If a priest is wearing a mask and standing 3 feet or 6 feet away from a penitent requesting the sacrament of reconciliation, is he really more present to a penitent he knows than he would be by telephone?
It is always surprising to me that people turn out in such great numbers for Ash Wednesday Mass. The symbol of ashes on the forehead is an ancient symbol of repentance. It is an acknowledgment that I have sinned and I need God’s mercy. Perhaps so many people come on Ash Wednesday because deep down they recognize a basic human need — the need to be freed from shame.
The seal of confession is so important and sacred that a priest would be automatically excommunicated under canon law for directly revealing the contents of a confession.
Priests must give hope to men and women seeking forgiveness, encouraging them in their struggle away from the slippery slope of sin, Pope Francis said.
“Our sins only cause fear, confusion, division and harm,” said Father Mark Moriarty, pastor of St. Agnes in St. Paul. “God doesn’t want us to stay in that kind of terrible and harmful state. He is waiting and planning and nudging and encouraging us to receive his mercy.”
Q. I’m not sure what to do. I’ve been praying and I’ve been to confession (repeatedly), but I seem to commit the same sins. Even worse, I know that Jesus promised that we would receive a closeness to God when we call out for him, but I haven’t experienced that.
As the sky lightened outside the Cathedral of St. Paul, a handful of people sat in a pew, waiting to receive the sacrament of reconciliation. A few others prayed near the front of the church, adoring the Eucharist in the monstrance on the altar. Adoration accompanying the round-the-clock confessions was new to the event this year.
The confessional is a place where one can go to humbly seek forgiveness; it is not a dry cleaners where one goes to remove the occasional stain, Pope Francis said.
