Campus Ministry Column: A new start
Drew Whitmore
Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: Campus Life
Back to the idea of who God is, God didn't make arbitrary laws but instead told us how to live a happy life. Sin, then, is not breaking a rule but choosing a lesser good over a higher good, or, in other words, choosing something that will hurt us instead of the infinite love of God. But unlike that friend that may not have forgiven you, God always does.
Sophomore Lauren Murphy, reflects on the incredible nature of the Sacrament: "Only second to the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Reconciliation continues to be one of the utmost reasons why I love Catholicism. The peace and the joy that I experience after confessing my sins to a priest, who represents Christ Himself, and after receiving absolution for these sins is beyond compare. I pray that more and more college students will avail themselves to this sacrament of mercy, where Christ sits waiting to free them from their burdens and sorrows."
Unlike the friend who was unaware of the hurt you caused them, God sees and knows all. He knows every time we choose something that hurts ourselves and offends His infinite love for us. Yet, He still doesn't turn away from us or tell us to get lost. He instead is present during Reconciliation where, when a person is truly remorseful for the wrong they've done, He wipes the stain from their soul and takes on their burden so that they can once again be free for joy.
The Catechism explains that through confession "man looks squarely at the sins he is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible" (#1455). This idea of future, though, reminds us of our eventual death where we will have to, whether we like it or not, confess again all the wrong we've done to ourselves and to offend God's love and be judged for it. Thus the Catechism also explains, "For it is now, in this life, that we are offered a choice between life and death and it is only by the road of conversion that we can enter the Kingdom, from which one is excluded by grave sin" (#1470).
There is no second chance to repent after we die. Therein rests the meaning of life: to choose or reject God's love. We choose heaven or hell, union or separation from God, in this life and with a loving Father waiting with open arms to forgive every single sin, no matter how grave or venial, we would be fools not to choose heaven here and now and become receivers of a love that outlasts all others.
Reconciliation can be received every Sunday in the Chapel at 6:30p.m., during Thursday Adoration at 9:45p.m., or by appointment with any priest.
Sophomore Lauren Murphy, reflects on the incredible nature of the Sacrament: "Only second to the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Reconciliation continues to be one of the utmost reasons why I love Catholicism. The peace and the joy that I experience after confessing my sins to a priest, who represents Christ Himself, and after receiving absolution for these sins is beyond compare. I pray that more and more college students will avail themselves to this sacrament of mercy, where Christ sits waiting to free them from their burdens and sorrows."
Unlike the friend who was unaware of the hurt you caused them, God sees and knows all. He knows every time we choose something that hurts ourselves and offends His infinite love for us. Yet, He still doesn't turn away from us or tell us to get lost. He instead is present during Reconciliation where, when a person is truly remorseful for the wrong they've done, He wipes the stain from their soul and takes on their burden so that they can once again be free for joy.
The Catechism explains that through confession "man looks squarely at the sins he is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible" (#1455). This idea of future, though, reminds us of our eventual death where we will have to, whether we like it or not, confess again all the wrong we've done to ourselves and to offend God's love and be judged for it. Thus the Catechism also explains, "For it is now, in this life, that we are offered a choice between life and death and it is only by the road of conversion that we can enter the Kingdom, from which one is excluded by grave sin" (#1470).
There is no second chance to repent after we die. Therein rests the meaning of life: to choose or reject God's love. We choose heaven or hell, union or separation from God, in this life and with a loving Father waiting with open arms to forgive every single sin, no matter how grave or venial, we would be fools not to choose heaven here and now and become receivers of a love that outlasts all others.
Reconciliation can be received every Sunday in the Chapel at 6:30p.m., during Thursday Adoration at 9:45p.m., or by appointment with any priest.
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