The Confession Priest

Today on the calendar we remember St. Leopold Mandic--a great confessor from Croatia.
He has a hand in my life story--though I never heard of him until six years ago--he, along with a few other saints in heaven and on earth--helped me reconcile with Holy Mother Church.

But I digress.

I didn't even know it was his feast day until I happened to look at the calendar.
By the way- we went to confession today.
And the priest was phenomenal--I''ve known him for years and have been seeking his gift of presence in the confessional for just as many.

"Hey, hows the blogger?  I better watch what I do or you might write about it."
Yep, he knows me and my soul.
He's one of the best and here is why.
He is always in the confessional.  He is about the business of cleaning souls for God.
Seriously, I 've walked into his church at all different hours and he is never far off.   Either putzing in the sacristy or sitting in the confessional.
Want to know what makes a great parish priest?---one who is there for his people, literally in the church--waiting for another soul to make itself ready for Christ.
He doesn't have any other agenda other than to be there for people who come to confession.  He truly cooperates with grace.

And so in the spirit of St. Leopold--thanks Brother.

Oh...by the way--if you haven't gone to confession--take this as a sign--and just go.

Here is the "What"

Please, right now,  offer a prayer for all affected by the devastating storms, tornadoes and flooding.

This morning I picked up Time magazine and read the article entitled; Sex. Lies. Arrogance. What Makes Powerful Men Act Like Pigs..
This headline caught my eye simply because I thought someone in the mainstream media had the guts to state the obvious.
But it never came.
It never said the "What" of what makes powerful men act like powerful pigs.

It was a social commentary, on all those public male figures who have fallen and suggested concise behavioral and cognitive correlations.  There were valid points especially when considering entitlement and predator behavior and, don't get me wrong, it is good to heighten the public's attention. 

But it's like a homily that never gets to the next level when all the priest or deacon did was re-tell and re-imagine the Gospel account.   

So, what is the "what" ?

First you don't need to be a powerful man--
Second, Evil is the cause.  More to the point--one's willful cooperation with the demonic.

Pick your poison and then blame someone else for giving it to you or making you that way.
Then allow pride to maintain your position.  

But here is the good news....no matter the poison, no matter the sin--Christ can break in---only when you surrender your will.
"...Thy will be done..."
But the soul needs to do the work--everyday, every moment.
Bring back the ancient practice of making pilgrimages because they outwardly signify the quest, the work, and the sacrifice that the soul needs to undertake.  In the meantime make the Stations of the Cross (they're not just for Lent you know).

I know--i'm preaching--to the choir none-the-less.
(But if you feel like someone needs to hear this--send it to them.)

We are days away from Pentecost--pray for the Holy Spirit to descend.

Forgiveness Part II

When I was an active priest I never went to confession enough.

I was formed during a time when psychology was over spiritualized and spirituality and sacramentology was over psychologized.

So confession was sometimes approached as a therapy session and there were priests who forgot about just offering the sacrament and decided to do armchair uneducated therapy sessions.  Perhaps they were victims of a pop psychological approach to priesthood--hopping on every new approach to holiness.  Truth is--a whole generation has gone unconfessed.

I never felt I needed confession until I was married and a father.

Confession isn't about you.

It's about God's love for you.

But we need to get little with it.

We need to make ourselves humble.  Humility squashes pride.  Pride is sin.  

You aren't being humble by writing sins on a piece of paper and secretly burning them or drowning them.  You need to speak the sins to another human being and the way Christ set it up 2000 years ago was to have Himself present through the priest to forgive and welcome you home.  

Why do we keep trying to get around that?  If you go down that road you go down the road of relativism--and then there is no sacrifice, no meaning, no forgiveness, no salvation--nice--go to the cafeteria and pick what fits you because religion and God is supposed to be all comfortable and cozy and no sacrifice.  Oh, I'm sorry is that a crucifix I see?

Okay abuses have happened, Lord knows inside and outside the confessional.  And there will always be excuses.

 "I had a bad experience when I went once before and so I just confess to Jesus"  --pride is keeping you away and we know who the king of pride is....

"They always hear them when I can't make it."--actually this one has a ton of credence.  I wish priests would spend just as much time in the confessional as they do in the other endeavors.  (no disrespect just an observation from an 'insider')

So it is Passiontide--time to be made clean in the blood of the Lamb of God.  No magic paper, no pretend confession in a mirror.  It is time to be humble.

(please check out the comment exchange below)

Forgiveness

Years ago, in the midst of my diaspora, I was an Episcopal priest.  Now, for most Sunday Episcopalians there is the formation hour which falls between the two sunday services.  Ideally, it's a pretty neat set up when it works because it provides faith formation as well as liturgical celebration for all ages.Often I would use the time for teaching.  This was especially true at my last church since I inherited a rather low approach to liturgy and sacramental life.

I had just completed a six week series on the sacrament of reconciliation that included a psycho-social-scriptural-historical-personal witness-approach.  In one week it would be Palm Sunday and I was offering the sacrament of reconciliation during the upcoming week.

They were ready. They understood the origin and scriptural basis.  We discussed all the pros and cons and disected the famous "Why do I need to tell a priest?" argument (even though The Book of Common Prayer includes the sacrament).  They were ready.

Then came "the magic paper"

A parishioner held up a piece of paper and said: "Another way is to write your sins on this magic paper and then dip it in water and watch them disappear." 

I wanted to vomit.