The Sacrament of Confession - Part 2

THE SACRAMENT OF CONFESSION – PART 2

Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB

         In one of my previous articles called ‘The Sacrament of Confession’ [Please check the old posts], I had written in favour of the justification of this sacrament and why it is important. In this article, I intend to show the loopholes in this sacrament, not to say that it is false in any way but it is just that this sacrament is so freely available that the seriousness of this sacrament could be lost. It is over here that the laxity of one’s spirit is seen.

            St. John Vianney would say that a lukewarm soul will go to Confession regularly and even quite frequently. But the question is ‘What kind of confessions are they?’ What happens to a person who has no preparation and no desire to correct his faults? The confessions of such a person are merely a repetition of old ones, which would be a happy state – of – affairs. Twenty years ago he was accusing himself of the same things he confesses today and if he goes to confession for the next twenty years, he will be saying the same things. A lukewarm soul will not commit the big sin. But some slander or back – biting, a lie, a feeling of hatred, dislike, jealousy, a slight touch of deceit or double – dealing is what tarnishes one’s soul.

            The lukewarm soul shuts God up in an obscure and ugly kind of prison. God can find little joy or consolation in his heart. All his dispositions and mannerisms proclaim that his poor soul is struggling for the breath of life. After having received Holy Communion, this person will hardly give another thought to God in the days to follow. His manner of life tells us that he did not know the greatness of the happiness which had been his.

            Now does that mean if we ever fell away from the right path to our God, we would drift away forever? No, absolutely not! What matters is our attitude towards God. If we don’t take Him seriously, we cannot expect miracles to just happen like that. It is just not possible and it does not work that way.

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