Prayer and Confession

Last Wednesday I got to go home for my university's Fall Break, and let me tell you, it was so nice to be able to be with my family for about 4 whole days! There really is no place like home when you are among the people you love the most and who love you the most. What made break even better though was that every member of my family and I (except my brother-in-law who is not Catholic and my nephew who is only a toddler) got to go to Confession before Mass yesterday! (We are Vigil people and always go on Saturday evenings! Haha!) Not only do I want to share with you a light-bulb moment for myself that I had in Confession, but also something much, much more profound that happened. I'm going to save the best for last, though, so here is what I learned from one of my home parish priests in Confession: In the Gospel this Sunday, we read about Moses and how he held up his arms in prayer while Joshua and the Israelites fought Amalek and his men in battle, and about how every time Moses lowered his arms, the Israelites would begin to lose, while every time he would raise them again, they would begin to win again. In the same way, my priest told me, we must pray without ceasing because every time we lower our arms (or stop praying) like Moses, we begin to lose the spiritual battle. In short, then, prayer is the best weapon against temptation and in overcoming sin my priest told me because it is against temptation and sin, it is against "principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12) that we wage our battle, and only God and His Grace can overcome them. This really struck me, and I am so thankful to God for this insight and especially that it came in Confession because ultimately, God wants us to get better. He wants us to heal us, to make us whole so that can experience the Love and Happiness that He created us for and that can only be found in Him! And this just goes to show that God will never stop making a way for us. That He will never stop searching, and that He will find us. We just need to cooperate and go to Him just as the woman who wet His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair went to Him when she learned where He would be (Luke 7:36-50). In the end, she was forgiven of her sins and was joyfully sent in peace because her Faith had made her well. In much the same way, if we cooperate with God's Grace as that woman (who we are told was a sinner) must have done to even seek Jesus in the first place, what we get in the end is victory. Victory over sin and death that comes from no one less than our Beloved Savior.

And just to give witness to the fact that it IS indeed Jesus Christ Himself Who forgives us and absolves us of our sins in Confession, let me tell you what happened as my older sister and I waited in line while our younger sister was in Confession. My nephew, who is not even two and a half, was walking around where we were standing and was going down the line of pews when, coming back, he stopped dead in his tracks and pointed at the door of the Confessional. In a very solemn little voice he said, clear as day, "Jesus is in there." A few seconds later my little sister came out! He had said that at the moment of her absolution!!! My older sister and I stared wide-eyed at one another, and as I went into the Confessional next, all my fears dissipated as I knelt down and told myself, "It is Jesus in here." 

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.