Reconciliation & Lent

Are You Struggling With Reconciliation? Do You Have Fear/Anxiety Around Confessing Your Sins?

Admittedly, the Sacrament of Reconciliation has been poorly explained and poorly experienced, by some.

For many, this wonderful Sacrament of God's mercy developed as an exercise of listing all our "dirty little secrets", and carried with it the baggage of publicly announcing our badness for all to see. That is truly unfortunate, because this understanding/experience undermines the essence of the Sacrament, and keeps us from experiencing a wonderful, grace-filled event: reconciliation with God.

The truth is, if we can see any of our "dirty little secrets", it is because God brings them to light so that we can be set free from them.  This is why we should begin our examination of conscience by praying "come Holy Spirit".

Reconciliation is actually all about freedom, not punishment, or embarassment, or anything else we may feel around confessing our sins. 
By naming those things in our lives that have power over us - inner motivations like fear, selfishness, jealously and the like - naming them gives us power over them. 

Having power over these things leads us to be able to begin to control them, rather than them controlling us.

Celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation is also a great way of unburdening things of which we may not even have been aware of, but to do it right there is a bit of preparation work to help make if fruitful. 

We must take a bit of time and reflection, look at those things that we have done, and then ask ourselves, "Why have I done that?". This means to examine our conscience for Mortal and Venial sins we have comitted, and when we've allowed ourselves to come into near ocassion of sin, and asking God to guide us in this process with regards to clarity, remembrance, and honesty.
Until we begin to understand why we do what we do - where we slip up and the patterns of behavior that lead us to these failures - we will never understand how to break free of this cycle, and thus will always be slaves to our motivations. 

Usually the actions we confess are merely symptons of a deeper reality, and so we need to delve deep into the "why" of it.  One spiritual director indicated that we need to ask ourselves "why" at least 10 times to approach the true reason behind our actions.

While we're called to reptanance, and the Sacrament of Confession is available all throughout the year, the Church offers us two seasons of preparation for reconciliation with God: Advent & Lent. 
These liturfical seasons are an invitation to make our lives better, fuller and more abundant, by "getting right with God" and being in a state of grace to more fully receive what God offers us: love and grace. 

So muster the courage, sit in quiet to examine your conscience, and when you're ready, come revel in God's gift of freedom.

Like the prodigal son, the Father is eagerly awaiting your return to Him. Come home!