Pope Benedict in his Wed audience last week spoke of confession:
"In the sacrament of penance, Christ crucified and risen, through his ministers, purifies us with his infinite mercy, restores us to communion with the heavenly Father and our brothers, and makes a gift of his love, peace, and joy to us."
The sacrament of Penance is an opportunity to be recreated a new, to start over, to embrace a new beginning.
In the Story of Noah and the ark, God gives man an opportunity to start over, to begin anew. The flood is a new creation account. Though Noah and his companions are give an opportunity to start over, they still have to deal with creation; they still have to deal with their frail heart. So it is with confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation. It is a new beginning but we still have to keep an eye on our heart.
In the gospel, Jesus takes the blind man outside and he lays his hands upon him to heal him.
At first the man sees fuzzily, "I see people looking like trees and walking." Then a second time and the man saw clearly.
The reality of confession is also seen in the story of the blind man. The man his given the opportunity to see clearly, to read reality correctly but it takes time. So it is in our life, the need for constant confession and new beginnings is real. We grow in stages. There is no quick fix to our situation. The process of examining our conscience and seeking forgiveness is a deep yearning to see clearly.
Each time we examine ourselves we see something new that had been bogging us down; every confession is an opportunity to enter more deeply into ourselves and allow the Holy Spirit to root out our blindness. Sin is that which blinds us. Gradually, over a life journey we finally begin to see clearly what love and life are about.
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