“He asked me whether I would be so good as to hear his confession”

“He asked me whether I would be so good as to hear his confession”St. Claret’s Autobiography-319

Confession is very necessary for all the Christians who believe in the forgiveness of God almighty. From the time we as Christians prepare ourselves to receive the Eucharistic Lord for the first time into our hearts, we begin to surrender totally to God asking forgiveness to our sins. In the case of Claretian living last few years, I have experienced the importance given to confession at least once a month help the individuals to be relieved from sins and to regain the joy of being Christian. In this 2020s in my overall understanding, confession has lost its importance. There are differences among Christians; there are people questioning themselves whether confession gives us total peace? Or does really forgiveness come from confession? There are some halfhearted, confessing for some failures and not revealing the whole self to the priest out of unreliability on priests. There are some who were baptized and forgotten that they are Christians because of worldly involvements. Amidst these confusing society How a Claretian would move forward in his vocation to save souls from sins and to bring glory to God by making the Christians to have trust on forgiveness of God through the sacrament of reconciliation? Fr. Claret in his autobiography number 85 says “always made my weekly confession” and so, it is an invitation for all Claretians to reconcile with oneself and with others. At the same time, we read in Fr. Claret’s autobiography number 180 “I was so busy hearing confessions” this symbolizes that we must also be the instruments of peace to others. Either as a Claretian priest, deacon, student or lay all of us have the necessary responsibility to invite Christians, who live with us, for peace and reconciliation with themselves and with others through the sacrament of confession.

A friend of mine one day he said that he confessed all his sins and only one sin that he could not confess and that he would confess later with a priest whom he will not meet in his lifetime. In return, I asked him why you want to choose a priest whom you would not see anymore. “I don’t believe -he said- the native priest who will be around the country and with them after confessing cannot move closely because they are not reliable”.

Based on this experience I was reflecting about our founder Fr. Claret. How much he would have been a person of reliability, so many hours he spent in hearing confession it was all for the peace among people. In the autobiography of Claret numbers 827-830, we read the best confession experiences of Claret. What does all these examples from the life of Claret has to say to us? We as Claretians called to save the souls of our fellow brothers and sisters in our communities as well as in the society; we are called to be aware of the state of being lost. Let’s share our life experience which brought and still bringing peace by the forgiveness of Christ in the sacrament of confession. The only peace we have in our hearts is alive because of the continuous forgiveness of God. Every time we go astray without holding Jesus’ hands; he embraces us through only act we make with him by reconciliation. The only example we can give to the world is our personal life. Keep growing in the faith of the Lord out of His forgiving mercy.

Br. Kingsley Suresh Patrick CMF