Almost every time I
celebrate the mass there is one line which strikes me more than any
other. It is the line the priest prays over the chalice, ‘this
is the chalice of my blood. It will be poured out for you and
for many, so that sins may be forgiven.’ That short
phrase sums up what the whole mass is about, and what the whole
celebration of Easter is about. God takes on human flesh in the
person of Jesus Christ and dies for his people, so that sins may
be forgiven. The death and resurrection of Christ is all
about this. This is what our faith celebrates above everything
else. We believe in a God who not only created us, but is so
interested in us and our happiness, that when we had lost it through
sin, He made the ultimate sacrifice for his people, so that we would
reach the happiness which He had created for us. If I don’t
believe that much, then I am not a Christian, because that is exactly
what the Christian faith is all about: a God who loves his people so
much that He not only will give everything, but does give everything
for them. That is why we call it ‘good news.’
There is an old Arabic
proverb which says: ‘It is easier to see a black beetle, on a black
stone, on a black night, than for someone to see the pride in their
own heart.’ How true this is. It also says in one of
the Psalms, ‘[the sinner] so flatters himself in his heart, that he
knows not his own sin.’
In confession it is
amazing how often people will say to me, ‘It is a year (or more)
since my last confession, but I don’t really have any sins.’
It says in the first letter of St. John, ‘If anyone says they have
not sinned, they are calling God a liar!’ That might seem a
bit extreme, but it is not, because if we haven’t sinned, then the
death and resurrection of Jesus was pointless; and that would also
mean that the mass is meaningless. For us to deny our own
sinfulness is more serious than we might think. If I fail to
admit my own sinfulness, then I deny the need for God and for all
that God has done for me.
Of all the ways that we
prepare for Easter, abstaining from things, giving to charity or
whatever else, there is nothing more important in the eyes of God
than confessing our sins. Why? because this is what God asks us
to do. Confessing our sins is not just about us, it is also a
way of saying that I recognise all that God has done for me, and I am
responding to that.
Now I
know that people say, ‘Well I can tell God I am sorry myself.’
Of course you can if you want, but why did the Lord say to Peter and
the Apostles,
If you forgive
anyone’s sins, they are forgiven;
If you retain
anyone’s sins, they are retained (Jn 20:23).
Whoever listens to
you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me, and those
who reject me reject the one who sent me (Lk 10:16).
It is
good to remember those words.
So if you really want to
receive God’s blessing this Easter, then do as He asks you and
confess your sins. God gave us this purely for our benefit, not
for his, or to keep the Church happy. It is a most
extraordinary gift to us, to help us come closer to him, to be at
peace and to be healed. The Lord doesn’t want us to be
dragging our sins around with us, but He wants us to be free and at
peace and that is why He has given us this extraordinary gift.
It is his gift to help us.
This
is the chalice of my blood.
It
will be shed for you and for all, so that sins may be forgiven.
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