Find Jesus in the Storms

Deacon Kevin Gingras

Aug 9th, 2026

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080926.cfm

1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a       Psalm 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14 

Romans 9:1-5      Matthew 14:22-33   

When I go too long without confession - I start to sink.  When I go too long without time in adoration - I start to sink.  When my prayer life is scattered and not focused - I start to sink. When I focus too much on the storms of the world around me instead of Jesus - I start to sink.  For a moment, think about what, in your life, takes your focus off of Christ and causes you to sink.

Remember, when you go to confession, the priest is in the person of Christ; in the confessional you are reaching out to Christ as Peter did and crying out “Lord, save me!”  That’s just what Jesus does through the priest as he says: “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  

Adoration is another life preserver that is at our disposal when we start to sink.  Remember how Elijah found the LORD.  The LORD was not in the strong and heavy wind.  The LORD was not in the earthquake.  The LORD was not in the fire; no, the LORD was in the tiny whispering sound. I find that the quiet of our adoration chapel is where I can hear that tiny whisper.  Where the noise of the world around me subsides in the true presence of Christ, even if just for an hour or so, so that I can hear the voice of the LORD speaking to me as I pray.

My prayer life always needs work; it’s another area that might cause me to sink.  There are times I feel I only give God the last few moments of my day when I’m tired and not really focused.  It’s something that I once confessed to a priest many years ago, and he knew, based on my confession, that I had a wife and kids and a full-time job.  He told me that those things are also my prayer life.  I must bring Jesus into those moments as well.  If all I did was to spend all day in prayer and adoration, I’d lose my job, my kids wouldn’t know me, and my wife would not be too pleased.  He told me to pray about ways to bring Jesus into all the areas of my life.  I needed this advice, especially when I went to work.  A month or so before this confession, a guy in the office was talking about his son getting Confirmed.  My boss said to ask Kevin; he’s “wicked” Catholic.  The man responded, “Oh, I didn’t even know he was religious!”  The words cut to my heart!  At the time, I thought I was very religious, teaching confirmation, helping with youth ministry and VBS and all that.  Clearly, I left Jesus in the car when I went into the office. I was sinking all day long! Fortunately, Jesus was my life preserver, and when I reached out to Him, He saved me.  Now I make sure that everyone in the office knows I’m “wicked religious”!

Correcting these little errors in our lives can make us spiritually strong for the big storms that will come. They will,  because life inevitably brings storms: storms of illness, grief, uncertainty, family struggles, and fear.  It is then that we really have to work hard to focus on Christ.  Back in 2015, just as I was starting the diaconate, I thought for sure it would be smooth sailing in my life as I was answering God’s call.  Alas, that wasn’t to be so!  There was a bad mental health crisis in my family, my father was dying, and my bank account was gasping for help; we were bordering on bankruptcy.  Each week as I went to put gas in my car, I pleaded with God to let my bank card work so I could fill up and drive to work.   There was even one night I went to angry adoration.  I was mad at God!  I was answering a clear calling to become a deacon; why wasn’t it smooth sailing?  I brought all those storms to some quiet time in adoration so I could hear what the Lord had to say. I went in angry with God but was soon at peace.  The peace of knowing that a sailor doesn’t learn how to sail with no wind on a calm lake.  My gaze focused back on Jesus, away from the storm for a while. Jesus calmed that storm inside of me, not the storm outside. It was exactly what I needed; I was assured all would be ok. 

A few days later, I had to pull my brothers aside to tell them why I wasn’t at the hospital by my mom’s side as much while my father was dying because of this other family crisis. They asked me how I was getting through all of this.  Jesus - that was my one-word answer.  Jesus was getting me through this storm.  

  When we hit the storms of life, we are in good company!  Saint Paul lamented to the Romans in our second reading that he had “great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart”.  Paul’s mission did not give him clear skies and calm seas!  Our storms aren’t always taken away, but with Christ and the Sacraments we can better navigate the storms, learn from them, and offer them up in prayer.  

This week, think about where we can focus our eyes better on Jesus in the storms.  Where can we find Him waiting to rescue us?  Confession?  Adoration?  Quiet prayer at home? Here at Mass? 

St Padre Pio reminds us:

The storms that are raging around you will turn out to be for God's glory, your own merit, and the good of many souls.

Christ Is Our Light

Deacon Kevin Gingras

June 14th, 2026

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061426.cfm

Exodus 19:2-6a     Psalm 100:1-2, 3, 5 

Romans 5:6-11     Matthew 9:36—10:8  

Jesus looked upon the crowds and: 

His heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus does not look at the crowd with annoyance, judgment, or indifference. He looks at them with compassion. He sees their struggles, their fears, their wounds, and their longing for God. Jesus indeed loves us the same way and understands we all live in difficult times. He sees our struggles, our hurts, and our longings - His heart is still moved with pity for all of us.  

It’s good to have him on our side for sure because, oftentimes, we are too hard on ourselves.  For example, when I receive the Eucharist, I expect that warm feeling inside, to be overwhelmed that I just consumed My God and the God of my ancestors.  If we receive in good standing, without mortal sin, then why don’t we have those Jesus feelings, all warm inside and all that!  Why don’t we return to our pews weeping with joy for what we just consumed?  I know for me, I start to doubt my faith, and I begin to think I might be doing something wrong!  I’m not receiving Jesus correctly! We mustn’t be so hard on ourselves!  Remember who Jesus picked to be his closest followers while on Earth. They are listed in today’s Gospel. Jesus picked a tax collector, somebody who would betray him, another who denied Him 3 times, and who Jesus even called Satan, and two fella’s who fought over who was the greatest!  Ok, so that probably doesn’t make you feel much better thinking about how bad they might have been!  Maybe just remember that Jesus is indeed on our side!

One thing we must remember when we don’t have that magical feeling after receiving the Eucharist is that our spiritual DNA has been damaged by the sin of Adam and Eve at the very start of Sacred Scripture.  Today we must remember that:

God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

We are sinners, yes, sin is darkness, yes. Satan tries to twist our thoughts to make us think that our sins define us.  Sin does not define us! Sin is darkness, and we are not meant to live in the dark; we are meant to live in the light, the light of Christ! Christ in the Eucharist! It’s confession that shines the light of God’s grace on sin so we can see sin for what it is and remove it from our lives and be brought back fully into the light of Christ.  The more we go to confession, the easier it becomes to see that sin and even the near occasions of sin, and avoid them!

Our first reading tells us that:

if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession … You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.”

Because of Adam and Eve, we were born into sin.  By our baptism, we are brought into the light of Christ and become priests, prophets, and kings!  That doesn’t sound so bad now, does it?

Jesus looks upon His church members, upon us, and sees people searching for meaning, he sees families facing challenges, young people seeking direction, and many who feel lost or forgotten. He sees us exactly where we are, and His response is not condemnation but mercy and love.

This week, through prayer and adoration, thank Jesus for bringing us out of darkness and into the light by our baptism, by our reception of the Eucharist, and by the sacrament of confession.

I’ll leave you with these words from St. Maximus of Turin

The light of Christ is eternally glowing with luminous radiance and can never be extinguished by the darkness of sin.” 

Jesus Levels up the Law!

Deacon Kevin Gingras

Feb 15, 2026

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021526.cfm

Sirach 15:15-20   Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34

1 Corinthians 2:6-10    Matthew 5:17-37

Today’s Gospel continues the Sermon on the Mount.  We heard the Beatitudes a few weeks ago.  Last week, we heard of salt and light.  This week, we hear about how Jesus did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them.  Later on in the Gospel of Matthew, we will see Jesus physically present with the Law and the Prophets in person at his Transfiguration.

Mt 17:2-3 And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him.

Moses represents the Law. Elijah represents the prophets.  Even God the Father and the Holy Spirit get into the action…but let’s not jump ahead, back to the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus isn’t abolishing the law or the prophets here; instead, Jesus is leveling up the law and the prophets in this part of the Sermon on the Mount.  The first reading echoes the importance of the law as Sirach tells us: 

If you choose, you can keep the commandments; they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live; he has set before you fire and water to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.

Pro tip here: choose water! The responsorial Psalm carries on that theme: 

Blessed are they whose way is blameless,

who walk in the law of the LORD. Blessed are they who observe his decrees, who seek him with all their heart.

Then the Gospel breaks through! The law tells us you shall not kill - but Jesus levels that up: 

Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment

The law tells us we shall not commit adultery - but Jesus levels that up:

But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

The law tells us that we cannot bear false witness or take a false oath - but Jesus levels that up:

But I say to you, do not swear at all;

not by heaven, for it is God's throne;

nor by the earth, for it is his footstool;

…Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.'

Anything more is from the evil one.

The laws God gave to Moses were to keep our external actions in check; this still remains true today, perhaps more than ever!  Now, Jesus wants us to take the law to a deeper level as well, to have it written on our hearts to have that interior transformation.  Without it, He tells us we will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  With that said, I give you our Catholic word of the day - metanoia!  It’s a Greek word combining “meta”, meaning change, and “noi”, meaning mind.  Literally, it means a change of mind, but it’s more than that, so much more!  We aren’t talking about you looking at yourself in the mirror and changing your mind about your outfit!  Metanoia is a profound change of mind and conversion of heart.  Metanoia focuses on our sins, but it goes far beyond simple regret for sins; it signifies an enduring, radical transformation of one's entire being, perception, and direction—the turning away from sin and self-centeredness toward a life centered on God.

I’m not going to give us a laundry list of sins now. What I want you to do is take a moment to think of that one persisting sin, one you just can’t shake no matter what…Got it?  Good, that’s what you need to focus on during Lent.  Lent begins on Wednesday, so what better time to bring up metanoia than now!

Metanoia is hard!  Without confession, it’s impossible! God knows this, that’s why he gave us the sacrament of confession!   God also gave us a helper, a paraclete, the Holy Spirit, to assist us! The Holy Spirit is also needed for metanoia because true repentance is a divine gift, and not something we can do on our own. The Holy Spirit can convict our hearts, removing our stony hearts and replacing them with hearts that are more in tune with the teachings of Jesus Christ.  It’s always a work in progress. All we need to do is take that first step, ask for forgiveness in the confessional, and reach out to the Holy Spirit for help.  When we fall, and we will, we need to get back up and start over as soon as possible!

St. Bernard of Clairvaux tells us:

A saint is not someone who never sins, but one who sins less and less frequently and gets up more and more quickly.

Stay humbly focused on the goal: Eternity in Heaven

Deacon Kevin Gingras

Oct 26th, 2025

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102625.cfm

Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18 Psalm 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 Luke 18:9-14

When I pray, I always thank God for making me the most humble person that I know. The top dog, number one when it comes to being humble, more humble than everyone else!

Now, of course, we know that kind of prayer contradicts itself; if you think you are the most humble, then you are very far from humility and are more prideful than humble. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins, and humility is one of the 7 virtues. Yes, there are sins that are deadly and sins that are not so, mortal and venial sins. This is in scripture and can be found in 1 John 5:16-17

If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. … All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.

A deadly sin, or mortal sin, requires the sacrament of confession to get back to the graces of God. The reason for this is explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1855:

Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God's law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him. Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it.

Further on in Paragraph 1861, the Catechism tells us:

It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God's forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices forever, with no turning back.

That took a dark turn, didn’t it, but I try to preach what the Holy Spirit tells me to, and the Holy Spirit is reminding us that we must remain aware that we have lost some sense of sin of late in modern society, and we need to get it back. Influences such as secularism, the decline of religious influence, and our wrongdoing are sometimes shrugged off as I’m not hurting anybody or the harm is to others and there is not much thought of offending God. We need to be aware of how we offend other humans, but we also need to be aware that our sins offend God. We need to remember that our sins are our sins, and they don’t become less severe because we aren’t murderers or adulterers. I may have done this, but at least I didn’t do what THAT person did! We are inclined to judge ourselves based on people we think are less than we are, but who are those who are above us and judging us in the same manner? Are we the Pharisee or the tax collector? Our disposition must be one of humility, like the tax collector. Our prayer must be made in humility! The Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 2559:

When we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or "out of the depths" of a humble and contrite heart? He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly acknowledge that "we do not know how to pray as we ought," are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. "Man is a beggar before God."

Well… terribly uplifting homily, isn’t it? There is hope, there is the rest of the story! Jesus died for us to open the gates of Heaven when we enter our eternity, and within his church and through the priesthood, Jesus gave us the sacrament of Confession. Confession cleans the slate, gives us a fresh start, and opens up the graces of God to be received by us again. St. Paul knew his journey into eternity was coming up when he wrote:

I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on, the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance.

Do we long for the Lord’s appearance? Do we realize we are fighting a battle against evil, against Satan? It is indeed a competition, not against our fellow humans but against all evil, especially pride. We must race to win. We must race humbly! If we have strayed off the course and are in danger of losing, then head to confession to get back on track - it’s a sacrament that we must take advantage of as often as necessary, especially when we fear we are in the state of mortal sin! We must stay focused on the goal: eternity in Heaven. Saint Vincent de Paul tells us:

The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.

Trust in Jesus Loving Forgiveness in the Sacrament of Confession

 Deacon Kevin Gingras

February 9th, 2025

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020925.cfm

Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8     Psalm 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8

1 Corinthians 15:1-11    Luke 5:1-11

Peter fell to his knees as he exclaimed: 

"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."   

Isaiah says:

"Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

Paul tells the Corinthians:

Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me. For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

It’s this kind of unworthiness thinking that almost kept me from the call to the Diaconate. To take today’s readings out of context like I just did is to be cheated of the truth.  That’s what Satan does to us. He lies to us. He points out only our failings, sins, and faults to make us feel unworthy. Satan knows our names but calls us by our sins.  God knows our sins but calls us by our names.

So instead, let’s finish those lines from today and see what God did for them.  First Isaiah:

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it, and said, "See, now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged." Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send?  Who will go for us?" "Here I am," I said; "send me!"

Now Paul to the Corinthians:

But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me.

Finally, Jesus says to Peter:

"Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him. 

Being passionate about fishing that last one really gets to me!  Anyway, Isaiah, Paul, and Peter’s lament haunted me when I began the diaconate. They reminded me of my past sins and my unworthiness for the call. At times, they almost made me give up! I sometimes needed that reminder that Jesus doesn't call only the qualified or the perfect; he calls each of us in our ordinary lives, with our flaws and imperfections. He invites us to follow him, leave our comfort zones, and embark on a journey of faith and mission.

Have any of you ever played video games and been doing well on your mission when suddenly, out of nowhere, somebody walks in (for me, it was usually one of my kids) and terminates your character?  It’s okay, you’ve got extra lives, so you can respawn and continue playing!  

Sometimes I wish life had a reset or respawn button when your quest is going well.  Well, it does, as Catholics, we call it confession.

Here are a few thoughts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on confession - first is why we need confession after Baptism since Baptism removes original sin:

CCC 1426 Nevertheless, the new life received in Christian initiation has not abolished the frailty and weakness of human nature, nor the inclination to sin that tradition calls concupiscence... This is the struggle of conversion directed toward holiness and eternal life to which the Lord never ceases to call us.

Concupiscence is the big Catholic word of the week.  Our tendency, even after baptism, is to find sin still attractive at times, and even alluring.

Next from the Catechism is how often should we go to confession:

CCC 1457 each of the faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least once a year." Anyone who is aware of having committed a mortal sin must not receive Holy Communion, even if he experiences deep contrition, without having first received sacramental absolution 

As we reflect on this Gospel, let us ask for the grace to hear Jesus' call to repentance in our lives, trust in his loving forgiveness in the sacrament of confession and respond with open hearts and willing spirits. May we, like Simon Peter and the apostles, become fishers of men, bringing others closer to God's love and mercy.

Remember these words from St. John Paul II:

Confession is an act of honesty and courage – an act of entrusting ourselves, beyond sin, to the mercy of a loving and forgiving God.

The Tale of Two Fruit Plants

 Deacon Kevin Gingras

April 28, 2024

Fifth Sunday of Easter

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042824.cfm

Acts 9:26-31      Ps 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32

1 Jn 3:18-24    Jn 15:1-8

This is the tale of two fruit plants.  In my yard I have an apple tree out back and a blueberry bush out front.  The apple trees I never prune and they are now a bit out of hand - they bear bad fruit or no fruit at this point.  The blueberry bush in the front, however, I prune the dead branches and the ones that bear no fruit each year.  Because I do this we get a good crop of blueberries from it yearly.  Faith and I will pick and eat them right from the bush, you can’t get fresher than that!

Now I know nothing about pruning grape vines but back in biblical times that must have been what people were familiar with as it is so deeply rooted in the Old and New Testaments.  We hear it in Isaiah 5, The Song of The Vineyard.  We hear it in today’s Gospel as well.  We also read of it in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In Chapter 1108:

In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ and so to form his Body. The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father's vine which bears fruit on its branches. 

I love that analogy.  God the Father sent his only Son into the world for our salvation.  God the Son ascended into Heaven and sent us God the Holy Spirit to give us the sap of the vine of Christ.  The nourishment we need to keep our souls alive!

Now sometimes pruning hurts.  We heard of our friend Paul, also known as Saul in today’s first reading.  He needed a lot of pruning.  Jesus spoke to him in a flash of light knocking him to the ground.  Saul was blind for three days, he didn’t eat or drink at all until Ananias healed him. Even years after his pruning and conversion the Apostles didn’t yet trust him.  Barnabas had to vouch for him.

I guess this brings the homily to us.  What do we need to prune from our lives?  What are the things that take away our sight of Jesus and how can we remove them?  Don’t worry, Jesus will help us to do this pruning, just reach out to Him. How? 

• Pray, and if you can, spend time in adoration with Jesus, and ask him to point out the dead branches in your life that need to be removed.  

• Receive the sacrament of Confession. Tell Him, in Confession, the sins you want to be pruned. Sure, sometimes some of the bad branches will grow back, and when they do go back to Confession again! 

• Receive the Eucharist in a state of grace.  When we receive the Eucharist, Christ turns us into tabernacle.  

If we do these things, along with proclaiming Christ to others Jesus will be more present to us!  In my morning prayer on Saturday  one of the intercessory prayers was:

You are present to all who preach your Gospel, and give power to their words - make us today preachers of your resurrection by our holiness in life.

You may wonder if it will work, will people come back to church because of something I say to them? A few men from the Holy Family Men’s group had sent out those flyers from one of Fr. Matt’s Homilies entitled Why Come To Mass on Sunday. We sent them out to all of you, but you attend church so our hope was you would give them to somebody you know who doesn’t go to Mass. We also sent them to parishioners on our mailing list we hadn’t seen in a while. After the 4:00 PM Mass Saturday a gentleman asked me if I was part of the Men’s ministry and wanted me to thank the men for the flyer. He said it has been 10 years since he has been to Mass and the flyer inspired him to return. Praise God! He told me “The lost sheep has been found’!

Today, upon our dismissal from Mass, our prayer should be that we go forth announcing the Gospel to the world just like St. Paul who was one of the greatest missionaries the Church has ever seen.

Mother Angelica tells us:

The Lord God has no one else but you.  You’d better get off your lead bottoms and go out there and change this pagan world!

Do NOT fear Confession

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

August 20th, 2023

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091723.cfm

Sir 27:30—28:7      Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12

Rom 14:7-9        Mt 18:21-35

Today Jesus tells us to forgive 7 times 70 times - 490 times.  It seems kind of oddly specific.  I figure with that number in mind my wife Allison already forgave me more than 490 times around the time I proposed to her in my car while driving around the Middleboro Rotary back in the late 80s!

The human need for forgiveness goes farther back than the 80’s, all the way back to Genesis where, out of jealousy Cain kills his brother Abel.  Soon after in Genesis, we hear of a man named Lamech who was Cain’s great-great-great-great-grandson.  Lamech killed a man simply for wounding him and he says to his wives:

If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

What does this mean in Genesis?  Cain’s violent past is continuing but the question is how will God’s creation be renewed now?  There is a prophecy in the book of Daniel 9:24-27 that reads:

“Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and for your holy city: Then transgression will stop and sin will end, guilt will be expiated, Everlasting justice will be introduced, vision and prophecy ratified, and a holy of holies will be anointed. Know and understand: From the utterance of the word that Jerusalem was to be rebuilt until there is an anointed ruler, there shall be seven weeks.

The holy of holies will be anointed - anointed in Hebrew means Messiah.  Daniel’s prophetic vision was of seven, seventy-year periods and that equals 490 years, and then an anointed one will be cut down.  457 BC to AD 33 is 490 years (Jesus died around 33 AD).

It’s clear Jesus wasn’t just throwing out some odd random number when He said “seven times seventy times”, he was, pointing to Old Testament prophecy and scripture.

Of course, we know the rest of the story - we will be renewed by the ultimate and perfect sacrifice offered for the forgiveness of our sins, Jesus Christ, the perfect unsinful lamb of God.  Even with that we still hold on to sin as our first reading from Sirach tells us:

Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. The vengeful will suffer the LORD's vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbor's injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.

We are talking about parts of the Mass again in September and one of the parts we need to focus on is forgiveness.  Forgiveness has two major parts, first, forgiveness for ourselves and what we have done wrong, and then forgiveness of others who have wronged us.

First, let’s touch on forgiveness of ourselves.  We open Mass with the entrance antiphon, we reverence the Altar, have the greeting, and next up, the Penitential Act in which we typically use the Confitier. That’s where we begin with “I confess to almighty God and to you my brothers and sisters”.  We state how we have greatly sinned because any sin is an offense against God and hurts our relationship with Him.  We confess not only what we have done and said, but also what we failed to do and thought about doing.  It’s basically a formula of general confession and ends with the Priest's absolution BUT, and this is a big deal, it lacks the efficacy of the Sacrament of Penance, in other words, we still need to go to Confession to a priest - who is in persona Christi - or in the person of Christ in the confessional.  Confession with a priest is not optional.  Confession is often called the forgotten Sacrament.  Don’t let it be forgotten.  Even if it has been a very long time, perhaps since your first confession way back in second grade, it doesn’t matter.   Sure, it’s uncomfortable and squirmy, I don’t like it at all while I am confessing my sins but that discomfort helps me avoid sin in the future!  When finished we have those wonderful words of true absolution when the priest says “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.  The feeling after that is fantastic!  

Next up is forgiveness of others.  I don’t think any of us want to be the wicked servant from today’s Gospel. Soon, together we will all pray the Our Father, in which we say “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”.  We tell God not to forgive us unless we also are forgiving!  Later in the Mass, we will encounter the Rite of Peace just before the Eucharist is distributed.  Mathew 5:23-24 tells us:

If you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal talks about the Rite of Peace as the way “by which the Church entreats peace and unity for herself and for the whole human family, and the faithful express to each other their ecclesial communion and mutual charity before communicating in the Sacrament”.

The Catholic Church is defined by its four marks - we are One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.  We need to act as one and to do that we must forgive.

Remember, God is our creator so trust God to know what’s best for us.  Forgiveness is not just us forgiving others, but also forgiving ourselves too, especially in the sacrament of Confession.  Do NOT fear Confession.

St. John Paull II had this to say about Confession:

“Confession is an act of honesty and courage – an act of entrusting ourselves, beyond sin, to the mercy of a loving and forgiving God.”