The Wonderful Sacrament of Confession | Fifth Sunday of Lent
March 22, 2026
Jesus Christ: the Way, the Truth, and the Life ~
We hear in this Sunday’s Gospel the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. But what if we were to rise from the dead only to continue to suffer for eternity? It wouldn’t be worth it. What if we were to rise from the dead free of what causes suffering? What if we could be free of what causes suffering in this life? What if we could be free of sin? That would be worth it.
Knowing that our nature is fallen, even after baptism, Christ instituted the Sacrament of Confession for the remission of sins (Jn 20:22-23). Jesus instituted this sacrament because He doesn’t want us to suffer. That’s a good thing. Yet we resist the thing we need to do to free ourselves from our sins and thus suffering – repentance. Why do we resist repentance? Because we feel vulnerable, opening ourselves to attack from the one we repent to. It’s in our DNA to deny our sins, even from those who know them, even from one who could erase them. Adam and Eve, humanities’ first parents, did just that. They hid in the bushes when they realized the gravity of their one and only sin. A sin they couldn’t hide from God (nor can we). Yet they tried to hide from God because they thought He was going to kill them for it; for God had told them, “if you eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, on that day you will die” (Gn 2:16-17).
Fortunately for Adam & Eve – and us – God changed His mind about taking their lives the very day of their sin. They and us would still have to die as a result of sin, but not that very day…down the road a bit. What Adam and Eve did experience immediately after sinning was suffering in the form of anxiety, fear of God. After being thrown out of Eden, Adam and Eve’s descendants (us) would go onto to commit every conceivable sin and experience every conceivable form of suffering as a result. Eventually Jesus Christ, God, came into the world to save us from our sins. Not only to give the repentant everlasting life, but to restore the repentant to paradise. Not the paradise lost on earth, Eden, but an even greater one in His homeland – Heaven.
For 2,000 years, Christ’s priests have been hearing confessions and absolving sins. Yet, like Adam & Eve, Christ’s followers have been running from repentance for the same reasons our fist parents did; out of fear of being hurt by those we acknowledge our guilt to. Yet Christ took our sins and their consequences, suffering, upon Himself on Calvary. Not to hurt us, not to condemn us, but to save us. So, honor our Lord’s loving sacrifice for us sinners by going to Confession, having our sins absolved, and receiving God’s grace to resist future temptations.
Two of the Precepts of the Catholic Church are as follows: 1) go to Confession at least once a year; and 2) receive the Holy Eucharist in a state of grace (free of mortal sin) at least once a year. These two precepts are known as our “Easter obligations” because they traditionally have to be performed during Lent in anticipation of Easter; or during the season of Easter that follows Lent (seven weeks long). Failure to do these two things constitutes a mortal sin in itself.
Like all the sacraments, Confession is extremely efficacious. So much so that nearly all the saints went to Confession monthly or even weekly. Not because they were great sinners but because the Sacrament helped them to become great saints. Both Pope St. John Paul II and St. Teresa of Calcutta went weekly, Pope Francis went every-other-week, I try to go weekly. I’ve come to realize that practically speaking, one doesn’t become a saint without frequent recourse to the sacrament. Indeed, growth in the spiritual life has a direct correlation to the use of the Sacrament of Confession over a long period of time. So, while the Church teaches us to go to Confession at least once a year, she recommends that we go monthly for our sanctification. Perhaps you can get out your calendar and circle a day of the month, and on that day every month throughout the year, resolve to go to Confession. If you do so, I promise you’ll make great spiritual progress within one year, and others will benefit from your growth in holiness. Take the Next Step.
If it’s been a while since your last confession, make a plan:
Pick a date in the next week or two.
Look up the times at your parish (or a nearby one).
Prepare with prayer and an examination of conscience. There are great ones outside the confessionals at Holy Redeemer and St. Thomas.
Here’s advice from St. John Chrysostom’ advice: “Be ashamed when you sin. Do not be ashamed when you repent.” Here’s advice from Pope Francis – “The truth? God never tires of forgiving us — we are the ones who tire of asking.”
In light of all that has been said above, please take advantage of our generous Confession schedule and penance service. The Confession schedule can always be found on the inside of the front cover of the bulletin as well as our website. Here it is again for your convenience.
Holy Redeemer – Friday 3:30-5:15pm – Saturday 9:00-10:00am, 2:30-4:15pm – Sunday 7:30-8:15am, 10:00-10:45am.
St. Thomas Aquinas – Wednesday – 5:00-5:45pm – Saturday 4:00-4:45pm – Sunday 7:30-8:15am.
Star of the Sea – Sunday 10:45-11:15am.
However, there will be no confessions before the Masses on Easter Sunday, except at Star of the Sea. Which leads me to the Penance Service at Holy Redeemer on Wednesday, April 1st at 6:00pm – the Wednesday of Holy Week. On that day and time, there will be eight priests in the church to hear Confessions. This is a fantastic opportunity to go to confession, repent of your sins to any one of the eight priests, to be absolved of your sins, and restored to a state of grace in time for Easter. Please plan to come and bring a family member. I pray you will resolve to make the Sacrament of Confession a regular part of your life. Here are a couple of testimonials I got off the internet.
If you get nervous about going to Confession and put it off, take the advice of Chris in New Jersey, who has made it a habit of going to Confession every month. Even though he gets nervous, he said it’s always worth it. Chris said:
“I try to do the First Saturday devotion. It gives me a discipline to get to Confession every month. And, you know, every month I get filled with fear, trepidation, that kind of thing. But it’s come to a point where it’s like almost every confession is transformative. It’s the experience of God’s grace, His mercy, and His love. Just to confess that I’m a sinner and I’ve failed and I haven’t loved my wife and my children as I should have. It’s just a great gift to be able to do that as a discipline, doing the First Saturday devotions.”
Many Catholics have been away from Confession, or away from the Church, for many years. Often a barrier to going to Confession after so long is fear that they will be reprimanded or yelled at. That was the case for Karen in Rhode Island who shared her experience of Confession after many years. She said:
“I was away for many years, under the misunderstanding that at the beginning of Mass the priest cleanses you of your sins. After a while, I got so fearful of going to confession that every year it got worse. I got nervous and thought, you know, it’s been a long time, and he’s (the priest) is going to be so upset, he’s going to yell, he’s going to be difficult and make it worse to go. But when I came back after many years, during the Lenten mission, I had a friend who encouraged me to go and all the priest said was, ‘Welcome home.’ And it was a wonderful feeling. I left the confessional and I don’t think I was even walking on the ground, I was floating. All he said was, ‘Welcome home.’ And it was just marvelous.”
In Our Lord’s Mercy,
Fr. Thomas Nathe
