25th Sunday of the year A
When the Pope had finished his visit to the U k it was reported that someone asked him how he felt and he said that it was like having “Fresh Wind in Our sail.” The Catholic Church of England and Wales have taken this short phrase for the theme of this week being Home mission Sunday. Often we have an idea that the mission is elsewhere but it actually begins with us at this very moment in the diocese of A &B and here in our own town of Bognor Regis.
This Fresh Wind could be the Holy Spirit a renewal of faith and for some a home coming back to the Church. IF you are one of these then you are very welcome indeed and it is great to see you here we have missed you very much. For most of us though the events of last year many have re affirmed our love Jesus Christ and felt encouraged by the support of others around us.
But whatever it is the mission starts with us, and our encounter with the person of Jesus. This encounter takes many different ways but we encounter him every time we come to Mass in the Blessed Sacrament we encounter him in the love shown by others, St Vincent de Paul describes how he would encounter Christ in the poor and those on the fringes of society. Maybe for some of us our encounter is just starting and we want to find out more then I encourage you to have a think about our Emmaus programme which is on the front of the Newsletter (but don’t read it yet you can wait until after Mass)
The one way that we can encounter Christ in a very special way is one I think is sadly underused and that’s in the sacrament of Reconciliation. We need to as it says in the first Reading “Seek the Lord” and in the Psalm we here that the “Lord is close to all who call him” So we are encouraged to seek the Lord and call on his mercy and forgiveness. For the sacrament is not an encounter with the priest but an encounter with the person of Christ. We prepare to meet him a time of examination of Conscience and then acknowledge our sins and actually speak them.
The sacrament of reconciliation feels like today a forgotten sacrament. There are many reasons for this. Maybe some people feel that they can speak to God directly about their sins and so don’t need the sacrament. Others feel embarrassed or they find that they find it difficult to acknowledge their faults and failings. Some people have had a bad experience in the confessional and so don’t go. Whatever the reason we need the experience of speaking our Sins out loud to another person and not feel judged: To feel his love and peace in our lives.
Any physiologist will tell you that it is better to say something out loud rather than keep it bent up inside. And so the Church recognises this and gives us an opportunity to speak out loud what we our failings have been in a safe and no judgemental environment. For Christ to hear where we have been and where we have failed enables us to deepen our relationship with Jesus.
Maybe by going to the sacrament of reconciliation to experience his grace in a special encounter with Christ will encourage us to put fresh wind in our sails: To experience his love afresh and renew us so that we can then speak to others about the love of God.
Comments