Dear Parishioners,

Continuing my reflection on MAKE, the Pastoral Letter recently published by Bishop Hicks for the Joliet Diocese, I would like to focus on the second essential step in what the bishop is calling a roadmap to making Christian disciples. This next step is that of Confession, which logically follows the first step of Conversion. Conversion is the moment in people's lives when they realize that God is more than a theory or intellectual construct. It is the realization that God is personally connected with each individual. So profound is this connection that it calls forth a life-changing response from the person - a response of discipleship.

In explaining Confession, the bishop emphasizes the sacrament of Reconciliation - the church's ritual celebration of Jesus who is the "Incarnation of Divine Mercy" (MAKE pg. 7). While this understanding is necessary and liturgically focused, it may be helpful to first understand confession in a broader, historical context. In the New Testament, the Greek word for "confess" (i.e., homologeo) means "to speak the same word" - that is, to assent to, agree with or admit. In some circles this meant a public self-admission to civil charges that were leveled against the person. Such an admission or confession was the result of an inward conviction.

One can see how significant this understanding of confession would be in the early centuries of the church when Christianity was not a recognized religion in the Roman Empire. Membership in this "illicit" religious sect was a crime punishable by death. Nevertheless, Christians felt compelled to publicly confess their faith in Jesus Christ and admit to being one of his followers. Those who were arrested and executed for this crime were called "martyrs" a word which means "witness." Those who were arrested, imprisoned or even tortured for being a Christian, but NOT executed, were called "confessors" because they confessed their belief in Jesus Christ but were spared from having to witness to this belief by the shedding of their blood, as did the martyrs.

These confessors were held in great esteem by their fellow Christians because they knew, firsthand, what it was like to suffer torture and persecution for Christ, and yet never denied him. So high was people's regard for these confessors that some members of the Christian community would come to them and confess their sins. Confession for these individuals implied both, a recognition of their personal moment of lapsed faith, but also their trust in God's unconditional love and mercy. While this was not the same as the sacramental confession that will evolve later, especially in Ireland, it did provide seeds for this subsequent theological development.

In the bishop's pastoral letter, the confession of one's sinful, broken humanity is the direct result of one's conversion, i.e., that moment when there is a uniquely personal encounter with a merciful and loving God who was revealed in the person of Jesus. This inspires the person to become one of Christ's followers. The recognition of one's personal sinfulness is not intended to create a crippling state of unworthiness that views human nature as corrupt and unworthy of God. It is intended to do the exact opposite - to fill us with hope as we make our way through life trusting in the words of Psalm 130, (De Profundis ) which reads,

If you O Lord mark iniquity, Lord who can stand? But with you is found forgiveness, for this we revere you.

Blessings,

Fr. Gabriel O.S.B.

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