Some folks have mentioned to me before that they are amazed at my love for +the Mass. Indeed, like for any Catholic, the Mass is a central element of my +faith. For me, the Mass can truly be a bedrock of my daily life, holding +everything together (if done well). And the Eucharist especially I hold quite +dear. What could be greater than to receive our Lord truly and in such an +intimate manner in Communion? What's more, I hold a personal belief, based on +the Eucharistic Miracles, that we specifically receive His Sacred Heart in the +Eucharist. In the Mass, at the communion rail, Christ gives us, through the +priest, His Sacred Heart so that It may go down our esophagus and pass right +next to our very own heart. I like to hold my hand to my chest, imagining that +His Heart is beating next to mine, and that I am hearing His Heart beating as +John would in the Last Supper. However, despite my love for the Mass, the +Sacrament I hold most dearly is the Sacrament of Confession.
+ +To begin with, this is the very first Sacrament I was able to receive in my +conversion to the Faith, and that I could continue to receive on a regular +basis. And its healing powers on my soul were noticeable to me since my very +first confession, which took place under very irregular circumstances. I am +still extremely grateful for the priest who put so much care into ensuring that +I would not spend the confinement of 2020 without receiving this Sacrament. +After the confinement was over, lasting something like a few months, the very +first thing I did was to call my local parish and ask when the priest would be +available for confession. And so I continued to go to confession, receiving its +grace, until the day I was admitted into Christ's Church on July 3rd +2020, the day of St. Thomas, the Apostle who doubted.
+ +In this sense I am grateful that I was able to receive this Sacrament much +before being able to receive Communion. The reason being that, often times its +easy for us to see the Sacrament of Penance as a gateway to Communion, and in +some regards it is. But it is also a Sacrament in its own right, and has a real +purpose in the plan of our salvation. It gives us graces, not simply disposing +us to receive the Eucharist, absolving us of our sins, but truly ordering our +hearts to Jesus Christ, configuring us to Him. And perhaps more than anything +else, at least for me, this Sacrament has helped to humble me and to truly more +than anything else help me to understand the power of God's mercy.
+ +Perhaps it is these two facets of this Sacrament that I find are so +desperately needed in this world today: accountability and forgiveness. The +Sacrament of Confession first invites us to humble ourselves, to humble +myself, and recognize that I am a sinner. Not only am I a sinner, but I +am very much broken, and I need help, I need God. Too often the modern culture +tries to hide this from us, so that it demands nothing from us. God, on the +other hand, is very demanding of us. This is something we need. But it is +accompanied necessarily and immediately by mercy: when we truly repent and +humbly confess our sins, God's abundant mercy is shown and made more clear. As I +confess my sins, realizing all the wrongs that I have done, I expect the +(metaphorical) lashings, but instead I am met with love and forgiveness. I am +once again the prodigal son who has returned to his father. And every time you +go to confession, so are you. You are that prodigal son, who has betrayed your +father, betrayed his trust, wasted your life on meaningless distractions, but +all your father cares about now is that you have returned to him.
+ +I truly encourage all Catholics to go to confession frequently. Not so +frequent as to stimulate scrupulosity, but enough to humble oneself and also to +be reminded of God's infinite mercy.