I know a lot of people have a troubled relationship with the sacrament of penance. It is a sacrament that has fallen off rather dramatically the last several decades. There perhaps are many reasons for this, but one is what St. Pope Paul IV noted in the 70’s as a loss in our society of a “sense of sin.” A sense of Sin does not mean we have to go around feeling guilty all the time but it does mean we know and understand ourselves to be broken and sinners and always standing in need of God’s forgiveness and mercy.

Confession is where we experience the love and mercy of God. Confession is a chance to be honest with oneself, and our Father, about who we really are — resentful, impatient, angry, selfish, judgmental, etc. We go to confession to hear our God remind us that he is exactly none of those things. And that he is none of those things towards us personally.

What we get from the experience of confession is not a kind of superhuman strength to change oneself, but the supernatural 

grace to experience the reality of God’s love, and touch a vital truth about who and what we are: a beloved child of God. The sacrament isn’t a kind of spiritual therapy, it’s medicine (grace), properly speaking. Something which won’t heal itself is healed. Confession can, and does, give a stillness and a patience that doesn’t come from ourselves, and it cools the sinful impulses we all have.

I would encourage everyone to make a confession during this time of Lent before Easter. There are ample opportunities to make a confession. Every week there are confessions Wednesday at 5 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. And, on March 30 at 6:30 p.m. we are going to have a special Penance Service. There will be a short Liturgy of the Word and examination of conscience and then the opportunity for personal confession. I have invited two other priests to join us to help hear confessions that evening. The last opportunity to go to confession before Easter is April 5 (Wednesday in Holy Week) at 4:30 p.m.