26th Sunday Year A (Gospel: Mat 21:28-32) Confession and healing

 

Lourdes, France.

Over two summers I spent three weeks in Lourdes hearing confessions; nothing else, just hearing confessions. Lourdes is the town in the south of France where in 1858 Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette who was just 14 years old. It is where Mary identified herself as the Immaculate Conception, meaning she was conceived without any sin. She is the sinless one.

 

Many people are often surprised to hear me say that it was one of the most beautiful experiences I have had as a priest. That may sound strange, but it is true. The Lord showed me two things through this: first the sickness of sin and second, god’s healing mercy. The human race is suffering from the sickness of sin. I listened to people from all over the world and they were all confessing the same things: adultery, abortions, injustice at work, cheating, broken relationships, dishonesty, everything and these are the people who are coming to confession. In one way you could see it is a horrible picture, but that’s not what I saw. What I saw was the sickness of the human race, but more importantly the mercy of God which brings healing. If this is how we are as a race, the mercy of God must be enormous to put up with us and of course it is. What I experienced more than anything else was the compassion of God for all these people, because the Spirit prompted them to come back to him through confession.

 

What I also see is people being healed, spiritually and physically. Sin affects us physically and spiritually. When someone confesses sin that they have been carrying for years, you can see the change in their face when they know they have been forgiven. They are physically changed and healed.

 

You know how stress can affect us physically. Our shoulders tighten up, or muscles in our back. We can get headaches and our mouth dries up. Stress is psychological and it affects us physically. How much more so with sin? The body will decay after death, but the spirit is immortal, so what affects our soul is far more important.

 

All of us are in need of healing, whether it be physical, psychological or spiritual. Much of this has come from Original Sin. When our first parents rejected God, sin came into the world and one of the consequences was sickness of different kinds.

 

Remember the story where people brought a man to Jesus who was completely paralysed, hoping Jesus would heal him. There were so many people there that they had to let him down through the roof to get to Jesus. The first thing Jesus did was to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ (See Mark 2:1-12). The religious authorities said to themselves, ‘This is blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins.’ And then Jesus said, ‘Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk. But to show you that the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sins,” Jesus said, “I tell you, get up. Take up your sleeping mat and walk.” And the man was healed.

 

Why did Jesus begin by saying, “Your sins are forgiven.” I’m sure the people there could care less about his sins being forgiven. They just wanted the man to be healed. But Jesus was showing us that there is a direct connection between spiritual and physical healing. Sin affects us physically.

 

The greatest healing ministry of the Church is the forgiveness of sins and the primary way that God offers us that forgiveness and healing to us, is through confession.

 

There are a million reasons we can think of for not going to confession, but God keeps drawing people to him through this beautiful gift and that is what it is, a gift. Sadly many people have come to see it as a burden, as something we are told we have to do, as though it was inflicted on us, whereas in fact it is the complete opposite. It is a tool that God has given us so that we can be at peace, so that when we fall, we can come back to God, knowing that we are forgiven. It is a sacrament of healing.

 

Many people say, ‘I don’t have to go to a priest, I can just go and tell God that I am sorry myself?’ Well you can if you want, but it is not the same thing. The Lord knows what we are like and that we need a concrete way of being able to relate to him. That is one reason why He gives himself to us in the form of bread and wine. It is something we can see and touch and taste. It is the same with confession. We have a psychological need to confess what we have done wrong to another person. And if you don’t believe me just listen to the chat shows on TV and radio where you will regularly listen to people confessing their sins, and confessing to the whole country too! I’m sure you have often heard how someone in prison will often confess to another cellmate a crime that they have committed. We have a psychological need to confess, because when we do, it helps us to heal. That is why the Lord gives us a means of confessing in complete secrecy, to someone he has specially appointed for this. It doesn’t mean that priests are holier than anyone else, as we well know, but the Lord has given us this gift through the priesthood. Jesus said to Peter, ‘Whatever sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Whatever sins you retain they are retained’ (Jn 20:23). He was giving his power to forgive sins to the priesthood. In other words, it is God who forgives through the priest. The Lord has given us this because he knows how much we need it. Sadly many of us have neglected it and come to see it as a burden rather than as something the Lord gave us to help us.

 

Think also of this: who does not want us to confess our sins? Satan. He knows how powerful confession is and he does not want us to experience that healing and the grace, or what you might call the divine strength, that God also gives us through it.

 

It is interesting how in the many places where Our Lady has appeared on earth to help us, she always speaks about the seriousness of sin and how it is offending God. She also says, ‘Tell the people to go to confession.’ She doesn’t say, ‘Tell the people to tell God they are sorry for their sins,’ rather, ‘Tell the people to go to confession.’ If God the Father has sent Mary to appear to us, it must be for a very serious reason and it is. Sin is the one thing that can separate us from God for all eternity and God wants us to be with him and with our loved ones for all eternity. That is what He created us for. That is why God has also given us the forgiveness of sins through the priesthood. God has already won forgiveness for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus and God offers us that forgiveness, but we must ask for it.

 

The weeks that I spent hearing confessions in Lourdes and other places are where I saw real miracles. They were real miracles because I saw people being relieved of great burdens of guilt and shame, being able to leave in peace because they were at rights with God. Confessing and being absolved by the priest is a real gift.

 

In today’s Gospel Jesus says to us that the son that did the Father’s will was the one who did what he asked, and not the one who just said he would do it. The Lord also asks us to confess what we have done wrong, so that we can live in peace. In St. Matthew’s Gospel Jesus says, ‘It is not those who say, “Lord, Lord,” but those who do the will of my Father in heaven.’ (Mt 7:21). It is tempting to think, ‘I don’t need to do that,’ but think about what you are saying: ‘I don’t need to use what God has given to us, because I know better.’

 

The greatest healing ministry of the Church is the forgiveness of sins.

 

25th Sunday Year A (Gospel: Matt 20:1-16) My ways are not your ways.

 

 

There is a book called Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist  who ended up in one of the concentration camps during the Second World War. He noticed that the people who survived the longest were not necessarily those who were physically the strongest. It was the people who had a purpose, a reason to live, such as a wife, or husband they wanted to see again, or if they had faith. Those who lived the longest were the ones who had what you might call ‘spiritual purpose’.

 

An interesting thing is happening in the world at the moment. A large number of people are beginning to come back to their faith. Young people are discovering faith for the first time; not just beginning to go to mass again, but learning to pray and really trying to live their faith every day. Some of this I have seen directly and more of it has been mentioned on the news. Apparently in England and France large numbers of people are coming back to faith. I personally know of many people that it has happened to. There are friends of mine who are converting people at their work place, by the way they live and because of the zeal they have for the Lord. There are also prayer groups springing up all over the country. Also in confession I keep meeting people who have been away for decades, almost every week. I often ask them what prompted them to come back. Sometimes they are not quite sure, but they felt they needed to put their life in order. The Spirit had been speaking to them.

 

Over the last several years more adults have been coming into the Church each year, just in this diocese through the OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adultls) program. Three years ago over 500 people just in this diocese, became Catholic. Two years ago over 600 and last year over 1000. The Spirit is moving people.

 

I have also come across many articles about Jesus appearing to Muslims in dreams. Many of them have converted to Christianity.

 Several well-documented testimonies include:

• The Story of Nabeel Qureshi – A former Muslim and the author of Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, Nabeel Qureshi described how dreams played a crucial role in his conversion. He experienced three significant dreams in which Jesus revealed Himself and challenged his understanding of Islam.

• Middle Eastern Testimonies – Missionaries working in restricted countries have documented multiple accounts of Muslims encountering Jesus in dreams and subsequently seeking out Christian pastors to learn more.

• Online and Social Media Accounts – Christian ministries often share testimonies of Muslims who reach out after experiencing dreams of Jesus, asking for Bibles and wanting to learn more about Christianity.

• The Story of Khalil – A young man from Saudi Arabia had repeated dreams of Jesus telling him to “seek the truth.” After grappling with fear and doubt, he eventually connected with a Christian community online and found answers in the Bible. Today, he is a strong believer despite facing persecution from his family.

• The Story of Fatima – A woman in Iran dreamt of Jesus standing beside her and saying, “Follow Me.” She was deeply moved but hesitant. After experiencing the same dream multiple times, she began secretly reading the Bible and later accepted Christ as her Savior.

• The Story of Ahmed – Living in Egypt, Ahmed was a devout Muslim who had a powerful dream of Jesus embracing him and saying, “You are mine.” Overwhelmed by love, he started reading the New Testament and realized Jesus was more than just a prophet. He is the Son of God.

• Former Imams and Religious Leaders – Several former imams have reported encountering Jesus in dreams, leading them to leave their positions in Islam and follow Christ. Their journeys are particularly significant because they come from a deep theological background in Islam, making their conversions even more profound.

• I read of another account where 200 Palestinian Muslim men had the same dream about Jesus and were all converted to Christianity.

 

Why is this happening? Because we are living in a time of grace, where God is giving us a chance to find him again. Our Lady has appeared all over the world in the last century and is telling us to come back to God, because the world is living as though God doesn’t exist. We cannot exist without God. God is the one who shows us the purpose of our life and how to live if we are to blossom both individually and as a society. God gives us very specific instructions about what we should and should not do. All of this is to help us, because God desires our happiness.

 

The history of the people of Israel shows the same pattern. When they were faithful to God things were fine. But when they became lazy and began to ignore God, or turn to other false gods, then their society began to fall apart, just as God told them it would. Then they recognized their sin and turned back to God.

Our society follows the same pattern. When people are faithful to God and try to live as God tells us to, things work. But when people turn away from God or reject God’s Commandments, our society falls into chaos, as we have seen happening. But that same chaos is often what makes people wake up and hopefully repent and turn back to God. I believe that is what we are seeing happening now. People see the chaos and recognize that things are not right and turn to God.

 

A friend of mine, a married man, who has come back to God, said to me recently that he would have separated by now, only for the fact that he had become a Catholic. It was his faith that had given him the strength he needed to keep going when things were difficult. And now they are doing fine.

 

We are not usually as strong as we like to think we are. And we are not half as independent as we like to think we are. We are full of pride and slow to admit that we need help. And men are worse than women this way. We tend to be slower to ask for help.

 

Working with the sick and dying, I am often amazed at how much people are consoled when the priest comes to visit them, because it reminds them that God hasn’t forgotten about them. It also reminds them of the more important things and they don’t feel so alone.  Many people have forgotten about God, but God hasn’t forgotten about us.

 

No matter what stage we are at in our life, it is never too late to turn to God and to ask him for his help, but pride often prevents us. We are stubborn, and we say, ‘I couldn’t begin to pray now, because I’ve never done it before. What would my friends think?’ What kind of an argument is that? Who cares what your friends think. They won’t be there when we are alone before God when we die. 

 

If you take faith out of the picture, everything changes. If there was no God, then why should we make sacrifices? We would have every excuse to just take care of ourselves and our loved ones and make ourselves as comfortable as possible. But our faith makes us see things completely differently. Because God is real and our destiny is to be with him for all eternity, then what we go through in this life takes on a different perspective, because it is only temporary and it all has a part in forming us to be holier people. You could describe holiness as being ‘the best version of ourselves, that we can be.’ Depending on how we face them, the trials that we go through can have a big part in forming us, in purifying us. That is also why suicide, abortion and euthanasia are not only sinful, but such terrible tragedies as well. The temptation is to thing that if my life ends, then all the suffering is over. In fact that is what you hear people saying all the time, when they are referring to someone who has died. At least they won’t suffer any more. But if cutting a life short, through suicide, or euthanasia, or abortion, is also cutting off some of the very trials that would have helped bring us closer to God, then we are missing out. It is normal that we don’t want to suffer, but there is a certain amount of suffering we cannot avoid and Jesus said that the path to heaven involves suffering. ‘Unless you take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple’ (Matt 16:24). ‘Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to heaven and few find it (Matt 7:14). We want the easy way and our world tells us we should be able to have the easy way, but that is not what the Lord tells us. Who will you listen to?

 

When we get to heaven, please God, I think we will look back and see that everything that we went through played a part in getting us ready to be with God. You can see it all the time, how suffering changes people. They mature and often begin to see what is most important in our life on earth. If we were not faced with those same trials/sufferings, would we see what is truly important? You know how the sickness, or death of a family member can change everything, especially if it is a young person. All our priorities change. The things of this world suddenly become almost irrelevant.

 

So many people at the end of their life go through sickness and pain, which often seems so unfair. But I am sure that it is often the final purification that God allows us to go through before we come into God’s presence. When people die we tend to refer to them as immediately being in heaven, but probably not many people are ready to come directly into God’s presence. It is so important that we pray for them and sadly it is something that is greatly neglected. We have reminders of them everywhere, but we don’t pray for them. I would rather that there be no reminders of me anywhere, but instead that people pray for me and have masses offered for me when I die.

 

Passing on our faith is probably one of the most important things we can do for the next generation, because our faith is what puts everything in perspective. If there was no world after this one, what a cruel world it would be for so many people, as most people suffer quite a lot.

 

It always grieves me when I hear parents saying that they are not going to teach their children about any faith, because they want them to choose when they grow up. First of all, if they are not given any grounding in some faith, it is very unlikely they will choose any faith when they get older. Secondly, their minds are going to be formed one way or the other. Would you rather that their minds be formed by the violence and evil that fills the internet and TV, or in the ways of God? We must do everything we can to teach the next generation about God. I know that many of you here are grandparents. Don’t underestimate the influence you have on your grandchildren. We have a different kind of respect for our grandparents. Don’t apologize for what you believe in. It may be the greatest favour you do for your grandchildren.

 

When we were in the seminary, they did a survey asking us various questions about our faith. One question was, who influenced us the most in our faith. The majority of people said it was their grandparents. When we are growing up we tend to rebel against our parents as we are finding our feet and our independence, but we listen to our grandparents in a different way. Don’t be afraid to talk about what you believe in.

 

What is the best way to pass on our faith? Live it as well as you can. When we really try and live our faith, we don’t have to say very much, because our actions and decisions say everything. People notice and it makes people think.

 

Jesus Christ is the only one who makes sense of what our life is about and why we are here. We are on our way to be with him in heaven. That’s what we have been created for. But he also told us to carry the cross, to try and be patient in suffering, because that is also part of the journey.

 

For to me, life is Christ and death is gain…

I long to depart this life and be with Christ

for that is far better.

Yet that I remain in the flesh

is more necessary for your benefit.