have faith

Jesus tells his Apostles at the last supper:  Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You have faith in God; have faith also in me.  (John 14:1)

Said another way:  The Lord's mercy is infinitely greater than the stupidity of our sinfulness.

2-part miracle

Confession is actually a 2-part miracle.

The first part of the miracle is that we are called to the sacrament (and have the good sense to listen).  Because we can not approach God without being first drawn to Him.

The second part, of course, is the forgiveness and absolution of sin.

sticking with the program

When you find yourself frustrated with God or frustrated with yourself when you don't see any progress in your spiritual life - remember that God knows what He is doing.  Our job is to "stick with the program".  "The program" includes:

1. Prayer....be faithful to prayer
2. Regular reception of the sacraments....especially the Eucharist and Penance
3. Going outside of ourselves....in acts of loving service to others

Do not get discouraged when you do not see progress.  Discouragement is "the devil's sandbox" and leads to despair.

Have faith that just as the trees and the seeds grow, without knowing how it happens, so will we be transformed and changed more and more to the likeness of Jesus.

stone jars

There were six stone jars in Cana of Galilee containing water used for ritual ablutions; there are also 'six stone jars' of purification found in a soul which, motivated by love, converts from vice to virtue:
contrition, confession, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and sincere forgiveness.

~ St. Anthony of Padua

walking the walk

When walking the Road of Conversion, there are 3 things that will help:

• daily prayer - should be more listening than telling
• regular confession - giving Jesus our weaknesses and imperfections turns us toward Him, regular confession is "preventive maintenance" for the soul
• fruitful reception of the Eucharist  - not receiving out of routine habit, but giving our lives to Jesus as He gives us Himself 

1.23.11

before confession

Before we go to confession, we must trust.

We must trust that God's mercy is greater than anything that priest is going to hear.

Judas was the one who betrayed Jesus.  The truth is, they all scattered.  But the others accepted Jesus' forgiveness.  Judas was sorry, but he didn't trust Jesus to forgive him.

stay out of that sandbox!

Discouragement is the devil's sandbox.

Once you get in the sandbox, despair is the next step.

Do NOT become discouraged.

Give those things to God in confession.

11.07

but i haven't killed anyone....

All sin is offensive to God - not just mortal sins.

(So you don't have to wait until you are guilty of mortal sins to go to confession!)

God loves to forgive!

(Lucky for us.)