Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: Help me to realize, my God, the great mercy you show us in confession.
The Idea: The story of the paratrooper who turned the tables on his enemies is one of courage and daring. He was captured; he was brutally insulted and tortured. His jailers left him for dead, but he escaped them. Two days later he returned alone and went out of his way to shoot every one of his torturers.
Daring, yes! But mercy, no! Three days after Christ was so cruelly crucified, He returned, not with a weapon of revenge, but with an instrument of mercy. Appearing to the Apostles the risen Christ said: "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven." Thus He instituted the sacrament of Penance and gave His priests the power to forgive sins.
My Personal Application: What is my usual attitude toward confession? Do I realize it is an instrument of God's mercy in cleansing my soul of sin? Or do I fail to regard it as God's way to bring me pardon and peace and strength against future temptation? At each confession do I kneel in faith before the priest and realize he has Christ's power to forgive sins?
I Speak to God: My God, I can never thank you enough for confession and the sacrament of Penance. I want to experience your mercy in each confession. Take from me any fear of confession I might have and replace it with a deep confidence in your mercy and love for me personally.
Thought for Today: Christ's mercy touches me in confession.
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Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
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