A few years ago, when Fr. Corapi came to speak in Chattanooga, I, like a lot of people that weekend, availed myself of the sacrament of Reconciliation. The Rec-room was sort of an open space, where priests were positioned at various points about the room. I waited in line a while, then was called over to an open space where a priest was waiting. Anxiety set in as I approached, as I realized that this priest was really old, probably could not hear very well, & that I would likely need to speak loud enough to broadcast my failings to the whole room & beyond. As it happened, he could hear just fine; & as I poured out my soul to this wizened old vicar, he stopped me in the middle of my thoughts & declared rather definitively, "Your problem is that you don't have a relationship with the Holy Spirit!" And I've been pondering that ever since.Now, lots of people claim to be "spiritual" rather than religious; but, doesn't spirituality infer the presence of a spirit, & of living a life according to that spirit? Here a word of warning: St. Paul lists discernment of spirits among the gifts of the Holy Spirit, because there is more than one spirit out there. Have you ever thought about the sorts of spirits that are out & about these days? Which spirit do you follow?
Christianity makes a strikingly bold - even astonishing- claim that God has revealed himself to be a unity of 3 persons: Father, Son, & Spirit, & that this Spirit of God lives within & among those who enter the faith through baptism, & who guides those that allow him through life with a celestial light toward Truth, Beauty, & Goodness - even Godness - that is invisible to those standing outside.
Again, if we are spiritual or follow a certain spirituality, are we truly aware of the presence & action of the Spirit of God as the origin, the means, & the goal of our entire Christian life?
3 comments:
Mark, I too ponder often about the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life. I read in The Holy Longing (I think) that when one has self pity or jealousy or any kind of what I call "distorted thoughts" then one is not living in the Spirit. With all the distorted thoughts that haunt me daily, I plead for the Holy Spirit to come back to me!
If I didn't know better I would think it was Father Randal who just published a book called "No spirit, No Church". It was very worth reading and a quick read. I know many priest who are not led by the Holy Spirit. Once I was sitting in line waiting for the confessional when someone sat besides me. I felt for some reason that my sins were already forgiven before I even went in the confessional. Another couple came in after me and looked at the man sitting next to me and said, "Hey, Aren't you Father so and so?". Well there you have it, a holy priest who just his presence brought Jesus to me. Was hard to go to confession feeling any remorse because I already felt cleansed. Anyway, I just wanted to share.
Thanks for your comment, Linda. Though the explicit statements escape me at the moment, the Church seems to teach that our sins are actually forgiven when realize the evil we've done or the good we didn't & turn to God asking for forgiveness. Going to Confession & doing the penance completes the "satifaction" & makes the reparation required for the offense.
Note that when the priest raised his hand over you (or places it on your head), he says "I absolve you...". You are already forgiven, but with the absolution, even the memory of the sin is annihilated. The priest uses the 1st-person form (as opposed to "You are absolved..." or "Christ absolves you..."), because it is Christ himself who grants absolution.
When I have the time, I might review the Catechism's section on sacramental Confession about this.
A final thought - if people knew the beauty of the movement of grace in this sacrament, the lines for Confession would be as long as the lines for Communion.
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