From Browsing Links to Humbling Joy

I was reading Simcha Fisher's piece Should We Burden Priests with Our Sins which followed up her post Ten Reasons You Should Get to Confession this Weekend, and it was about the other side of the confessional - what some priests felt when people go to them for the sacrament.  She recommended a link and it was an article by Fr. Mike Schmitz.

It was in contrast to what we as penitents do feel when we go to confession, being ashamed is one, oh and the feeling of relinquishing yourself as the center of the everybody because of the realization that there is truly the center of the universe and its not you.  However, it was humbling too that, as the conduit of God's grace in the sacrament, priests often see the bowed-head humility of people who have had their last confession just a few days ago or maybe in decades.  He said,

If they are seeking the Sacrament of Reconciliation, it means that they are trying. That’s all that I care about. This thought is worth considering: going to Confession is a sign that you haven’t given up on Jesus.

Furthermore, as conduits of grace thru the sacrament, Fr. Schmitz paraphrased Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen once told priests that we scarcely realize what is happening when we extend our hands over someone’s head in absolution. We don’t realize, he said, that the very Blood of Christ is dripping from our fingers onto their heads, washing the penitent clean.

Then there is joy and peace in Christ. 

I recently passed by a church I posted and the confession line was rather long, with the grey-haired set, working yuppies and also students.  Joy and peace, my friend, joy and peace.

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