Testimony: Cardinal Dolan Calls Penance the Sacrament of the New Evangelization and How I Know He is Right

10/25/2012

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writings of the Protestant reformers. However, it was as though the Church stopped with the Apostles, or shortly thereafter, only to be rekindled by Martin Luther.

I wanted to know the whole story! I began to make daily visits to the Lakeland Florida Public library. There I probed early Church writings and began to question my way right back to my Catholic Christian faith. I discovered the early Christian writings, the Fathers and the wonderful truth about the early Christian Church, her early liturgy, her understanding of the "mysteries" (sacraments) and her hierarchical order. I sought out a priest and began my journey home to the Catholic Church.

Little did I realize then that this part of the journey would also lead me to find the freedom I longed for. through experiencing the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Penance). "Confession" was one of the practices of Catholic faith I no longer thought I "needed" and did not understand. However, though I knew the Lord was real and active in my life and I knew that He forgave me for my sins, my wrong choices and rebellion, I still felt bound by them.

I wanted to be free. I also wanted more of God. I prayed - but I knew that I had only scratched the surface of His invitation to a relationship of communion. I knew it was more than the well intended little songs I had learned along the way. It was an invitation into His very life and a call to holiness. I read a flyer in the back of the parish Church I was attending about a retreat that was to occur in Southern Florida. The "Retreat Master" was a Benedictine Monk, (the "Abbot" or "Father" of a monastery). The theme was "intimacy with the Lord".

I registered and went the next weekend. The retreat grounds were beautiful and called to mind my childhood experiences at similar places- "holy places" set aside for encountering God. There I was, soaking in the sun, on these beautiful retreat grounds in sunny Southern Florida. I was eighteen years young. I had been intrigued by a flyer advertising the retreat at the back of the Catholic Church I began attending. The retreat promised to help all who attended experience a deeper intimacy with Jesus through developing an interior life.

By now, I had returned home to the Church of my childhood, the Catholic Church. I was back at Mass, the sacred liturgy, almost every day. I was reading the Sacred Scriptures (the Bible) and something from the Fathers of the Church or the lives of the Saints every day. I had fallen in love with the Church. Now I was a Catholic Christian, not only because I was raised that way, but also because I had doubted, questioned and prayed my way back home. Or rather, the Head of that Church had invited me and I had begun to hear His voice.

Oh, how I wanted to hear it even more deeply. I attended the retreat for that reason. That day, during the morning sessions, I was invited to focus on developing an interior life and deepen my relationship with Jesus Christ in prayer. Not only were the talks wonderful, but something much more profound was about to occur. After hearing an inspiring message on loving the Lord given by a holy Benedictine Abbott, an announcement was made that "Confession", the Sacrament of Penance (or Reconciliation), would be available all afternoon for all participating in the retreat.

Frankly, I was afraid. Oh, I had overcome my misinformed opposition to the notion that "I didn't need" such a thing. I found its roots in the Scriptures; its development in Church history and the tradition, and its confirmation in the contemporary proliferation of counselors, psychologists, and mental health practitioners substituting as "secular priests." However, I had not been to the Sacrament since I was in the sixth grade. When I first re-embraced my faith, I did not quite understand why it was necessary. However, through my study, I began to understand its extraordinary role as a resource in the ongoing call to holiness of life. I was at this retreat because I truly wanted to be holy and not just talk about it.

My reading had unearthed an extraordinary connection in the lives of the great heroes of the faith, the saints, between holiness of life and frequent recourse to this sacrament. The late and great G.K. Chesterton was once asked why he became a Catholic. He responded, "The forgiveness of sins." That day I would come to discover what he meant. In order to facilitate the crowd, the organizers of the retreat had set up chairs all over the lawn---one for the priest and one for the penitent. There were no confessionals --another form of the sacrament where the identity of the penitent is concealed- that would have at least been less frightening to me.

I felt not only embarrassed, but also ashamed and afraid. I thought back on the years I had been away from the Lord, all the wrong choices I had made, and the people I had hurt. Somehow, though I knew I had confessed my sins to the Lord, I still carried a sense of guilt and knew that my sin had wounded more people than myself. I recalled the Abbots' talk that morning on the text from the Letter of James "confess your sins to one another." But the fear was crippling. I remembered a few occasions as a child when the experience in the confessional had not been a good one. Times when I was shamed and left the experience feeling worse than before I entered the confessional. Now, there was no confessional, it was face to face!

I opened my Bible and my eyes fell upon the words of the Lord that followed the great healing of the woman with the hemorrhage and the sincere inquiry from the father whose daughter had died: "Do Not fear, only believe." (Mark 5:36) said the Lord. It was as though He was speaking those words directly to me. I was learning to trust that this Church was indeed the continuing presence of the Body of Christ on earth, making His redemptive love available through all the channels of grace.

This was a "Sacrament", an invitation to receive grace. The definition I had learned as a child filled my head, "an outward sign instituted by God to give grace." - "Who am I to reject the gift of God?" I thought to myself. So, I overcame both the shame and the fear, walked right up to the very young, handsome priest and told him I hadn't been to confession since the sixth grade. "Have a seat" he said, "the Lord has been waiting, he is eager to forgive and to heal."

Like priming a pump I began to speak and the words flowed forth in a cathartic experience, complete with tears- a torrent of repentance. This wonderful priest of Jesus Christ looked at me with the compassion of His Lord and simply listened. I expressed my remorse and I asked the Lord for forgiveness. Then I heard those words I had not heard since I was a child: "I absolve you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit". So certain. So firm. So personal. So liberating!

I experienced the weight of the world lifted from my drooping shoulders. I was young again. "Father," I said, "thank you." "Thank Jesus" he responded," He loves you more than you know." Then I paused and asked, ". Isn't there a penance?" "Oh Yes" he said, "Spend a good amount of time in prayer and then Go, and love the Lord". I left that encounter with the servant of the Lord, the priest of jesus the High Priest, a free man.

Over all these years I have tried to be faithful to his admonition, "Go, and love the Lord." However, I have often failed, fallen short, or to use the literal translation of the word sin, missed the mark. Loving the Lord is a constant invitation to conversion. It invites all those who are serious about the way of discipleship, to a life of crucified love. From that day forward however, I know I have a place to go when the weight of my sin, my wrong choices and acts burden me- the Sacrament where I can continually be made new, forgiven, and healed. The place of meeting mercy- where I can be born again and again and again and again.

I am older now- my hair has grayed. I am losing the spring in my step. But, I am wiser. I know my own weakness and frailty. It stares at me through the lines on my face every morning when I shave. It manifests itself in the face of my grandchildren, children and beloved wife when I fail to love as Jesus does. It's funny, unlike youth when you know everything; I have reached the point in life where I realize I know very little.

One thing I do know is that I am still trying to "keep my way pure"- and there is a balm for the inevitable wounds of life. I am a joyful penitent now because I know that there is a Sacrament, a place where I can always encounter the never-ending mercy of Jesus Christ, in a real and incarnational way. Through His priest I can always here those wonderful words "I absolve you." and I can again commit myself to "go and love the Lord."

I may no longer be a teenager, but I am still a pilgrim, and what a wonderful journey this life of faith truly has become. It has been made richer since that wonderful day when, as a teenage pilgrim, I rediscovered the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Penance) and my journey to freedom continued. The words of Cardinal Dolan are absolutely true. The Sacrament of Penance is the Sacrament of my New Evangelization and it can become yours as well.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Cardinal Dolan, New Evangelization, Synod, Penance, conversion, holiness, freedom, born again, Deacon Keith Fournier

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1 - 6 of 6 Comments

Andrew M. Greenwell
6 months ago
What a lovely story. I appreciate you sharing it with your readers (which includes me!).
Adam Hordos
6 months ago
I am coming up to age 65 and have yet to have somebody explain to me what penance is nowhere in your message brother Deacon do you give examples. All those years taught in catechism nothing. I think this new evangelization is a smoke screen for all the underlying problems with our Universal Church. "Transparency" should be the new norm. when you have so much secrecy in a Church which I am a baptized member, what are all the innuendos, supposition,suspicion, about. When Jesus instituted our Church he did it openly. He said himself if there was anything else I would have told you. The next conclave for choosing a new pope must be done in public we need to know who these Cardinals are.

When our beloved Clergy tell us we must except Vatican 11, lets go back open the books and let us see what transpired. Take a look what has transpired. Take a look and stop deceiving ourselves that everything is okay. I will follow my parish priest and do as he says but with a very heavy heart. What is scarey is that when I look throughout the world I do not see any, mother Theressa, Padre Pio's.etc.

Come lord Jesus come and renew the face off the earth come quickly.

Holy Micheal the archangel..........
Terri Kimmel
6 months ago
What beautiful and inspiring story. I have said before, and it's worth saying again: The nicest thing anybody has ever said to me is, "I absolve you from yours sins."
Dr. Ray
6 months ago
Does this apply to the Cardinal and the others bishops who have never spokenout truthfully about artificial contraception?
SaraPalen
6 months ago
thanks for the comments, Deacon.
It had been about ten years before I had made a good confession. But as Fulton Sheen had once said, I felt like the woman at the well with Jesus. Being a bow hunter, I can understand the meaning of this "missing the mark", sin. It is much more more painful. I once shot at a deer who may have flinched as she was looking right at me when I took my shot, My husband ended up shooting her a month later during rifle season, as the kids were then calling her Holy Mama). And what you said, and what St. Augustine said is on the mark. It is like you want to breath in His presence, take it all in. But it is so hot we cannot do it all at once, and we sin and miss our mark. What happens during pennance is more beautiful than the brush in the hand of any of the most famous of earthly painters or sculpturs.
Anthony Coffey
6 months ago
REPENTANCE

It would seem that some have lost the sense of sin and the need to repent.

Repentance is a hatred of sin because it is an offence to God.
The motive for repenting is love of God. To repent of evil doing, because of mental suffering, or social loss, is not sincere repentance, because it is selfish, e.g. Judas Iscariot repented to the High Priests, by returning the thirty pieces of silver he had been paid for betraying Christ. He was not motivated by his love for God, but by his self disgust, for having betrayed Christ.

Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden of paradise, because sin cannot coexist with God. While God is infinitely merciful, God has no tolerance of sin. To enter Heaven we must be sincere in repentance. It is noteworthy that Adam sinned [disobedience] because he feared God would take Eve, and leave him alone in the garden, therefore he valued companionship more than his love for God…impossible for Adam to repent at this time. For the Soul to be truly repentant it must be sincere, with a resolve not to sin again. Self - denial, i.e. Penance, shows sincerity to God. The effect of sincere repentance is peace and calm of conscience with intense consolation of soul.

The soul is reconciled to God by true repentance, which means confessing all mortal sins done by the penitent; repentance is made void, by refusing to admit a particular sin.
Some people experience great distress and anxiety wanting to confess their sins to a person strong enough to listen and understand, and not to despise them for the sins they have done. We are not ashamed to sin, but often we are ashamed to confess. It is vital for salvation that we obtain forgiveness of sins through the Sacrament of reconciliation.
Repentance is always necessary to be reconciled to God.

When Adam and Eve sinned they tried to hide from the Creator, because of self disgust guilt and remorse but they were unrepentant, they blamed. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the devil in the form of a serpent. The reason for their denial was fear, fear of the consequences of having offended God. Their denial meant loss of Paradise because whenever in the future, if they sinned, they would deny.

This harsh chastisement was necessary to prove positive repentance in the future, in the hope, on reflection they would admit to having sinned. So began a history of relationship between God and Man culminating in the gift of the Church to the followers of Christ, this wonderful gift of Christ included the power to forgive sins.
It is the natural state of Man to sin, that is why we need to define Human Rights, if it is not a sin, then it is a Right. However the Sacrament of Reconciliation helps us to overcome our nature and achieve holiness of not sinning.

Luke 15:7.

“There is more joy in Heaven when one sinner repents, than ninety nine just people doing good deeds, who have no need of repentance”
John 20. 22-23.

When he had said this , He breathed on them; and He said to them, receive the
Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain,
they are retained.

John 8 : 3-11.

And the Scribes and the Pharisees bring a Woman to him who had been caught in the act of Adultery and they placed her in the middle of the gathering.

And they said to him: Master, this woman has just been caught in the act of adultery, and according to the law she should be stoned to death for this sin, but what do you say ?

They said this to trap him so that they could accuse him of disagreeing with Moses.

Christ leaned down and wrote with his finger on the ground saying:
Let him among you that is without sin throw the first stone.
Then beginning with the eldest they all walked away.

He then lifted himself up and said to her, where are they that accused thee ? has no man condemned thee ? She replied no man, neither will I, but go now and sin no more.

Matthew 5. 27-28.

You have heard that it was commanded to them of old: Thou will not commit the sin of adultery, but I say to you that who ever looks at a woman to lust after her, has already done the sin of adultery in his heart

SAINT JOHN 6 : 47.

Amen, amen I say to you: those that believe in me, have everlasting Life.

I am the bread of life.

Your fathers did eat manna in the desert but are now dead.

This is the bread that has come down from Heaven, whoever eats, will not die.

I am the living bread who has come down from Heaven.

Whoever eats this bread, will live forever; and the bread that I will give, is my Flesh, for the life of the world.

The Jews argued among themselves saying: how can this man give us his flesh to eat ?

Then Christ spoke to them again: Amen, I am telling you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink his Blood, you will not have Life in you.

Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood, has everlasting Life: and I will raise them up on their last day.

Because my Flesh is food indeed; and my Blood is drink indeed.

Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood lives in me, and I in them.

As the living Father has sent me, and I live in the Father, therefore, they that eat me, will also live in the Father.

This is the bread, which came down from Heaven. Not as your fathers ate the manna in the desert and are now dead, but whoever eats this bread will live forever.

QUESTIONS

[1] What is everlasting life ? Does life live forever ?

[2] “The bread of life” what is bread ? does bread have life ? what is life ?

[3] Those that ate the manna in the desert are dead, what does Christ mean ?

[4] To explain who he is Christ states: “Living bread from Heaven” [explain]

[5] “Whoever eats this bread will live forever” [explain]

[6] “And the bread that I will give” [When, explain]

[7] Why did the Jews not believe Christ ?

[8] “And the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world” [explain]

[9] “Amen I am telling you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his Blood, you will not have life in you” does this mean we are dead without the sacrament ?

[10] “And I will raise them up on their last day” what happens to others ? [explain]

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