not the commandments of the Lord
your God, but revolt from the way which now I show you.”
(Deuteronomy 11.26)
God sets a choice before you and you alone
must choose. The blessing is Life Everlasting in Heaven.
The curse is “the Second Death”
1,
from which none return, but everlastingly abide. Holy Scripture
speaks of it as “the fiery lake of
burning sulfur”.
It is Hell. And the way
to it is obduracy in sin and impenitence before God. And this is
the mystery of sin: many — not some — choose
it 2
. Christ warned us of this. But God’s forgiveness yet awaits you
in the Confessional — even as you read this! There is
still time! Let us receive His absolution while we may — for
the days are evil and even now it would seem that they are numbered.
Geoffrey K. Mondello
Editor
Boston Catholic Journal
Printable PDF Version
Comments? Write us:
editor@boston-catholic-journal.com
____________________________________
1
Apocalypse 2:11, 20:6, 20:14 and 21:8
2 Saint Matthew 7.13
Totally Faithful to the Sacred
Deposit of Faith entrusted to the Holy See in Rome
“Scio
opera tua ... quia modicum habes virtutem, et servasti verbum
Meum, nec non negasti Nomen Meum”
“I
know your works ... that you have but little power, and
yet you have kept My word, and have not denied My Name.”
(Apocalypse
3.8)
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