1: Confession. I know. I know how you feel.
I know what you
think. I know what people say. I know all the emotions and the resistance and all of
that that goes along with just the word "confession". And all the excuses.
I've got some favorites,
of course, that I like to hear from time to time. You know, people say to me: "Well, I
can't go to confession." I say: "Why not?" They say: "Because my priest, he know me."
Funny, I thought that was the idea. "But what's the problem with that?", I say. "Well, if
he knew my sins, he would never talk to me ever again." Don't kid yourself.
You're not
that original. It's not like you're going to tell him anything he hasn't heard. I say
to him "Well can't you go behind the screen?" They say "Yeah, but even if I go behind the
screen, he knows my voice." Try confessing in an Australian accent, see how that works
for you. Then we've got a culture out there that says
you don't need to go to the confession.
Our culture tells us you don't need to go to confession,
because our culture tells us sin and evil don't really exist. Our culture tells us sin
and evil were invented by the church, to control people, to manipulate people. If you believe
that, seriously, if you believe that sin and evil don't exist, please go home tonight and
watch the 10 o'clock news. Having watched the 10 o'clock news tonight, if you still
believe that sin and evil don't exist, seek professional help! Because sin and evil, they're
really in our lives, they're really in the world.
And that would be lovely, wouldn't
it? It would be lovely if we could just to gather up all the evil people and drop them
on an island. I mean just gather up all the evil people, put them together on one island
and just let them have at it, just let them self-destruct. The only problem with that
is that doesn't work. You know they tried that once.
Yeah, down in Australia. And the
reason we can't just gather all the evil people and drop them on an island and let them self-destruct
is because there is a line that separates good from evil. There is a line, but it isn't
out there somewhere. The line that separates good from evil is cast down the center of
my heart and the center of your heart.
The battle is not out there. The battle is in
here. That's why we just can't gather up all the evil people and drop them on an island.
Here in America, we've got 4 million people incarcerated in America. 4 Million people!
The battle is not out there.
The battle is in here.
We've got another group of people who say "Well, I don't need to go to confession to
a priest." I've got lots of friends like that, Catholics and non-Catholics. They say "I confess
to God, but I don't need to go to confession to a priest." I say: "Why not?" They say "Because
me and Jesus, we're mates, we're buddies, we're tight, we're friends, we're close. I
just tell Jesus my stuff and he forgives me." It's a nice idea, isn't it? I mean, really,
when you think about it, it's a lovely idea. The only problem with that one is it doesn't
work.
You know why? Because you and me, we're human beings. And as human beings, we have
a phenomenal ability to deceive ourselves. Yes or yes? Oh, yeah. We can convince ourselves
of all sorts of crazy stuff.
That why this me and Jesus thing doesn't work. That's why
Jesus didn't set it up that way to begin with. You see, when Jesus instituted the sacrament
of confession, He wasn't doing it to give you one more thing to do. He wasn't doing
it to strike a blow at your self-esteem or to make you feel guilty or bad about yourself
or shameful or any of those things.
When Jesus instituted the sacrament of confession, he
was acting as the divine psychologist. Why? Because we all have a great need to confess.
Every single one of us. Because every single one of us, every single day, we do things
that stop us from becoming the best version of ourselves. Yes or yes? Every single day,
we do these things that stop us from becoming the best, and they we carry all that stuff
around with us everywhere we go.
We take it to work, we take it home in the family, we
take it to our marriage, we pass it to our kids, we carry all that stuff around with
us. And if you think you can carry all that stuff around with you and it's not affecting
you - physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually and psychologically - if you think
you can carry all that stuff around with you and it's not affecting you, then you're either
the king or the queen of the la la land. Because it's real. We do do things that affect us
deeply - physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually and psychologically.
I hope you enjoyed the show, thanks for joining us! Don't forget to visit dynamiccatholic.Com
and order a free copy of this program and a free copy of Rediscovering Catholicism and
become a member of the dynamiccatholic.Com community.
God bless you!.
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