If you want to talk someone out of buying something, here are four strategies you can use:
- You don’t need it
- No one uses that stuff any more
- It’s too much trouble to buy it
- It’s too expensive
We know from experience that these strategies work.
Do you know that the devil uses the same tactics on us, when it comes to making use of the amazing sources of grace that are available to us. How many people are taking advantage of the free fountain of mercy that God gives us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation? Sadly, few. The prince of darkness tells us:
- You don’t need it; you haven’t committed any sins lately.
- It’s old-fashioned. That’s pre-Vatican II stuff.
- It’s too difficult to tell a priest the truth about your secret life.
- This is for “religious type” people not for ordinary people like you.
How is it that we fall for these lies? Sin is much deeper than breaking rules; it is a disease of the soul that we all have. Remember what St. John said (1 John 1:8). “If we say we are without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Everyone needs to be forgiven daily.
Sin has never been more rampant than today, and only God has the power to free us from it. Reconciliation is “new-fashioned”—the hottest product on the market, more needed today than ever.
Thinking about how difficult it is to expose our sins and how shameful it might feel is a hundred times worse than doing it. No one has sins that a priest hasn’t heard many times before. Walking into “the box” is not as tough as the devil paints it to be.
And, yes, it is too expensive for us to buy. God in his mercy, however, knows this and, consequently, sent his Son to pay the price for it, so we can have it “free of charge.”
When we read about the healing of the two blind men last week, though Jesus performed the miracle, they had a necessary part to play. They had to openly proclaim their belief in him. As rich in grace as the sacraments are, we have a part to play. We must take the trouble to seek out the sacrament and admit our sins. The gift of forgiveness is not automatic.
When John the Baptist appeared on earth God poured out his mercy through him. Many went to the Jordan River to be “dunked” by this holy prophet. They had to do their part. And, of course, many stayed home. Then God did his part—he wiped away their sins as a generous creditor does when he wipes away a financial debt. The Church has us visit the Jordan today (Luke 3:1-6).
“John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the words of the prophet Isaiah: ‘A voice crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low…”
If the baptism of John was so powerful that the valleys of deep hurt were filled and the mountains of sin were levelled, how much more does this happen with the new baptism of Jesus Christ?
We listen to the prophet Baruch (5:1-9) today:
“Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever…for God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory…”
God is saying “take off your dirty clothes and get dressed for the wedding.” God is cleaning us of sin and misery and giving us a robe of glory. Isn’t this what happened at our baptism when we were brought from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of light. And isn’t the Sacrament of Reconciliation a renewal of Baptism? It has the power to make us as we were on the day of our baptism.
Pope Francis put it plainly: “Go to confession!”
