CONFESSION
Got another e-mail from my friend that's at Medjugorje. Apparently Mary appears as an apparition to one man over and over and over, and one can hang with him and he'll tell you what she says.
I buy it.
Guess she told the group the other night to go to confession, that it was so important.
That's where Mary and I might have to part ways.
I have always struggled with the concept that we need ANOTHER to forgive us, or to hear us, or to "take" our confession, or to absolve us, or, or, or. I get all fired up just thinking about it.
But then I went for a walk and thought about blogging, memoir writing, and BFFs. Aren't those just greater examples of "making our confessions?" And don't we feel better for having done it?
Mary's right again.
* Photo from flickr.com
13 comments:
Mary gets it.
That's what I call "bearing witness." We need someone to hear us and stand in unconditional love and acceptance. To hear us. Period. Do we need them to forgive us? No. It's not about them. However, when someone stands with me in unconditional love and acceptance, it is easier for me to forgive myself.
Confession in the Church puts the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABle...if you know what I mean.
Love Mary. Love the Shekinah.
So true. I know when I have to verbalize the uglies for others' ears, I'm not quite as likely to repeat the offense anytime soon.
Great connection here. I think the power of confession is having another human hear your story and validate you. Often, left to their own devices, those unsaid things can wreak havoc inside.
Confession comes in many forms and ways and a wooden box in a church is not one of them (in my books)
signed
'a wayward Catholic'
xox
Confession requires humility, we must own up to our mistakes and faults. It also gives us the opportunity to receive counseling and assurance that we are on the correct spiritual path.
I read once where a non catholic psychologist while visiting a church in Europe witnessed a woman who was evidently very disturbed enter a confessional. Toward the end of his church tour he witnessed the same woman emerge and walk toward the altar to pray. He was shocked at the change in her. She was no longer writhing with some inner anguish but looked very serene and peaceful. He wrote that if he had been able to affect that amount of change in a patient in so short a time, he would consider himself a very good doctor.
And so are you. Very true.
:)
You know how much I struggle with all of it, but the confession thing? I wonder if it somehow helps relieve the guilt. "I forgive you." What a powerful sentence. Maybe... Maybe she knows how powerful it feels to be forgiven.
I've redefined a lot of things like that. Seems it's all in how we look at it. Love.
As a long standing member of Al-Anon I know the the power of healing doesn't start until the talking begins. Sometime you have to listen to yourself to know where to start the process.
Confession is good for the soul not because someone else then forgives us, but because we can begin to forgive ourselves.
The things we feel are too terrible to say out load fester. Confession brings in light and air.
Remember your "write every stone" piece. Confession is kinda like that!
And the grace that comes cleanses like rain washing over us.
Mary does get it!
i never thought of it that way - you're so cool :)!!
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