Reflections - The Bishop Confessed

The Bishop Confessed

God did not answer

A bishop of the Catholic Church, well advanced in age, and ripe for the picking by God Almighty, approached his confessor to make a startling confession, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. (Rom 3:23)

"On the evening of that day, the first day of the week," Jesus showed himself to his apostles. "He breathed on them, and said to them: 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained"' (Jn 20:19, 22-23; ccc 1485).

The Bishop was quite disturbed to make the confession. The sin he wanted to confess was committed in his youth. He simply could not bring himself to confess it until now. The bishop was worried if God would forgive him as he was in greater transgression than anybody else.

“In this sacrament, the sinner, placing himself before the merciful judgment of God, anticipates in a certain way the judgment to which he will be subjected at the end of his earthly life. For it is now, in this life, that we are offered the 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. In converting to Christ through penance and faith, the sinner passes from death to life and "does not come into judgment.” (ccc 1470)

As a bishop of the church, he knew, taught and encouraged the teaching of the catechism of the Catholic church where the definitions of venial and mortal sins are well defined. The importance of making a good and complete confession was well known to the bishop. Yet he waited till now.

“One who desires to obtain reconciliation with God and with the Church, must confess to a priest all the unconfessed grave sins he remembers after having carefully examined his conscience. The confession of venial faults, without being necessary in itself, is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church.” (ccc 1493) 

Even after making the confession the bishop looked worried. He asked the confessor to seek God’s Word and tell the bishop if God had indeed forgiven him. His confessor had the “Gift of Knowledge”. “…to one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by the same Spirit…” (1 Cor 12:8).

The confessor told the bishop to get in touch in three days. For three agonizing days the bishop waited. At break of dawn on the third day, the bishop rushed to the confessor to hear what God had to say.

The confessor said, “God did not say anything”. The bishop went pale. His face was drained of blood. The confessor realizing that the bishop was about to have a stroke, shook the bishop to consciousness, and said, “God did not say anything because God said he could not remember what sin the bishop was referring to”.

The confessor reminded the bishop of the catechism. The moment we make a good confession God forgets our sins completely never to hold it against us ever again …provided we do not sin again. For that would be taking advantage of God’s merciful and benevolent grace. The confessor too does not remember any of our sins either once the absolution is given.   

“Given the delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons, the Church declares that every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. He can make no use of knowledge that confession gives him about penitents' lives.⁷² This secret, which admits of no exceptions, is called the "sacramental seal," because what the penitent has made known to the priest remains "sealed" by the sacrament.” (ccc1467)

We do not know what was the bishop’s sin that troubled him so much that he would not confess for the larger part of his life, but when facing imminent death, felt an urgency to do so, even when not sure of forgiveness of his sins from God.

Taking a cue from the bishop perhaps we need to do a thorough examination of our conscience keeping ‘The Ten commandments’ front and centre and attempting to know how it applies to our life today.

The Ten Commandments are exactly that – commandments – punishable by loss of eternal life - to damnation in eternal fire. 

The commandments keep us on the right side of God by loving him above everything else (where nearly all of us fail without exception given our attachments to material well-being over spiritual). Upfront we need to confess this sin and find ways in which we make ourselves conscious of this failing which is apt to happen in our day-to-day living.

Our films – especially Hollywood – is replete with actors taking the name of the Lord our God in vain and in the most obnoxious ways. We are complicit when we continue to watch films with storylines that demand such denunciation of God’s name even if that is not its intent. But being complicit we are in transgression.

The Sabbath which is given for our rest – to calm our minds, to re-energize our body, to spend time with loved ones, to take in and meditate over God’s Word, to find time for acts of charity and fellowship – we denigrate by abusing our body and mind by stretching it to the limits into the seventh day, forgetting that “our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit”. “Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.” (Proverbs 23:4).

Another powerful commandment with a huge blessing which does not get as much attention in our discourses is, “Those who honour their father atone for sins, and those who respect their mother are like those who lay up treasure.” (Ecclesiasticus 3.1-15)

When we kill, we are ignoring what God has told us, “Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19).  

Sin is habitual. It defines us. So does virtuous living.

When we lie; we lie from fear of punishment. When we tell the truth and fear not the punishment; we defeat the evil one at his own game.

When we steal, we do so because we are no longer confident of God’s providence or worse, we are greedy or lustful for what is not ours. The ninth and tenth commandment says, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife and thy neighbour’s goods.”

When we bear false witness, we do it out of coercion from powerful forces, or we do it out of jealousy and envy, or even from vengeance for past grievances. When we slander and habitually gossip, we are bearing false witness which most of us are clearly in breach much as we deny it.

When we commit adultery, we are disavowing our marital or spousal vows which is meant to be taken without any external force or coercion. However, the reality is very different. There are parental pressures, community pressures, situational pressures, the pressure of passing age.

This not is to condone the sin of adultery but to highlight the importance of the sacrament to our happiness on earth and for gaining eternal life, and therefore, for us to truly say when we choose our life partner, “"This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” (Gen 2:23)

“The Church holds the exchange of consent between the spouses to be the indispensable element that "makes the marriage.” If consent is lacking there is no marriage. (ccc 1626)

“The consent consists in a "human act by which the partners mutually give themselves to each other": "I take you to be my wife" - "I take you to be my husband." This consent that binds the spouses to each other finds its fulfilment in the two "becoming one flesh. (ccc 1627)

“The consent must be an act of the will of each of the contracting parties, free of coercion or grave external fear. No human power can substitute for this consent. If this freedom is lacking the marriage is invalid.” (ccc 1628)

When we betray our spouse whatever the reason – some do it out of a habit – while being ‘faithful’ to their wife as well – some do it out of poor judgment – some do it vindictively – some do it from lack of morality – whatever the reason – there is one other we betray. Jesus who suffered, died, rose again to be present at the wedding with us when we were taking the sacramental vows.

Our hope went penitent of the acts of sin and when expressing sincere remorse would be to seek “Jesus' look of infinite mercy (that) drew tears of repentance from Peter and, after the Lord's resurrection, a threefold affirmation of love for him." (ccc 1429)

As in the case of the bishop who had a near death experience, spasm of relief thereafter, and ‘tears of repentance’ when he heard God does not remember his sin, let’s too confess our littlest sins and mark our way to eternal life with the heavenly Father. 

In particular the First Commandment, “I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any strange gods before Me.” The ‘strange gods’ is our love for money, love of our body, love of our possessions, love for what others have …each of us know what that is in our own life.

Strive to put God above everything else and receive from God what no one else can give, “…the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:7)