Divine Mercy Sunday Reflection- Merciful Confession

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 4-11-2021 | Aux. Bishop of L.A.

[MurphsLaw]

Sunday of Divine Mercy

John 20:19–31

Friends, our magnificent Gospel today declares that there is no greater manifestation of the divine mercy than the forgiveness of sins. We are in the upper room with the disciples, those who had denied, betrayed, and abandoned their master. Jesus came and stood in their midst. When they saw him, their fear must have intensified; undoubtedly, he was back for revenge.

Instead, he spoke the simple word "Shalom," peace. He showed them his hands and his side, lest they forget what the world (and they) did to him, but he does not follow up with blame or retribution—only a word of mercy.

And then the extraordinary commission: "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." Jesus’ mercy is communicated to his disciples, who in turn are sent to communicate it to the world.

This is the foundation for the sacrament of Penance, which has existed in the Church from that moment to the present day as the privileged vehicle of the divine mercy.

[Bigg Red]

Thank you for posting this.

[MAAG]

One of the complaints the Jewish leadership lodged against Jesus is that by forgiving the sins of others He was claiming to be God. Mark 2:1-12 shows how by healing a paralytic Jesus demonstrated His authority to forgive sins. He also said that His miraculous work was done through the power of the Holy Spirit and that we would have the same kind of power (John 14:12).

In John 20:22-23 Jesus first invested the disciples with the power of the Holy Spirit, and immediately conveyed the ability to either forgive sins or not. This simply means that they were being empowered to bring people into the Church. Any time we “bring someone to the Lord” by saying the sinner’s prayer with them, we are exercising the same power.

Psalm 51 New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995)
A Contrite Sinner’s Prayer for Pardon.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

51 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.

4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.

This is not an issue of confessing to a priest and doing whatever penance He determines to receive forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 says we can confess our sins directly to the Lord and are immediately forgiven without prejudice. No third party is necessary to accomplish this.

[MurphsLaw]

Thank You for your comment.
Confessing our sins is a very humbling, but necessary experience.
And there is plenty of documented evidence on how the first Christian's viewed the importance of Confessing...

The Didache
“Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure” (Didache 4:14, 14:1 [A.D. 70]).

The Letter of Barnabas

“You shall confess your sins. You shall not go to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of light” (Letter of Barnabas 19 [A.D. 74]).

Ignatius of Antioch

“For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ” (Letter to the Philadelphians 3 [A.D. 110]).
“For where there is division and wrath, God does not dwell. To all them that repent, the Lord grants forgiveness, if they turn in penitence to the unity of God, and to communion with the bishop” (ibid., 8).

Irenaeus

“[The Gnostic disciples of Marcus] have deluded many women. . . . Some of these women make a public confession, but others are ashamed to do this, and in silence, as if withdrawing from themselves the hope of the life of God, they either apostatize entirely or hesitate between the two courses” (Against Heresies 1:22 [A.D. 189]).

Tertullian

“[Regarding confession, some] flee from this work as being an exposure of themselves, or they put it off from day to day. I presume they are more mindful of modesty than of salvation, like those who contract a disease in the more shameful parts of the body and shun making themselves known to the physicians; and thus they perish along with their own bashfulness” (Repentance 10:1 [A.D. 203]).

Hippolytus

“[The bishop conducting the ordination of the new bishop shall pray:] God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Pour forth now that power which comes from you, from your royal Spirit, which you gave to your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and which he bestowed upon his holy apostles . . . and grant this your servant, whom you have chosen for the episcopate, [the power] to feed your holy flock and to serve without blame as your high priest, ministering night and day to propitiate unceasingly before your face and to offer to you the gifts of your holy Church, and by the Spirit of the high priesthood to have the authority to forgive sins, in accord with your command” (Apostolic Tradition 3 [A.D. 215]).

Origen

“[A final method of forgiveness], albeit hard and laborious [is] the remission of sins through penance, when the sinner . . . does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord and from seeking medicine, after the manner of him who say, ‘I said, “To the Lord I will accuse myself of my iniquity”’” (Homilies on Leviticus 2:4 [A.D. 248]).

[MAAG]

Psalm 19 is a beautiful prayer that I start with daily.

[ebb tide]

I see you are still refusing to identify the author of this article as Bishop Robert, "Hell is Empty", Barron.

There are five auxiliary bishops of Los Angeles, Murph.

Why do you continue to not reveal Barron's identity? Are you ashamed to do so?

Lucifer can quote scripture far superior than Bobby Barron. And Lucifer is delighted with people who believe there are no souls in Hell.

[MurphsLaw]

Sometimes- when what is being said is profound enough.... its more important to focus on whats being said....rather than who's saying it.

Was there something in today's Gospel Reflection words that I posted- that you take issue with?

[ebb tide]

I take issue with the catholicity of the author, of whom you repeatedly fail to reveal his identity, on purpose.

P.S. I don't read anything Bobby Barron writes. Why don't you quote Martin Luther also? Even back then, a blind heretic could find an acorn of truth every now and then.

Why pump up the credibility of heretics?

[MurphsLaw]

Why pump up the credibility of heretics?

How do you know if I am "pump you up" if you say don't read it in the first place?

And why don't you get Divine Mercy Sunday anyway?

[ebb tide]

And why don't you get Divine Mercy Sunday anyway?

Glad you asked.

Why Did the Church Ban the Divine Mercy Devotion From 1959 to 1978?

[ebb tide]

And why don't you get Divine Mercy Sunday anyway?

Notes on the Faustina Phenomenon

Divine Mercy image and theology? Where are His wounds?

[MurphsLaw]

And why don't you get Divine Mercy Sunday anyway?

Glad you asked.

LoL.. IT WAS a rhetorical question !! I already knew your answer...

However.. my spidey sense tells me perhaps you might have some Italian heritage going there...
Is there some latent angst with our Polish brethren?? I don't think the "Romans" ever got over the Vandal "sacking" way back when ...and were certainly not happy 40 some years ago with JP2 muscling away the Papal birth rite.. Myself- as a child back in the day- did not enjoy going to late Sunday Mass at St. Wenceslaus which was celebrated in -- Polish !! (Thanks Vat2 Jokesters !)

In any event- you'll have to admit... it is intriguing though that Polish Catholics stand stronger Today, where most of their European neighbors are in rapid Faith decline.. including Italy...
It is interesting... perhaps Divinely inspiring in a way....

[ebb tide]

However.. my spidey sense tells me perhaps you might have some Italian heritage going there...

Your spidey sense is way off. But I find it interesting you compare yourself to an arthropod.

[ebb tide]

JP2 muscling away the Papal birth rite..

What's the Papal birth rite?

Are you sure you're a Catholic?

[ebb tide]

Sometimes- when what is being said is profound enough.... its more important to focus on whats being said....rather than who's saying it.

Your attempts at deception on the author's identity is no different that quoting Lucifer's "non serviam" and identifying him instead as the Angel of Light.

[MurphsLaw]

really?.... the Italians had the lock on the Papacy... you pretending that’s some kind of obscure fact?
C’mon man...

[MurphsLaw]

hmmm.... I'm usually not...."way off"...
strange....

[ebb tide]

It’s no fact. There have been many non-Italian popes in Church history, beginning with Peter.

[MurphsLaw]

217 Italian to 49....thats a whoopin ...
AND
JP2 broke the 450 consecutive year "lock" on the Chair...
You dont think that was a let down?..after 4-1/2 CENTURIES???

The sarcastic quip of "Is the Pope Italian?" had to be changed to
"Is the Pope Catholic?".....

and now may have to be changed once again.. lol....

[ebb tide]

It was never a “birth rite” as you claimed.