Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent, Year C

Confession: The Most Real Way To Receive Mercy

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent, Year C

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, December 15, 2024

In our Last weekend Gospel, we hear that the word of God came to John the Baptist in the desert. Why in the desert? It is a place where there is hardly any distraction. The desert is the cure for what Blaise Pascal called in his beautiful French “divertissement,” diversion in English. After that, we hear “John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3). Having heard the powerfully challenging and transformative message of John, the crowd reacted, “What should we do?” (Luke 3:10) Check this out! John the Baptist is described as wearing animal skins and eating weird food like grasshoppers and honey (Mark 1:6), yet it is to this strange and emaciated man that many people were going to. What’s taking them to him? To listen to him and to confess their sins! You know, one of the first things I noticed as soon as I started my pastoral ministry in America is that while the communion lines are always long, the confession line is way too short. At Mass, everybody comes forth to receive communion, but when it comes to the sacrament (confession) that actually prepares us to worthily receive communion, we stay away from it. I know that before Vatican II, sin was overemphasized far above the mercy of God. That was a theological and homiletical mistake. But immediately after Vatican II, we have gone to the other extreme of de-emphasizing sin. Today, the stress is on God’s goodness, God’s grace, and God’s mercy. That’s in order. That’s true. The Catholic Church believes in the primacy of grace. Grace always comes first. In this letter to the Romans, the great St. Paul says “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). So, it is God who first comes to us, and not the other way round. However, there is no serious biblical figure who does not come to grips with our sin. It is so true to say that the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation is the story of God’s love and God’s quest for the human race. However, the awfulness of sin is never ignored in the Bible. It is mentioned in every page of the Bible. The amazing Vatican II never in any way discouraged Catholics from going to confession. What caused the sacrament of confession to suddenly fall off the table overnight is the misreading, misinterpretation and misunderstanding of the Council documents by people who ought to know better. Prior to the Council, people regularly went to confession. But today, not so much. 

But as we can see in today’s Gospel (Luke 3:10-18), people who came to John came not only to listen to him but to also do something very different. Hence the question, “What should we do?” In Matthew’s Gospel, we hear that Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to John the Baptist, were being baptized by him in the River Jordan and were confessing their sins (Matthew 3:5-6). I tell you, there is something very healing, very liberating and very satisfactory about the confession of sins. Last Sunday, I spoke about the different ways our culture tells us “we are okay,” “everything is fine,” “there is nothing wrong with us.” The culture makes excuses for us. In fact, it normalizes sins. In some ways, it celebrates sins and strips away the remorse, regret and penitence that ought to follow sin. The culture tries in a number of ways to justify sins. That’s the reality of our life today and everyone of us is susceptible to these suggestions coming from the culture. But the message of John is: don’t listen to those voices. The message of Jesus is: don’t listen to those voices. Deep down, we know we are sinners. Deep down we know there is something wrong with us. Deep down we know all is not right with us. As such, there is something profoundly healing and liberating about being able to confess our sins. One of the great moments of my life happens after I have confessed my sins. 

Sisters and brothers, avoiding going to confession is not good at all. You are toying with your salvation if you stay away from this amazing sacrament. Emphasizing the grace of God, the mercy of God should drive and motivate us to go to confession. Why? Because it is in this sacrament that the boundless grace and mercy of God is received. Confession is the most real way, the most assured way, the most profound means to receive the healing mercy of God. It is in the active use of this particular sacrament that we are forgiven, healed and delivered, not in staying away. You don’t get well by staying away from the hospital and doctors. You don’t get well by simply believing that a doctor’s intervention might cure you. No! It is by actually going to see a doctor that medical help can be attained. So it is with going to confession. We are forgiven by God after we have confessed our sins, not to ourselves but to a doctor of the soul, a priest. A Catholic priest sitting in a confessional is like a doctor sitting in his office. If we are not confessing our sins, we are not being spiritually honest. The irony of this is that while the culture tells us that we are beautiful in every way, meaning there is no need to confess our sins, people are seeking for different outlets and avenues to confess their sins. They go to therapists, psychologists, judges, TV shows and judging shows just to have an opportunity to confess their sins. Today, I urge you, before the end of Advent, to follow the example laid down by the people who came to John the Baptist and confessed their sins. If you really need that soul-healing moment, then go to confession. To the ten lepers, Jesus says, “Go and show yourself to the priest” (Luke 5:14). In this season of Advent, we are also being asked to do the same. It is the best way to prepare for Christmas. 

God bless you!