CONFESSION

THE SPIRITUAL DIALOGUE WITH GOD IN THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION A WARFARE BY REV FR PAUL IKECHUKWU OGUJIOFFOR

     How can the young remain sinless? By obeying God’s command (cfr. Ps.119:9-11). Sin is easily committed than confessed. We find it very much difficult to have a dialogue with God in the Sacrament of Confession rather we prefer to stay without going to Confession.

     Through the omnipotence and immensity of God’s mercy, he gave us the opportunity of dialoguing with him in the Sacrament of Confession, where Christ is in the person of a priest (cfr. Matt.16:18-19; 1Jn.1:8-2:1-2; 2Sam.12:13-15). The thought of confession is for very many a fight against sin, hence as a spiritual dialogue with God we are able to fight against and win the three major obstacles towards auricular confession. These obstacles are fear, shame and pride.

FEAR: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If we sincerely fear the Lord, confession of our sins will not be a problem. Many Christians are afraid of insecurity from the part of the priest, that their weakness may be publicized. This is far from a priest regarding the Confessional Seal, which every priest ought to preserve under the pain of mortal sin and automatic excommunication (Laetent Sentaentia) on the part of the priest, who make public the sin of somebody who confessed to him. We should also know that there is no sin which God cannot forgive, hence we need not fear if God will pardon our sins. The devil puts into us the fear not to near the confessional and hence deprives us of the free and wonderful mercy of God in the Sacrament of Confession. Therefore, let us resist the devil because with fear of God we grow in holiness of life.

SHAME: Shame in the positive sense as a virtue helps us to grow in union with God. The shame of spoiling or destroying our relationship with God makes or spurs us into strong and genuine love of God; hence once we sin we are able to go to Confession for spiritual cleansing. In the negative way, the devil puts into us the idea that we may be disregarded if our sins are known by a priest. The Sacrament of Confession helps us to shame the devil and his pomp thereby renewing our friendship with God through spiritual rejuvenation, which we loose when we are in sin.

PRIDE: Pride is a cancer to spiritual life and a stumbling block to holiness through the Sacrament of Confession. A proud person thinks of himself or herself as so special that nobody should talk about his or her faults. He thinks that he is so important and of high personality whereas in the right sense of it he lacks integrity because there is no humility which is the bedrock of our way towards accepting our nothingness before God in the Sacrament of Confession as to appeal for pardon from God. In the Confession we accept our weaknesses as human and proclaim the Fatherhood of God as our Creator and Invincible Being. By this proclamation of the Fatherhood of God we bring the devil to shame and make conscious to him his disobedience to God by which he was cast out from the celestial home. With pride the devil always wants to deprive us the eternal happiness in heaven, thereby putting into us the resistance to go for Confession when we sin.