The mystery of forgiveness

In the post below I linked to this story about the found journal of one of the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre, her expressed thoughts on forgiveness, and how those thoughts were impacting her family. It is a powerful, moving and thought-provoking story that I hope you will read.

But there is another bit of writing on the subject of forgiveness – that comes from the other end, which is confession, or acknowledgment of our faults and missteps – and it is from Deacon Greg who is coming on like gangbusters, writing one profound and thoughtful post after another and prompting me to sins of “keen-ness envy.”

The good sumbitch even writes about baseball! I begin to hate him very much.

This one is perhaps his best, yet…and he’s just getting started:

Not long ago, I read the story of a woman whose life would have been great material for the National Enquirer. Or, at least, Page Six.

She had led a colorful life when she was young. She’d had several lovers – some of them famous – and lived with a couple of other men for long periods of time without getting married. She had a child with one of them, and an abortion with another. This was before abortion was as common as it is today – it was not only illegal, but dangerous. She was more than eager to risk her own life…to take the life of an unborn child. I don’t know if she was an atheist, but it’s safe to assume that God was not a priority in her life.

That woman was Dorothy Day.
[…]
In bare outlines, her life is not as unusual as it may sound. Some of our greatest saints have been notorious sinners – from St. Augustine to Francis of Assisi. And it’s no secret the church is absolutely stuffed with sinners. You’re listening to one right now. And you’re sitting next to one. And if you look in the mirror, you’ll see one.

We are all flawed. A monk once described life in the monastery this way: “You get up, you walk, you fall, you get up, you walk, you fall. And you do that every day.” That is the Christian life in a nutshell, isn’t it? We fumble along, desperately trying to find our way through the dark corridors of human existence, making mistakes, falling, getting up, and groping for the light.
[…]
I grew up in a family of alcoholics, and for a few years attended regular meetings of Al-Anon, for family and friends of alcoholics. And I got to know the famous “12 Steps” that are part of recovery from addiction. Step number five is: “I admitted to God, to myself and to another human being the exact nature of my wrongs.”

Those of us who are Catholic know that step as something else. Confession. Or, what the church now likes to call it, Reconciliation. We are blessed to celebrate that sacrament six days a week at our parish – and it is a sacrament to celebrate. Because in opening our hearts to God, in admitting to Him, and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs, we are given the grace to begin again.

It is something all of us need – now, more than ever.

Just last Thursday, the online edition of the magazine FIRST THINGS had an essay called “Desperately Seeking Absolution,” listing secular web sites where people could log on and type in their sins. The sites have names like ‘I’veScrewedUp.com” and “DailyConfession.com.” I can’t say if these places help people. I imagine that maybe it’s good to get things off your chest.

But it’s no substitute for standing solitary before God, telling Him what you’ve done, and asking for His forgiveness.

Computers offer wonderful conveniences. I make my living working in front of one. But I have yet to find one that offers sanctifying grace.

But Confession does. It offers us a second chance. And a third. And a millionth. It’s the way we turn the messy page of our sins and face a clean blank piece of paper – a fresh beginning.

I needed to read that, today. Do yourself a favor and read the whole thing.