First Sunday of Advent - Reconciliation

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Isaiah 2:1-5 / Psalm 122 / Romans 13:11-14 / Matthew 24:37-44

INTRODUCTION - Peace in the Lord

A portion of our first reading marks the United Nations building: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again." Unfortunately, for the sake of diversity, all reference to reconciliation in the house of Jacob and coming to God on the mountain of the Lord is omitted. Without God, there can be no lasting peace. The responsorial echoes this theme. The Christian can readily interpret the house of David and the new Israel as the Church, Christ's sacrament of peace in the world. The second reading admonishes us to awaken from our moral slumber, to avoid sin, and to put on Jesus Christ. The Gospel addresses the Second Coming of Christ. We need to keep our house in order, spiritually prepared for our encounter with Christ and his judgment upon us.

BODY - Sacrament of Reconciliation

Today we begin the Advent season and Advent is a time of preparation. Look into your own lives as you prepare for the non-spiritual celebration of Christmas -- a time of shopping and cooking -- of tree-buying and decorating -- a time of cleaning. It is also a time of renewal. Many of us will write letters to friends telling them of what the year was all about, the joys and sorrows, those things that uplifted us; and so, we will renew friendships through the mails. We may send Christmas cards and other forms of greeting. It is a time of travel, both physical travel towards loved ones; but also, spiritual travel. We travel into the Light and by the Light. Today we lit one candle on the Advent wreath and as the weeks go by we will light the second, third, and fourth; so that the Light of Christ will burn evermore brightly in our hearts; so that it will illumine our way. Advent is a time of coming and becoming, a time of growth and progress.
In our readings over the next few weeks, we will hear of a call to peace, and a call to justice. There is a joyful hope. Indeed, we will be told to rejoice because the Lord is near, because the Lord has removed the judgment against us. We also begin a new liturgical year. We have a fresh start; a chance to set our spiritual lives on a path that will lead our lives to that joyful welcoming of the Christ-child on Christmas morning. We will also heed the words of John the Baptizer when he says, make ready the way of the Lord; and when he tells us to receive a baptism of repentance. In the light of the liturgical renewal and in response to the Baptist's cry, we would do well to reflect upon the sacrament of reconciliation.

The sacrament of Reconciliation, as we shall see is also a means of preparation. It allows us to be healed and restored. It joins us more closely to Almighty God as it is his life, his grace, which we receive every time we celebrate the sacrament. Oftentimes we think that we only receive God in the Eucharist. We receive God each time we celebrate any of the sacraments; because each of those sacraments was instituted to be channels -- instruments of God's life -- God's grace. It is a different way that we receive Almighty God in the sacrament of Reconciliation, but we do nonetheless receive him. The sacrament is also a sign of hope; for in celebrating the sacrament there is that joyful hope and loving trust in God's forgiveness. It is also a call to justice, a justice which forces us to examine, in truth, our relationship with God, with our brothers and sisters, and with our very selves.

The sacrament also brings us peace. Oftentimes, the emotional burdens of guilt can weigh heavy upon us. They can cause us to stress and be disruptive in our lives. By celebrating the sacrament of reconciliation, we can put all of those behind us. We can be at peace with ourselves and with those whom we encounter. Finally, this sacrament allows us to begin again -- to be restored -- to be made whole and integral.

I said we celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation. That may be a strange word and a strange sensation in talking about Reconciliation; but that is really what we do. Just as we celebrate Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation, so also we celebrate Reconciliation. Look to the story of the prodigal son. There were no recriminations; there was simply joy and rejoicing. And so it is with Almighty God. There is great joy and rejoicing when we celebrate reconciliation. It is a chance to encounter Jesus Christ. We receive God's grace every time we celebrate the sacrament. There may be times when we do not have that sense of celebration, that sense of uplifting; and that may be the penitent's fault. He or she may find it hard to confess at all what difficult to confess, some particular sin. The penitent may be rushed, distracted. Or, it may be the priest's fault. He may not be as receptive and as responsive as he should be. But, each time we celebrate the sacrament, we acknowledge our sinfulness -- our need for healing -- our need for God's grace. We recognize that we are always called to a higher and a deeper level of spirituality, a higher and a deeper level of holiness; and, that we can only achieve that holiness through the Church and her sacraments.

Scripturally, we know that the sacrament was instituted at that first Easter Sunday after the resurrection. Jesus comes into the upper room where the Apostles have gathered and he says, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so now I am sending you." He breathed upon them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained." And likewise, in the Gospel of Luke, after the resurrection, Jesus appears to the disciples and says, "Thus it was written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name to all nations."

Over the years, we have referred to the sacrament by a number of different terms. We have called it Penance and Confession and now, Reconciliation. And, Confession is a necessary part of the sacrament. We must articulate our sins. We must confess them openly. We must be sorry for them. And, we must do penance; we must make some amends for the things, which we have done wrong -- some process of healing and restoring. And so, Reconciliation takes up and combines those processes. It is a more general term that allows us to incorporate all of the various parts. You might say, why confess? Why is it necessary? I think if you look to your daily lives, you see that every day you have to go to your spouse, to your children, your parents, your coworkers, and say that "I am sorry." "I've done something wrong and I need your forgiveness." The Church has taken that very human dynamic, that very human process, and sacramentalized it -- allowed it to become a means of God's grace -- a channel of God's love.

Eric Segall in his book, Love Story, said "Love means never having to say you're sorry." I disagree with Eric Segall. Love means always saying, I am sorry -- going to that loved one -- to the beloved, and asking for forgiveness and then being confident in that forgiveness, resting assured that one has been made whole. M. Scott Peck, psychiatrist, in his book, The Road Less Traveled, recounts or tells the story, that when he has a Catholic patient who comes for psychoanalysis, he tells that person to go and receive a sacramental Confession. Fifty percent of those who go to the sacrament of Reconciliation no longer need psychoanalysis. The sacrament has relieved that burden that they have been carrying around with them.

An important part of the whole sacrament is our sinfulness. And so, I think a very natural question is "What is sin?" I think we have seen over the last twenty-five or thirty years a whole transformation of our concept of sin.
Earlier on, it seemed that everything was sinful and we kept lists of things we had done wrong. People would come into the sacrament and say they did this ten times or fifteen times as if they were keeping score almost. And then, there was a transition that said nothing is sinful. If it feels okay, go ahead and do it. If the entire world says that it is okay, then there is no problem. And obviously, we know that there must be some middle ground; that God is not sitting there as a scorekeeper but, very assuredly, God is not saying that nothing is wrong, either. We know in our own personal lives, we do things that are wrong and we have that sense of guilt, that sense that there is something wrong. And so, we know that we have committed sin; we know that we have to ask for forgiveness. I think one of the real beauties of the Catholic religion is the sacrament of Reconciliation, the ability to go and to be healed and restored. And, if I had to give a definition of sin, I would say that it is a missing of the mark, a transgression, the committing of a fault, an offense against another, an infidelity to charity, a rejection of love.

And sin can be both personal and communal. However, our Holy Father has told us that even with communal sin, each of us bears some responsibility -- communal sins of discrimination, economic or social oppression, even though they may be the whole community doing it or the law of society. Each and every one of us participates some way in that process; and when we do, we have to go and ask Almighty God for his forgiveness. The sin can either be venial or what might be referred to, as daily sins or it can be grave and mortal. The daily sins may be the small lies that we tell, the failure to pray, the child taking something that does not belong to him; little minor infractions that are always in front of us -- kind of the opportunities are always there and sometimes we fall into that sin.

But grave sin also has to be addressed and it is unwillingness on our part to accept our responsibilities before God. It is a radical infidelity to Almighty God. The Church has taught over the years that three things are necessary for grave sin. It must be serious matter, such as missing Mass on Sunday, such as taking an innocent life, and I don't mean simply the murder of somebody. We can kill someone by what we say and what we do, as we cut them off from the community, as we really eliminate their lifeblood. So, it's some serious offense. And, we have to know that it is wrong. And finally, knowing that it is wrong, we have to make a conscious decision to do it anyway -- a direct and premeditated offense against God and Man.

CONCLUSION - Metanoia

The only way that we can be forgiven is through contrition and confession. To be forgiven, we must say that we are sorry. We must ask for that forgiveness and then we must rest confidant in that forgiveness. Examining our conscience, we resolve to change and start the process of metanoia. Metanoia means a complete change of our heart -- a turning around to face Almighty God -- what it means to say "I am sorry" and to be truly sorry for our sinfulness. I pray that over the next few weeks you will be prompted by God's grace to celebrate the sacrament so that you may live your lives more faithfully to the Gospel message -- to the universal call that each of us has received, "To be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect."