Campus Ministry Column: A new start

How miserable does it feel when you've hurt somebody, maybe through a lie or a rumor or some neglected action, but that person doesn't even know it's your fault? How heavy with guilt the heart feels to watch the person suffer even while they treat you with kindness in their ignorance. It can take quite the effort to try to tell them what happened and can even be scary, especially when considering their potential reaction, and we often decide to hold onto our secret instead, letting it drag us down even further over time or, even worse, make us numb to the feeling.But how rejuvenating it feels when we tell the person what happened and they forgive us. How much greater we feel when we're able to make up for the damage done. The friendship is strengthened with a deeper level of honesty and love.

This latter feeling is what we should look forward to in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Unfortunately, this incredible gift from God has almost become a taboo in the minds of many in our modern times and this fear of it only does a severe disservice.

Perhaps the fear of confession comes from our experiences with other people; maybe a friend didn't react so well when you confessed and you haven't spoken since. Maybe the fear comes from an unwillingness to change, when one thinks that he can do whatever he wants and still be happy. More than likely, it comes from a misunderstanding of God and sin.

Contrary to what an embarrassing number of Christians believe, God is not out to make difficult laws just so He can punish us when we break them. This is a complete misunderstanding of the entirety of divine revelation. Sin is not just merely breaking a rule. God shows this to us in the form of Christ, where He told us to call Him Father, but also as Jesus became our friend and servant, and in His marriage to the Church, our lover.

Now, that last one might seem to go a bit too far for some people but it should actually bring us immense joy. God does not want us to suffer or to punish us. He seeks to have a loving relationship with us, communicating through prayer and miracles and raising each person up to be the best and happiest that they can possibly be. Unfortunately, due to sin and evil in the world, we still suffer. Reconciliation is the remedy for this, God's act of loving kindness that heals our suffering and allows us to face life anew.

Back to the idea of who God is, God didn't make arbitrary laws but instead told us how to live a happy life. Sin, then, is not breaking a rule but choosing a lesser good over a higher good, or, in other words, choosing something that will hurt us instead of the infinite love of God. But unlike that friend that may not have forgiven you, God always does.

Sophomore Lauren Murphy, reflects on the incredible nature of the Sacrament: "Only second to the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Reconciliation continues to be one of the utmost reasons why I love Catholicism. The peace and the joy that I experience after confessing my sins to a priest, who represents Christ Himself, and after receiving absolution for these sins is beyond compare. I pray that more and more college students will avail themselves to this sacrament of mercy, where Christ sits waiting to free them from their burdens and sorrows."

Unlike the friend who was unaware of the hurt you caused them, God sees and knows all. He knows every time we choose something that hurts ourselves and offends His infinite love for us. Yet, He still doesn't turn away from us or tell us to get lost. He instead is present during Reconciliation where, when a person is truly remorseful for the wrong they've done, He wipes the stain from their soul and takes on their burden so that they can once again be free for joy.

The Catechism explains that through confession "man looks squarely at the sins he is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible" (#1455). This idea of future, though, reminds us of our eventual death where we will have to, whether we like it or not, confess again all the wrong we've done to ourselves and to offend God's love and be judged for it. Thus the Catechism also explains, "For it is now, in this life, that we are offered a choice between life and death and it is only by the road of conversion that we can enter the Kingdom, from which one is excluded by grave sin" (#1470).

There is no second chance to repent after we die. Therein rests the meaning of life: to choose or reject God's love. We choose heaven or hell, union or separation from God, in this life and with a loving Father waiting with open arms to forgive every single sin, no matter how grave or venial, we would be fools not to choose heaven here and now and become receivers of a love that outlasts all others.

Reconciliation can be received every Sunday in the Chapel at 6:30p.m., during Thursday Adoration at 9:45p.m., or by appointment with any priest.