The CatholiCity Message

Volume III, Number 5 – February 11, 1999

Dear CatholiCity Citizen,

Due to a project which is maxing out our time and thereby increasing the value of Folger's stock because we're drinking so much coffee to stay awake, this Message will be shorter than usual. We'll pause to give all the people who think the Message is just plain too boring or too goofy or too out-of-touch a chance to applaud.

There now.

10,000 ACTS OF CONTRITION
Let's all ask the Father, together, all 10,000 of us, to forgive us our sins. "O My God, I am heartifully sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishment, but most of all because I have offended Thee my God, Who is all good, and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more, and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen."

And now, those of us who, in our heart of hearts, know we need to go to The Sacrament of Reconcilation, well, let's go. Tomorrow and the next day are Friday and Saturday, and most Catholic church's have scheduled Confessions on these days. We recommend asking your Guardian Angel and Our Lady to remind and hound us and pave the way for us until we get our bums to church. The feeling of being–FREE! FREE FROM SIN! CLEAN! -- when we finish–that's the best feeling in the whole world. Most of tend to commit the same sins over again, small sins and large sins, so without Confession there is only despair. Coming out of that booth is like losing weight.

We're reminded of the answer G.K. Chesterton gave to the question, "Why did you become a Catholic?" His reply: "I became a Catholic so that I could have my sins forgiven." Every time we go, as we stand in line preparing, we should remind ourselves that we are not merely speaking with a priest, but in reality, through grace and in the mystery of True Love, we are whispering into the ear of our Savior. Talking directly to Jesus. What have we to fear? He treated sinners–the bigger the sinner the better–with such kindness and mercy in the Gospels.

So if we've committed a mortal sin, and are not in a state of grace, we try not to wait until Saturday. We drive right up to a rectory–it doesn't have to be our own parish–and boldly knock on the door and politely ask to have our Confession heard.

Priests have taken a vow–and the good priests love fulfilling this vow–to always hear a Confession when asked. Sometimes the priest might ask us to wait or to come back at a specific time if he's in the middle of an important matter. So we wait or come back at the appointed time. 99% of the time the priests seem happy to spend the few short minutes it takes to give us a private conversation of healing with our Savior. For those very, very few priests who seemed put out, well, perhaps our Confessions shall be a witness to them.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit speaks so powerfully through these holy men that their inspired words can stay with for a decade or more, as if we had heard them yesterday. Sometimes we are overwhelmed and cry quiet tears of joy during the absolution.

Consider forming the habit, therefore, of praying every night for all the priests who've ever heard your confession, and as you leave the confessional, mention to the priest that you pray for him every night.

But Oh, how we need Confession! We can grow to crave it. Some sin seemed so persistent it took years of frequent Confession to root them out. It's like this: either the sin wins or Jesus wins. Over time, our faith shows us that Jesus always wins through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It can be the most wonderful experience on earth.

Ah, we did not set out to write about Confession. We didn't even plan to pray the Act of Contrition as our opening Group Prayer. This was supposed to be a Short Message.

Upon reflection, after rereading what is written above, we believe that there are some very particular souls who are reading this right now whom Jesus ardently desires to talk to in the confessional during the next 48 hours. Perhaps one or more of you will die in an accident or from a sudden illness and if you don't go right away and are risking spending eternity in hell. You know who you are. The rest of us, let us pray for these others. There are others of you who are not Catholic who have been on the verge of converting. Perhaps now is the time for you to begin the exciting process of entering the Catholic Church–so you can go to Confession to intimately whisper into the ear of Jesus.

No joke this week. No quote this week. Just this:

We are all one heartbeat away from death. Only a fool lives as if he is guaranteed to live beyond this very day. "Leave tomorrow for tomorrow," cautioned Jesus. The world and the evil one seduce us into making plans for the future, plans for next month, plans for next year. The future is an illusion. There is only today. If God does allow us to live into the future, it will still surely be a "today" when you get there. The only thing that really matters is being in a state of grace when we pass from this imperfect earth to meet Him in the perfect Court of Justice. If you have committed serious sin, find a priest. Ask Our Lady to help you. She longs to bring souls to her Son through His priests. The priest is, as the Church teaches, "alter Christi," another Christ. Enough said.

Feel free to email or print out or reproduce today's message to give to anyone, anywhere.

Yours in Christ,

Your Friends at CatholiCity