Saints – Some we know the name of – St Peter and Paul, Dominic, Thomas, John, Cecelia, Theresa, Lucy, Scholastica, Clare. Others we do not – there heroic mother raising her children and passing on the faith in a secular world. The Father working to always came to mass and pray with his family, even while working two jobs to put food on the table. The Carthusian monk in an unmarked grave after a life spent in silence and prayer. The lady who was always at the back of the Church, praying her rosary constantly, all 20 decades every day –supporting the parish, the church, the priests, in her prayers.
Many different saints, and they are all very different – Yet they do seem to have one thing in common - they always seemed to be in line for the confessional. – In most parishes, the confessional line has those that are the pillars of the parish, those at every prayer event, the ones people think of as holy - … - not the sinners everyone knows about. Saint Pope John Paul II always went to confession at least once per week. Mother Theresa did the same.
We tend to think of the confessional as the place for sinners – and, it is. - In the sacrament of penance that we confess our sins and receive absolution. – However, G.K. Chesterton once remarked, ‘There are saints indeed in my religion: but a saint only means a man who knows he is a sinner.’
What sins did the saints have to confess? they are not evil, they are holy – look at the ten commandments – No murder. They did not build a golden calf and worship the statue. They did not commit adultery. What are they at the confessional for?
“A saint only means a man who knows he is a sinner.’ – it is the saint who can see the smallest of sins. Not just murder, but the small tiny hatred of someone. No just adultery, but the small impure thought. Not just worshiping an idol, but every moment of putting something ahead of God. It is only because they were holy that they could see these small sins. it was the fact that they could see the smallest of sins become of their closeness to God. –
The saint does not only wish to avoid what is evil, but seek what is good – not just avoid breaking the 10 commandments – but to follow the beatitudes. It is this that draws them to the confessional – seeking to draw close to God and asking forgiveness for the small mistakes, mistakes that it is hard for some to even see.
And so, for us –We may not be that bad – we may not of murdered anyone. we did not build a golden calf and worship the statue. We may not of committed adultery. – But did we ever come up short of the high vision seen in the beatitudes? Yes. and we
The saints sought forgiveness for the smallest of sins. For “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robesand made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”
And now they are in heaven – “from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.”
There before for the throne in the presence of God crying out “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne,and from the Lamb.””
We too can regularly go to confession, seeing the smaller and smaller sins, slowly growing closer to God, that we may one day be with the saint’s heaven. Exclaiming “Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
All Holy Men and Women, Saints of God – Pray for Us!