|
'May God grant you pardon and peace'
Catholics find God’s love in confessional
By Andrew Junker, The Catholic Sun
March 6, 2008
A few dozen people sat in the church at St. Benedict Parish one recent evening, but instead of celebrating Mass, they were there for another sacrament.
“So many people seem to be afraid of this,” said Fr. Gary Regula, pastor of the parish, during the Feb. 27 communal penance service. “But so many more want to be part of the vine that is Jesus.”
He was referring to the Gospel passage he had just read to the congregation. Jesus tells His followers that He is the vine and they are the branches. Whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.
“The source of our life is somehow cut off from us by something we did,” Fr. Regula said. “It pulled us apart and divided the body of Christ.”
The way to heal the injury caused by sin, he added, is through the sacrament of penance.
After his brief homily, lines formed around the five visiting priests who came to help Fr. Regula hear confessions. Two singers sang hymns both to offer more privacy to the priests and penitents, but also to place those assembled in a more meditative state.
“We are here to celebrate life, to receive this life,” Fr. Regula said. “Let us be thankful that our God is so loving.”
Need for confession
While any time is right to give thanks to a loving God, Lent especially is a time to reflect on how well we love Him back, said Fr. Jim Wall, vicar for priests.
“Lent is a penitential season, a time when we look into our lives and see how we are keeping God’s commandments, how we are loving Him and how we are loving our neighbors as ourselves,” he said.
Parishes throughout the Phoenix Diocese will offer communal penance services during Lent. They usually include a hymn or two, some scriptural readings, a brief homily on repentance and an examination of conscience.
“It helps people to really prepare to celebrate the resurrection, the Easter season,” Fr. Wall said.
Michael Wieser, director of liturgy and music for St. Jerome Parish, has been planning these penance services for 14 years. This Lent, St. Helen Parish joined with St. Jerome for a combined service.
“In making it a community activity, it lets everybody set this time aside,” Wieser said. “I have six kids myself and I have to keep track of six schedules. Everybody’s busy and it’s good to schedule this far in advance.”
Another benefit of the communal penance service is the environment it provides for a Catholic fearful of making a confession.
“It’s wonderful,” Fr. Wall said. “Some people struggle and have a hard time going to their pastor, but if you bring in outside priests, it’s a little easier for them.”
It can also make for a good re-introduction to the sacrament for Catholics who haven’t been in a long time.
“There are all sorts of reasons to keep away from it. Probably the greatest is fear,” Fr. Wall said. Many times during a communal penance service, priests will hear from people who haven’t been to confession for decades.
“To have a real positive experience in the sacrament could springboard them into more of a regular use of it,” he said.
Fr. Wall speaks from experience. As a former pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle, he led one of the few parishes that offers the sacrament of reconciliation more than just once a week.
In fact, St. Thomas offers it twice every day, a half-hour before the parish’s two daily Masses. They also offer it for an hour and a half on Saturdays.
“It’s kind of an ‘if you build it, they will come’ thing,” Fr. Wall said. “If you preach and teach on the reality of sin, personal as well as communal, people are able to examine their lives. We’re not made for sin, so when we do sin, we avail ourselves of the sacrament of penance.”
The parishioners have responded, said Fr. Patrick Farley, parochial vicar of St. Thomas. He estimates that a couple of hundred people go to the sacrament of reconciliation each week at the parish. And while hearing confessions before every Mass took some getting used to, Fr. Farley is happy to do it.
Fr. Wall has noticed an increase in the number of people who use the sacrament of penance. Also, he said, more parishes are starting to offer confession times beyond the standard Saturday afternoon.
“I think there was a trend and it was not to really preach or teach about sin,” Fr. Wall said. “But if you go through the Scriptures, the Gospel and especially St. Paul’s letters, sin is present. Pick up the paper, turn on the radio or TV and you can see the reality of sin.”
When Catholics acknowledge the presence of sin and also the cleansing power of the sacrament of penance, they will respond, Fr. Farley said.
“There’s no time like the present to enter into God’s grace,” he said.
Or, as Fr. Regula told his parishioners at the communal penance service, there’s no better way to move forward on the Christian journey.
“Will we be perfect?” he asked. “No. But we will try. And that’s what Jesus calls us to do.”
|
