The Sacrament of Penance“God wants to forgive our sins”

Penance is a sacrament instituted by Christ in which forgiveness of sins committed after baptism

is granted through the priest's absolution to those who with true sorrow confess their sins, and

promise to satisfy for the same.

Jesus has a immense love for us; he desires to heals us and to restore us to union with

Him and with the Father. It is a great gift for us to be able to meet Jesus and to

be forgiven by Him in the Sacrament of Penance.

A young man who lived in the town of Capernaum when Jesus was teaching there.

He never saw Jesus, he never heard His teachings. He never could go outside to play with his friends. He was in bed all day long

He was paralyzed. He could not walk. We can imagine that he like to listen to the people talking on the

street as they passed by his window One morning he heard may excited voices as people were

hurrying by: “Jesus is here! He will heal the sick! Let’s hurry, we want to see Jesus!”

Could you imagine, maybe the paralyzed young man called out, “Mother, mother” And His mother came to se what he wanted. May be He said, “Mother, I want to see Jesus! Please, help me to get to

Him.” Probably His mother didn’t know what to do, and She said,

“How can I do that? You can’t walk, and I not strong enough to carry you.” She was sad.

The young’s friends came by. They were strong. In those days, beds were made of straw woven into

mats. They lifted the whole bed with the young man in it and

carried him to the house were Jesus was. The house was filled with people. Event the doorway

was crowded. The young man’s friends asked, “Please let us in, our

friend needs help.” But no one moved. What could they do? They were thinking hard.

Then they have an idea: they went to the other side of the house

There were stairs leading up to the flat roof of the house.

It was hard to climb the steps and carry their friend on his bed, but they made it.

Inside the house, everyone was listening so intently to Jesus that no one noticed what was happening.

On the roof, the young man’s friends began working hard to remove some of the tiles until they made a large opening in the roof.

Then they tied a strong rope to both ends of the bed, and slowly and carefully lowered him through the

ceiling in to the room, right in front of Jesus. Can you imagine how surprised everyone was? Jesus was so please to see the faith of this young

man. He looked at him and said, “Son, have courage. Your

sins are forgiven.” Some of the people who heard this became very upset. They thought to themselves, “How can He forgive sins?

Only God can forgive sins.”

Jesus knew what they were thinking. He said. “So that you may know that I have power to forgive sins on earth…”

He turned to paralyzed man and said, “I say to you, get up, take up your mat and go home.”

When Jesus said this, the young man who had not been able to move at all, got up at once!

He untied the ropes and lifted his bed on his shoulder and walked home.

Can you imagine how happy he was, and how very grateful he was to Jesus for the rest of his life!?

Everyone there was so surprised. They said, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Let me ask you the same question Jesus asked the crowd before He healed the young man.

“Which is easier to say: Your sins are forgiven, or get up and walk? What would you say? For Jesus, both were easy because He is

God. Let us thing about this: how many years so you think the young

man might have lived after he was healed? If he lived a very long life, it probably was not more than 125

years. How long will he live in heave if he has sanctifying grace in his

soul? He will live forever! What happened to the young man when Jesus said to him, “Your

sins are forgiven”? When Jesus said this, the young man’s sins were gone! And he receive sanctifying grace! To receive sanctifying grace was a much greater gift from Jesus,

even greater from Jesus, even greater than being able to walk.

Jesus wants to give us this great gift of forgiveness, too!

He wants to forgive our sins. How do we know?

We know because Jesus gave power to the apostles, to forgive sins in His Name.

and through them to the Bishops and priests, Jesus told His apostles: “Whose sins you forgive, they

are forgiven.” The priest does not know your thought as Jesus does. The priest cannot see your soul, the way Jesus saw the

soul and the faith of that young man. That is why you have to tell the priest your sins to be

forgiven.

When the priest says, “Your sins are forgiven”, you receive

a) sanctifying grace from Jesus, b) and you receive the gift of a good conscience c) and peace.

Do you think the priest would ever tell anyone what you told him in confession? NO! He would never do that.

When he became a priest, he made a solemn promise never to tell what he heard in confession.

It would be a very serious and grave sin for a priest to break the seal of confession.

It is only between you and God. There were priests who died rather than say what

they heard in confession.

One of those priests was Saint John Nepomuk. The queen of Prague went to confession to Father John. Later the King called for Father and commanded, “Tell me at

once what the Queen told you in confession!” Father John answered, “My King, I cannot tell you.”

The King said, “If you tell me, I will give you a lot of money.” Father John shook his head and said, “I cannot tell you,

not for anything on earth.” Then the King shouted, “Take him to the prison! That will

teach him to talk!” They took Father John to prison, but he did not change his

mind. The king ordered him to be punished. They beat him, kicked him, and slapped him in the face,

but Father John would not break the sacred trust, the seal of confession.

He did not say a word.

Finally, they killed him and carried his body to the river during the night.

They tied a big stone around his feet and pushed his body into the river.

God showed everyone how pleased He was with this saintly priest.

Father John who died rather than to speak a bout what he had heard in confession.

Instead of sinking down into the river, Father John’s body floated on the top of the water.

It was shining like a brilliant jewel! All the people went to the river to see this miracle.

They love and admired Father John’s courage and prayed, asking Father John to help them to be courageous too.

Father John’s Nepomuk is a Saint in heaven; people have honored him for hundreds of years, even this day.

Saint John Nepmuk was born in 1340 and died on March 20, 1393.

We should never be afraid to make a sincere confession. Jesus already knows our sins.

He is very ready to forgive us when we are sorry. So let us prepare well, so we may receive this great gift

of forgiveness form Jesus. It is good to go to confession often, because we

strengthen our love and friendship with God and others.

Then we are sure that our soul is clean from sin and filled with grace.

You don’t wait until your shirt is very dirty and torn before you put on a new shirt, do you?

In the same way, you don’t have to wait until you have a mortal sin on your soul to go to confession.

God knows you and sees your soul. But the priest cannot see your soul.

How can he be sure that you are telling him the truth? He can’t not be sure.

If you lie to the priest in confession, you do not cheat the priest, or God. You cheat yourself.

If someone decided not to confess a mortal sin, he committed, instead of receiving forgiveness for his sins, he makes it worse, He commits another mortal sin called a “Sacrilege” because he

mistreated the Sacrament of Penance. This is how precious this sacrament is.

What if you sincerely forgot to tell the priest a serious sin you committed, would that be a sacrilege?

No, not if you really forgot. If you really forget to tell a mortal sin and remember it later, the next

time you go to confession, tell that sin to the priest. Be truthful in confession; ask Jesus to help you to trust in His love, and to

see yourself truthfully. In the Sacrament of reconciliation you will come to love God more and

more, and you will love others, too. In it you’ll receive God’s Grace in your soul by the Power of the Holy

Spirit.

Thank Jesus often “Dear Jesus, thank you for giving us the sacrament of

Penance, thank you that I can confess my sins to the priest receive forgiveness from You.”

Make up your mind to receive the Sacrament of Penance as soon as possible.

The Sacrament of forgiveness is called the sacrament of Penance.

The word “penance” come form Latin and means “showing sorrow”, being sorry for our sins.

This Sacrament is also called the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which means, “making up” or “being friends again.”

It is also called the Sacrament of Forgiveness because when our sins are forgiven, we receive the pardon and peace of Jesus.

The gift of forgiveness: peace, joy, reconciliation, etc.

Exercise is good for our body Any sport where you run, stretch, and develop strong

muscles in your arms and legs. It makes you healthier, and it makes you feel good,

too, specially after you might have been sitting a long time.