February 27, 2024 // Diocese

Do the World a Favor: Go to Confession!

Todays Catholic

By Father Bobby Krisch

There never seems to be a shortage of bad news in our world today. Every time we scroll through the news, it seems like one terrible thing after another. And, too often, we can feel completely powerless in the face of such evil. But we are not powerless, nor are we to lose hope, for Jesus tells us, “In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world” (Jn 16:33). In the face of such tribulation, there are two great things we can do. The first is that we can pray. We are called to pray always (1 Thes 5:17) because, ultimately, the fight belongs to the Lord. But the second task might surprise you: go to confession.

There is no such thing as a private sin. Yes, we are fully capable of committing sins when no one else is around, but still, there really is no such thing as a private sin. No matter if we commit a sin against a whole group of people, or just one person, or if no one else is around, our sins do have an impact upon others. Sin certainly has a personal impact on the one who commits the offense, especially on his or her relationship with the Lord, but so, too, sin has an impact upon others around us. This is because we are all members of the Body of Christ.

All of us, young and old, are members of the Body of Christ. As St. Paul tells us, “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ” (1 Cor 12:12). Christ is the head of the body, which is the Church. Just as all parts of the body come together to form the whole person, so, too, all the members of the Church have dignity because they all belong to Christ and form the whole (cf. 1 Cor 12:12-26).

And St. Paul concludes, “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy” (1 Cor 12:26). I’m sure many of us have experienced how an injured muscle in one part of the body can throw off how the rest of the body feels and functions. Even something as small as a paper cut can have a negative impact on how we behave. So it is with members of the Body of Christ.

Thursday, March 7, from 6-8 p.m.

Stop by any parish throughout the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend to experience the healing grace of God’s mercy through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
To learn more, visit
diocesefwsb.org/light.

Thus, there is no such thing as a private sin. What one member does in the Body of Christ affects the whole. But just as one sin affects everyone, the grace of the Sacrament of Reconciliation affects all of the Body as well. Yes, there is great personal gain for one who receives the awesome grace of the sacrament, but the whole of the Church benefits from this individual reconciliation as well. Thus, healing for the whole happens incrementally in the individual parts (c.f. Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1469).

In his 1984 apostolic exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia (“Reconciliation and Penance”), Pope St. John Paul II summarizes this nicely: “This reconciliation with God leads, as it were, to other reconciliations which repair the breaches caused by sin. The forgiven penitent is reconciled with himself in his inmost being, where he regains his own true identity. He is reconciled with his brethren whom he has in some way attacked and wounded. He is reconciled with the church. He is reconciled with all creation” (No. 31.5).

So, if we want to have an impact on the world this Lent, go to confession! The Body of Christ is wounded, and Jesus desires to extend His healing mercy to all those parts that are hurt. With the help of God’s grace, we can do our part to restore what we have broken through our sins.

We can’t control what people do around the world. We can’t control what happens in our country or our state or our local community. Sometimes, we can’t even control what happens in our own homes! But we can control what we do. We can control our response to the evil in the world. We can turn our lives away from sin and so turn back more fully to the Lord God. If you want to do your part to fight against the evils that plague us, then come to confession. Do your part by letting the Lord speak His love and mercy into your wounds and so heal you and the Body of Christ.

To that end, the light is on for you! Every parish in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend will have the Sacrament of Confession available on Thursday, March 7, from 6-8 p.m. Please take advantage of this great opportunity and keep us priests busy!

Father Bobby Krisch is a Parochial Vicar at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Fort Wayne.