My dear parishioners, many storms arise in the the deep valley between what a person professes and how that person lives. Many well-intentioned people strongly believe that forgiveness should be received and never offered. They presume that they can live without offering remorse to anyone, ever. If the other person is offended and becomes angry or upset, it’s his pitiful weakness on display.
If reconciliation can be dismissed in such fatuous ways, why does man’s anxiety not disappear? Why, then, are human beings overtaken by corrosive doubt? Why does a sickening lack of confidence persist in one’s own heart? The Evil One generates fear. He tries to inject a dread of real, personal change into the human heart. He wants to paralyze human beings and make a soup of their inner resolve. And the devil wants to perpetuate mental and spiritual dis-ease among human persons until the moment he devours them.
Much of our doubt issues from a belief that is strong but very wrong. Or from a faith that is weak and only partly right. Many people are filled with doubt amplified by ignorance of the truth. They are afraid of God’s commandments. So they dread real conversion of heart and soul They won’t give God a genuine and lasting opportunity to work in their lives.
It takes faith — strong and steadfast faith — to believe that what God says he will do, he will do. When Peter inquires of Jesus, "Lord, when my brother wrongs me, how often must I forgive him? Seven times?", he is asking, Shall I forgive to the best of my individual, human capacity? "No," Jesus replies, "not seven times; I say, seventy times seven times". What on earth is Jesus getting at? Precisely this: Peter, you cannot rely on your own human power to forgive. Your mercy must be like my Father’s mercy, without limit!
Jesus Christ is the author of divine mercy. He is the example for all forgiveness. Through Jesus, God instituted his merciful Sacrament of Reconciliation for all believers. Only God has the right to demand what we have no hope of paying. I am saying that God’s mercy is beyond price. Yet God empowers us with grace if we will only accept it. We can forgive and ask for forgiveness even if we can't equal the great price Jesus paid for our reconciliation with God our loving heavenly father. Your salvation depends very much on the powerful priestly prayer of absolution in the Sacrament of Reconciliation: 
 
GOD THE Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the  world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, (+) and of the Holy Spirit.
 
If anyone seeks true pardon and peace, let him seek out and embrace the Holy Spirit in God’s Church. No other sacrament tests the believer's humility and sincerity as explicitly as does the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is the Lord, however, who strengthens our faith:  "For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."  [Mt 13:12] 
Our trust in God’s clemency and in the reconciling mission of the Church will be lavishly rewarded. Our confidence will be made complete as we joyously discover "what God has prepared for those who love him".  [1Cor 2:9]  The Holy Father teaches, and it is the teaching of the Church, that we should make frequent use of the sacrament. Go to Confession!
As Scripture says, "I rejoiced when I heard them say. Come, let us go up to the house of the Lord!"  [Ps 122:1]  There is no one else but God who can shatter the “iron web” which ensnares the sinner. When the believer's sins are loosed on earth through the sacramental and priestly ministry of reconciliation, he may break the bonds of indifference, bitterness, hostility and greed. A reconciled disciple becomes fully alive in the midst of the community of faith. He or she adorns the House of the Lord with souls made pure. We need many more joyful witnesses to reach out to people in desperate need of healing. Invite the lost, the angry, the confused to bathe in the fountain of forgiveness. In the hearts of Jesus and Mary. Your pastor, Reverend Richard Barker.

Aug 18 gsc