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Thrill seekers stand in line for hours under the scorching sun for ninety adrenaline-pumping seconds of immediate gratification on the newest, fastest roller coaster.
Grand opening lines are really anything but grand and, at the end of the day, all things beyond the highly anticipated opening are just things of this world that are, like all material possessions and worldly pursuits, subject to the decay of the earth and the passing of time.
The bottom line (pun intended) is that most lines aren’t worth the wait in terms of time invested and what you receive when you reach the front – unless you’re standing in a Catholic line.
Let no one doubt concerning the goodness of God; even if a person’s sins were as dark as night, God’s mercy is stronger than our misery. One thing alone is necessary; that the sinner set ajar the door of his heart, be it ever so little, to let in a ray of God’s merciful grace, and then God will do the rest. (Diary, No. 1507)
If you find yourself tempted to discouragement thinking that nobody cares about anything any more and the world has gone to you-know-where in a hand basket, take your place in the nearest confession line.
You can find tremendous encouragement and receive the grace for spiritual growth in long-standing confession lines.
Each individual penitent is a living, breathing witness of a deep, abiding love for God and a humble awareness of sin which “is before all else an offense against God, a rupture of communion with him” (CCC, 1440).
The original sin of Adam isn’t our fault but we, as members of the Body of Christ, do suffer the inherited consequences of that sin in our wounded nature weakened and inclined to evil. (CCC, 405-407)
Confession heals the rupture of sin and restores our communion with God as an individual soul and, collectively, as society.
Confession lines are also an ideal environment to grow in patience and humility, unite ourselves to Jesus through Mary in the Rosary and pray with our guardian angel.
I always pray that our Blessed Mother wrap her mantle around me and the priest who will hear my confession in persona Christi – in the person of Christ.
In the sacrament of Reconciliation, the spiritual exchange rate of sin for grace is extraordinary. Here’s what a person receives at the end of the confession line: “reconciliation with God by which the penitent recovers grace; reconciliation with the Church; remission of the eternal punishment incurred by mortal sins; remission, at least in part, of temporal punishments resulting from sin; peace and serenity of conscience, spiritual consolation and an increase of spiritual strength for the Christian battle” (CCC 1496).
Please remember: Anyone conscious of a grave [mortal] sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion. (CCC, 1385)
The happiness you have a right to enjoy has a name and a face: it is Jesus of Nazareth, hidden in the Eucharist. – Pope Benedict XVI (2006). “God’s Revolution: World Youth Day and Other Cologne Talks”, p.34, Ignatius Press
BUT – for the love of God – we must return to a deep and most profound love and respect of Jesus who we receive – Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity – in this most sublime sacrament.
The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin. – Pope Pius XII
We must pray for the grace of a well formed conscience. We must ask our Blessed Mother to help us muster the spiritual courage to ask God to reveal our heart to us so that we may acknowledge and humbly confess our mortal and venial, habitual sin with genuine contrition.
Whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying. (I Cor. 11:27-30)
The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist in Holy Communion is an intimate union with Christ Jesus. In this union, venial sins are forgiven and the communicant is preserved from grave sins.(CCC, 1391, 1416)
With discerning faith a distinguished writer of the Byzantine tradition voiced this truth: in the Eucharist “unlike any other sacrament, the mystery [of communion] is so perfect that it brings us to the heights of every good thing: here is the ultimate goal of every human desire, because here we attain God and God joins himself to us in the most perfect union. (Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 34)
Jesus said: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; . . . he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and . . . abides in me, and I in him” (Jn 6:51, 54, 56).
The Eucharist is the heart and the summit of the Church’s life, for in it Christ associates his Church and all her members with his sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving offered once for all on the cross to his Father; by this sacrifice he pours out the graces of salvation on his Body which is the Church (CCC, 1407).
The Eucharist: “Here is the Church’s treasure, the heart of the world, the pledge of the fulfillment for which each man and woman, even unconsciously, yearns.” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 59).
Confession and Holy Communion lead us to the eternal happiness of Heaven.
Get in line.
© 2024 Brian Kravec
Brian is a cradle Catholic, husband and father. He’s a writer, speaker, and the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Possibility Productions, a 501(c)(3) faith event evangelization apostolate in service of the Body of Christ.
2 Responses
Dear Brian – BRAVO BRAVO….words of “Truth” and so needed. “The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.” – Pope Pius XII. And you give the formula to make a good confession –
“To Have A Well Formed Conscience.”
And your humility in sharing the following:
Personally, since reading The Warning: Testimonies and Prophecies of the Illumination of Conscience by Christine Watkins, I have been the grateful recipient of the grace of remembrance of past sins (even decades ago) that I did not confess, whether due to a poorly formed conscience, the loss of a sense of sin, or fear of humiliation. When these crooked lines are made straight in Confession, we are disposed to worthily receive the fruits of the Eucharist.
Brian! thank you for sharing your wisdom but also the “Truth” of our rich Catholic Faith.
Please keep writing to point the way……your sister in Christ , Anita
Dear Anita,
I’m so grateful for your words of affirmation and encouragement as well as the blessing and privilege of being a pen in the Father’s hand for “a time such as this.” God bless you, dear sister!