The life of every living being belongs to God (‘know that all
lives are mine; the life of the parent as well as the life of the child…’
Ezek.18:4) also his mercy and love endures forever {“the steadfast love of the
Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end” Lam.3:22}
“Which one of you having a hundred sheep and losing one of
them does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that
is lost until he finds it?” {Lk.15:4}
‘Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the
angels of God over one sinner who repents’ [Lk.15:10]
The words we utter at the sacrament of reconciliation_ Father
forgive me for I have sinned_ were derived from this scriptural passage
‘…Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you’ (Lk.15:18)
The prodigal son prepared these words before going to the
Father hence we should prepare and enlist our faults very well before we go the
confessional
You prepare what to say before you get to the confessional {“I
will get up and go to my father and I will say to him, Father I have sinned
against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son;
treat me like one of your hired hands” Lk.15:18-19}
You make the move towards God through the instrumentality of
the priest who is the messenger of the Lord Sabaoth [‘for the lips of a priest
should guard knowledge and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for
he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts’ Mal.2:7] who is the confessor with
humility (“so he set off and went to his father…” Lk.15:20) not because as
humans he can forgive sins but as the representative of Jesus Christ whose
priesthood is eternal and consistent even currently before his Father in heaven
{Heb.7:23-25}
You make a humble obeisance and show remorse before the
confessor with eagerness to release yourself from those faults as well as share
in the judgment for them and general human weakness like Jesus Christ for the
world’s sin (‘for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him
we might become the righteousness of God’ 2Cor.5:21)
You now say what you prepared to confess and give up with
regards to misuse of grace as a son/daughter who has been saved but willingly
rejected to follow the pathway of those who are saved (“then the son said to
him Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy
to be called your son” Lk.15:21)
Immediately Jesus accepts our sin as his and offers it to his
Father and a robe of righteousness is used to cover us and totally blot out our
guilt {‘but the father said to his slaves, quickly bring out a robe – the best
one – and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet and
get the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of
mine was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found and they began to
celebrate’ Lk.15:22-24}
But the enemy will come to your mind to remind you of those
sins and try to impose guilt on your mind about the same sin you have been
forgiven or try to make you feel like someone who has not received absolution
before now even though you have gone to reconcile with your GOD in sincerity.
This is the work of human psyche manifested through thoughts, circumstances,
events or news that display themselves in your mind brought about by friends,
brothers, sisters, mother, father, priests, preachers, office-colleagues,
neighbors, school-mates e.t.c (“and we do this so that we may not be outwitted
by satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs” 2Cor.2:11)
Do not be an instrument to make people think they cannot be
forgiven for their sins by God if they make sincere and honest effort to
connect to the power of God’s forgiveness and love for mankind {‘but Jesus
said, let the little children come to me and do not stop them; for it is to
such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs’ Mtt.19:14}
Do not allow yourself to be victimized by any unrighteous
habits, behavior, attitudes, emotions, passions, desires, pursuit, purpose or
vision [“Jesus answered them, very truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin
is a slave to sin…so if the Son makes you free you will be free indeed”
Jn.8:34,36].
Do not allow yourself or those around you to be cowed into
believing that they cannot be forgiven by God from any type of sin without
being punished before or after seeking an honest reconciliation with their God
(‘that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself not counting
their trespasses against them and entrusting the message of reconciliation to
us’ 2Cor.5:19).
You should use everything at your disposal to inspire
yourself and others on the need to seek reconciliation with God every second of
our lives because in every second of our lives we have our sinful abilities
dwelling in us seeking opportunity to express itself hence we always need to
seek God’s mercy in order to render these habits, desires and emotions
perpetually inactive {“let us therefore approach the throne of grace with
boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need”
Heb.4:16}.
You need to perpetually and insistently remind yourself and
others about God’s love, justice, mercy and forgiveness which is unconditional,
available and accessible at any given second of our life-span whether dead or
alive [‘for Christ also suffered for sins once for all the righteous for the
unrighteous in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but
made alive in the spirit in which also he went and made a proclamation to the
spirits in prison who in former times did not obey when God waited patiently in
the days of Noah during the building of the ark in which a few that is eight
people were saved through water’ 1 Pet.3:18-20].
We need to pray for ourselves {lay-faithful}, priests and
confessors that the Holy Spirit will inspire us to pray and prepare effectively
and efficiently in our mind and body before approaching this throne of mercy
either as the judge or the penitent (“first of all, then I urge that supplications,
prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings should be made for everyone” 1
Tim.2:1)
We need to pray for our priests and confessors so that
inspired by GOD; Supreme Judge who they represent, they may be able to use firm
admonitions as well as ample time to help penitents to regain their desire for
consistent contrition every second of their life and have convincing reasons
why they should not desire these unholy lifestyles ever again.
We need to pray for our priests so that aided by Jesus Christ
the eternal high in whose stead they re-enact the sacrifice of Jesus to his
Father on the cross of Calvary so that they may offer up our sins to Jesus
Christ who turns the bread and wine into his Body and Blood so that by their
word substantiated by the power of God who can do all things at any given time
our sinful habits and behaviors will become inactive and unattractive to our
concupiscence as we consume God in his Body and Blood {“those who eat my flesh
and drink my blood have eternal life and I will raise them up on the last day”
Jn.6:54}.
We need to pray for our priests and confessors so that they
may also avail themselves the opportunity of complete reconciliation with God
by accessing this sacrament through their brother priests and confessors with all
humility and sincerity (“Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers
an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” 1Tim.4:12).
We need to also pray for the lay-faithful so that they may
access this sacrament with perfect humility, contrition and sincerity in their
relationship with God {‘let us consider how to provoke one another to love and
good deeds’ Heb.10:24}
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