Everyone loves a good transformation story.
Our culture is filled with “transformations” of homes/yards, fashion/style, weight/health, career, etc.
Yet no matter how “spit-shined” someone looks on the outside, we are all broken and wounded within.
God longs for the transformation of our hearts, not our outward appearances
(1 Samuel 16:7).
In Baptism, we were washed of our sins and became children of the Father. And from that adoption flows our life of discipleship. This is our true identity.
Of course, most of us do not remain long in a state of perfection. We all sin, rupturing our relationship with God and distorting our identity.
God is not satisfied with our choice to turn away, so He offers grace in our lives to serve as “wake-up calls” to remind us of our true identity.
An encounter with mercy
In these moments of grace, God is always waiting for us to turn back and encounter Him, so He can offer us His mercy.
We see in the story of the woman caught in adultery an example of an encounter with God’s mercy (John 8). Jesus sees the woman as she is, in her sin. He does not condemn her, but neither does He condone her sin. Rather, He invites her into His mercy and a renewal of life.
The Church calls this encounter of mercy the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
In Baptism, we were washed clean of all our sin, and the sacrament of Reconciliation renews that cleansing, which should happen often. Through this sacrament, we show repentance and receive grace and healing to be His disciples. There will be times when our hearts are heavy and burdened by sin and instinctively we long for that merciful encounter. Other times, we will need to foster an interior conversion by a daily examen or an examination of conscience.
Our priests stand in the person of Jesus ready to offer us this encounter with Christ.
We see Jesus entrust His apostles with this great work when He stated, “‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ And when He said this He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them and whose sins you retain are retained’” (John 20:21-23).
The Rite of Reconciliation
To receive the sacrament fruitfully, it is necessary to prepare well.
First, take time to examine your conscience.
Identify and name sins of thoughts, words, actions, what we have done (sins of commission), and what we have failed to do (sins of omission).
Then in the confessional:
- Make the Sign of the Cross.
- Say, “Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It has been (amount of time) since my last Confession.”
- List your sins in order from most serious to least (name the number/frequency of each sin).
- Receive penance from the priest (a loving act of reparation in response to God’s forgiveness).
- Pray an Act of Contrition.
- Receive absolution from the priest.
Finally, in the words of absolution, we are set free to follow Christ: “God, the Father of mercies, through the death and Resurrection of His Son, has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”