Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
As you likely know, for the first two weeks of October I was in Rome with all of the bishops of Western Canada. We were there fulfilling the responsibility of our ad limina visit. Every five years bishops are obliged to make a report on the life of their diocese and then to appear in Rome to share on the report. Part of the visit includes visits with the Holy Father, individually and as a group.
In the Holy Father’s address to us as a group he began with the parable of the Prodigal Son (Forgiving Father). In the course of the address he encouraged us to promote the Sacrament of Penance, the sacrament wherein we experience God’s passionate love for us. As the Season of Advent is a time when we invite and encourage everyone to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance, I would like to share a few thoughts on this sacrament with you.
Every sacrament in one way or another is a meeting with Christ the risen Lord. What is key in the Sacrament of Penance is that it is a meeting with the forgiving God. One of the main attributes of our God is that God is a God of mercy, compassion and forgiveness. The monk Thomas Merton said: “God is mercy, in mercy, in mercy”. St. Bernard is recorded as having said: “The measure of God’s mercy is without measure”.
In the past when we thought of the Sacrament of Penance the emphasis was on the sinner, on my sins. Not that my sinfulness is unimportant, but the emphasis needs to be put on the mercy and forgiveness of God. The reason Jesus tells the parable of the Prodigal Son (and both boys are prodigal) is not so much to tell us about the boys, but to tell us about the Father, God our Father.
When we study the parable closely we see that the Father has been hurt by both boys. In spite of this, it is the Father who takes the initiative, who goes out to meet both boys. The younger son begins his confession and the Father interrupts. With the elder son, the Father pleads with him to come in and join the celebration. Not only does the Father take the initiative, but he is also very patient, tender and sensitive with the boys. The Psalmist reminds us of God’s mercy when he says: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love … He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities … As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him” (Psalm 103).
This is the God whom we meet in the Sacrament of Penance. This is what is most important in the sacrament, much more important than our sinfulness.
There is something very important for us to recognize in the elder son. In him we meet someone who cannot forgive his brother. The Father tries very hard to persuade him to forgive his brother, but in the story it appears that he does not. This leads us to another very important part of the Sacrament of Penance, namely that we celebrate our forgiveness of our sisters and brothers.
Jesus is very strong in his teaching on the need for us to forgive our sisters and brothers: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15). In the Sacrament of Penance we receive the help we need to reach out and forgive our sisters and brothers. This is the beauty of coming together to celebrate the sacrament. When we gather as a community to celebrate we pray for one another, we encourage and support one another on our journey to forgiveness. This is something very pleasing to God.
St. Paul reminds us that reconciliation is God’s work and that we are ambassadors of this work. In other words we are to be instruments, agents of God’s reconciling work in the community (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). Paul goes further to say that we are “stewards of God’s mysteries” (1 Corinthians 4:1). The mystery of God’s reconciliation has been entrusted to us and we are to demonstrate that mystery to others. The Sacrament of Penance equips us to be instruments of that mystery.
The Sacrament of Penance is a very special form of worship, of prayer. When celebrating the sacrament we come before God in our poverty and helplessness. We take honest ownership of our situation, admit it and entrust it to God. In this we are telling God that God is God and we are we, sinful dependent persons. This is adoration, this is prayer at its best.
The Sacrament of Penance is also a sacrament of spiritual growth. Our life of faith is a love relationship with God. Someone who really loves another does not test how far they can go before hurting the other. Persons who really love each other are concerned about how they can show their love for each other more deeply. So it is in our relationship with God. By examining ourselves and taking greater ownership and responsibility for the things hindering our relationship, by handing them over and asking forgiveness for them, we take a great step towards further growth in our love relationship with our Lord.
All of this helps us to see how the Sacrament of Penance is a new beginning for us – a starting over, a beginning anew – and so it is truly a sacrament of hope. In celebrating this sacrament I realize that I am accepted as I am, healed, restored and set on the way in a renewed manner. It is interesting to note how often in the Bible individuals encounter Jesus on the roadside. Having met Jesus they are once again on the road (Matthew 10:46-52). So it is with us in celebrating the Sacrament of Penance; having been on the roadside we are once again set on the way. This sacrament is truly a sacrament of hope for us.
Looking back over the Sacrament of Penance we see what a rich blessing is being offered to us. In view of the Season of Advent that we are entering, in view of the full meaning of the Sacrament of Penance and in light of the Holy Father’s encouragement to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance, I invite and encourage each person to avail themselves of the opportunity to meet the forgiving Lord in this beautiful sacrament. Take advantage of the gift being offered to you and enjoy more deeply the true peace of Christmas. The peace of the Lord be with you!
Gerald Wiesner, O.M.I.
Bishop