Healing

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At our penance service last night, the priest pointed out that Confession isn't so much about our sins, but about the mercy of God.

While it is important that we name our sins and face them, and confess them to a Priest, we have nothing to fear in doing so.  Jesus took our sins upon him, on the cross, and he loves us so much, that his forgiveness is poured out on us freely, as a gift.

The importance of the Sacrament of Reconciliation ("Confession") in the Catholic Church, is that through the transforming power of God, we are able to chip away in this life all that is preventing us from being all that we can be as a child of God.  This is very liberating.

In today's reading from the Gospel of John (Chapter 5), Jesus heals the man who had been ill for 38 years.  He did so on the Sabbath, which was against the law. Jesus didn't let the law of not working on the Sabbath interfere with the good he could do.

The only thing Jesus asked for was an acknowledgement from the man that he wanted to be healed.  It was only after his miraculous healing that Jesus said, "do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you."

Do you want to be healed? Are you willing to say Yes! to Jesus?

No matter how you have sinned, Jesus is waiting with open arms for you to come to him so that he can pour his mercy out upon you. 

Return to this Sacrament, or come and learn about it, so that like the man in the Gospel, you, too, can have a personal encounter with Christ and receive his absolute forgiveness.

Janet Cassidy
janetcassidy.com
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