Advent Penance Service 2019
Isaiah 57:14-21
Psalm 63
Matthew 3:1-12
December 19, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christmas is\ncoming but it is not yet here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We get\nexcited for Christmas. Psalm 63, our\nresponsorial psalm today, is one of my favorite psalms because it expresses our\ndesire to know God with versus like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are created to know God. We are created to be with God. Nothing else can truly fulfill us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is with this in mind that we come today to \u201cprepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.<\/em>\u201d We want to follow Jesus but the reality is sometimes we don\u2019t. Sometimes we sin. So, today we come to \u201crepent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we sin, we need to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Right now we\ncelebrate a Penance Service to think about our need for repentance and to\nreflect on what goes in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Psalm 63\nwe hear, \u201cSo, I will gaze on you in the\nsanctuary<\/em>.\u201d This is exactly what we\ncan do today with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament placed in the monstrance upon\nour altar as we began our service, we gaze upon Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It really is\nJesus and so we come thirsting for our Lord. \nWe come to \u201cprepare the way<\/em>\u201d. So, we need to \u201cremove every obstacle<\/em>\u201d from our way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sin is an\nobstacle to our following Jesus. Mortal\nsin breaks our relationship with God. \nVenial sin hurts our relationship. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do we\nremove the obstacle of our sins?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Actually, we\ncan\u2019t remove it ourselves. That\u2019s why\nJesus came at Christmas, so that at the appointed time He could give his life\non the Cross to remove our sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What we do\nneed to do ourselves is to \u201cacknowledge\u201d our sins. So, we \u201cconfess\u201d them in the Sacrament. Confessing our sins with a contrite heart is\na necessary part of the Sacrament. It is\nso important that we often call the Sacrament \u201cConfession\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But that is\nnot all there is to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. What we seek is \u201creconciliation\u201d, we want God\n\u201cto revive the spirit of the lowly, to\nrevive the heart of the crushed.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n God always<\/em><\/strong>\nstands ready to \u201crevive<\/em>\u201d us and\nreconcile us but we have another part we must do. We must, as John the Baptist said, \u201cProduce good fruit as evidence of your\nrepentance<\/em>.\u201d After we confess our\nsins, the priest assigns us a \u201cpenance\u201d. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n We might want\nto think of our \u201cpenance\u201d as punishment. \nAfter all, from our wicked avarice, our sins, we have given God a reason\nto be angry. We bring the punishment\nupon ourselves for, again as John the Baptist said, \u201cTherefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and\nthrown into the fire<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That might\nmake us afraid. In this case, fear can\nbe a motivator to avoid sin, to avoid the fires of Hell but there is hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hope that\ncomes ultimately in Jesus\u2019 death and Resurrection, hope that is prophesized by\nIsaiah in our first reading. God\u2019s\npurpose in sending Jesus to us is not because He wants to punish us. He doesn\u2019t need Jesus to be born to do that. God could destroy us for our sins anytime He\nwanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fortunately,\nHe does not<\/em> want to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, in\nour first reading from Isaiah today, we hear the Lord say, \u201cI will lead them and restore full comfort to\nthem<\/em>.\u201d When we break our\nrelationship with God, it is his firm<\/em><\/strong> desire to \u201crestore<\/em>\u201d us to him, to reconcile our\nrelationship with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God also says\nin Isaiah, not once <\/em>but twice<\/em><\/strong>,\n\u201cI will heal them.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we hear\nthe Lord say, \u201cI will heal them<\/em>,\u201d our\nthoughts might rush to the physical healings that Jesus performs in the gospels\nor miracles that have happened since through the intercession of the\nsaints. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We might then\nthink of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. We call that a \u201cSacrament of Healing\u201d. Do you know that we also consider the\nSacrament of Reconciliation a \u201cSacrament of Healing\u201d? <\/p>\n\n\n\n We confess\nsins with a contrite heart. We do a\npenance. We receive absolution through\nthe priest. We are healed of our\nsins. Our sins broke our relationship\nwith God. God can and does fix that if\nwe let him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is our\nfaith. This is our hope. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus, thank\nyou for the gift you are to us and thank you for the gift of your forgiveness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Advent Penance Service 2019Isaiah 57:14-21Psalm 63Matthew 3:1-12December 19, 2019 Christmas is coming but it is not yet here. We get excited for Christmas. Psalm 63, our responsorial psalm today, is one of my favorite psalms because it expresses our desire to know God with versus like: \u201cMy soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my …<\/p>\n