Fifth Sunday of Lent

March 9, 2008

The water main on Vilas Avenue broke yesterday leaving the whole neighborhood around Sacred Heart without water. So, before we begin, I think we should separate all the Vilas Avenue people, including me, from the rest. Just as you separate the sheep from the goats, those who had a shower and those who didn’t, it is only fair.

This is the week. It is the last opportunities for confession. The week after this is Holy Week and the presumption will be that you have, by then, gone to Confession during Lent. Confession is a mixed up matter for many Catholics. Some Catholics have not gone to Confession since their first Confession. Others have simply slipped away or never connected with the Church and with God on this fundamental issue.

The more we need Confession, the less we seem to want it. We all want to think well of ourselves and we want others to see us in the best light. But if we are ever to move off center and to grow in our relationships with one another and with God, we need to acknowledge our inadequacies and work to change them.

The Gospel story today is raising Lazarus from the dead. Our first step is to be raised from the dread, the dread of Confession.

Self-deception is a nasty thing in itself, but it’s only the beginning of our troubles. We deceive ourselves to think that we don’t need Confession, that it isn’t important, and that I am very fine without it, thank you.

When we begin to deny our sins, or we say that we can take care of it ourselves, we begin to live a lie. If we say it’s just between God and me, we kid ourselves. We can’t quite get our story straight. We minimize our shortcomings and our contradictions and we push them under the rug. When we don’t face our sinfulness squarely and honestly, even in small matters, it can’t help but affect our lives, our health, and our relationships.

Confession is a resurrection experience. It profoundly affects how we experience life. Confession affects the way we relate to our spouse, our children, and the way we relate to God.

Confession is where the rubber hits the road. When we struggle to put into words what ails us and then say these words in the solemn sacramental setting before God, we take the step from wishful thinking to honest, physical action.

Confession is getting physical with our sins. As long as we leave our sins in the realm of thoughts and feelings, we float around in a spiritual daydream.

Let us take an easy example. We’re always talking about diets and the problem we have with obesity in our country. Dieting is not fast enough. It’s not what you are eating. It’s what’s eating you. Fasting is much more than a diet. Diets are for the body. Fasting is for the body and the soul. We need to put to death the desires that captivate our mind. What is it that arrests our attention and locks it up? Is it food, sex, money, material possessions, power, a house, a car, or gambling that is our false God?

We live in anxious times. Many people feel locked out of the family home, the home of their Father God. For those who want to get back to the hearth and table of God, confession is the key. Confession is the open doorway to the only home that will ever satisfy us.

There is no real alternative to repentance and confession. If we don’t repent, we’ll resent; and if we don’t confess, we’ll project our guilt onto others. We’ll blame our victims. We’ll blame our parents. We’ll blame the government, the boss, the board of directors, the environment, the dog. All of this is a distraction. If we don’t confess our sins, we, like Adam, will end by blaming God.

Confession is liberating. Confession is a time and place where it is all spelled out. Confession is an honest and specific assessment spoken in the context of sacramental prayer. Let us conclude our reflection by praying psalm 51:

Have mercy on me, God, in your goodness; in your abundant compassion blot out my offense.

Wash away all my guilt; from my sin cleanse me.

For I know my offense; my sin is always before me.

Against you alone have I sinned; I have done such evil in your sight That you are just in your sentence, blameless when you condemn.

 True, I was born guilty, a sinner, even as my mother conceived me.

Still, you insist on sincerity of heart; in my inmost being teach me wisdom.

 Cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure; wash me, make me whiter than snow.

Let me hear sounds of joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

Turn away your face from my sins; blot out all my guilt.

A clean heart create for me, God; renew in me a steadfast spirit.

Do not drive me from your presence, nor take from me your holy spirit.

Restore my joy in your salvation; sustain in me a willing spirit.

I will teach the wicked your ways, that sinners may return to you.

Rescue me from death, God, my saving God, that my tongue may praise your healing power.

Lord, open my lips; my mouth will proclaim your praise.

 For you do not desire sacrifice; a burnt offering you would not accept.

My sacrifice, God, is a broken spirit; God, do not spurn a broken, humbled heart.

 Make Zion prosper in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Then you will be pleased with proper sacrifice, burnt offerings and holocausts; then bullocks will be offered on your altar.