Our readings on this Saturday of Lent remind us quite emphatically what the Holy Season is all about: what it is all leading up to: the celebration of the events that made the forgiveness of our sins possible! God is our persistently attentive, compassionate and merciful Father. In this life, he will always be there offering forgiveness and the fruits of redemption to any who simply "come to their senses and return home to him." And this, fortunately enough, for us who can plug into this grace not only by baptism, but also by means of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the Sacrament of Penance, the Sacrament of Confession.
God wants to cast our sins into the sea – but he needs us to own up to them – state them audibly to his own representative, the priest – and receive a flood of peace and joy that comes from having the complete weight of the sin removed, and the right to consider oneself fully integrated once again with the rest of the Church whom we also offend by our sin: if we are one body, when one member suffers or sins we all suffer and feel the effects!
This is the time of the year when Confession is recommended, and Communal Penance Services are available. What better way to ready oneself for the great events of Holy Week than to have our spiritual receptors, our spiritual channels wiped clean and made completely open and operational – by means of the Sacrament of Peace. Easter joy cannot flow freely into a dirty container, and make any difference at all! Our Father – who loves, who cares, who forgives – wants to throw a party for us – with a fatted calf, rings and robes – but he can't do that unless we "come to our senses and make the journey back home to him!"
Today, if you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts…The Lord is kind and merciful!
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