Absolutely

My Beloved gives absolution absolutely.  And today I can think of no greater miracle than that!

In the Arms of His Love (Greg Olsen)

Have you ever stopped to think about what an absolution actually is?

When we receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the priest at the final stage of the Sacrament offers us absolution for our sins.

He will assign a penance for us to complete to offer so that we have some reparation for the offences we have committed to prove that we are wrong and that we acknowledge that there was some harm caused by our sin and that this harm needs to be accounted for and we need to do something about it.  It is more a token rather than anything else.  You see, what penance could I possibly offer for wounding my Creator, who is perfect love?  How could I ever account for or make amends for anything that I have ever done to my Lord and my God to make Him unhappy?  How could I think to myself that there is something that I could do that would rectify the suffering my sins inflicted on God Himself as He suffered and died on the Cross?  But it is more than that…  God suffered and died on the Cross but there was also suffering while He lived.  He was homeless, poor, hungry, tired, and even lonely (on the Cross as He suffered alone and without the other Two Persons of the Most Holy Trinity).  He entered time and space for the sole intention of suffering to atone for MY SINS.  Even if nobody else ever did anything wrong, God would have died for me anyway…

And yet – even despite this extraordinary miracle of LOVE, God forgives me through the actions of the Priest in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and God’s forgiveness is complete.  I do not need to go back later and confess the same sin again because it was a big one.  I do not need to go back later and double check that my absolution “took” so to speak.  All I need to do is to confess my sins with true contrition and hold nothing back and complete the penance and reparation required of me to demonstrate my true remorse for my sins.

Saint Josemaria once described his happiness in experiencing the humility of one of his spiritual children, who asked him, “Father, how can you listen to such filth?”  Because He knew that from such humility could come great GRACE.

And today, as I consider the filth of my own sins and my own weakness and limitations, I wonder if my God would consider my worthless little soul a true merit of His sacrifice for me?  I truly wonder whether there is ever going to be anything I could ever do that could communicate the depth of God’s love for me and the extent that God is willing to give to give His love to me. 

For my Beloved gives absolution absolutely.  And today I can think of no greater miracle than that!

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.