God did not leave us orphans…However, God helps those who help themself…So I echo the words of St Paul…”I implore you”…..Be reconciled to God

Today at Holy Mass in the second reading we hear from St Paul, who is encouraging his friends with these words…”We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”….Jesus walked this earth to reconcile the world to God the Father….He established a structure in his three short years of ministry and created a Church….It is through this Church, which is composed of imperfect people that this process of reconciliation is carried out and will continue forward until the second coming of Christ….Notice the words of St Paul….”We implore you!”……The only thing that stands in the way of you and I reconciling with God is our pride….And the devil knows this…The devil is not only real but cunning and the father of lies…We must learn to identify the voice of the devil and “step past it”….One Sacramental Confession has the power to not only reconcile us to the Father but begin the healing process from the wounds resulted from decades of sin…Just one Sacramental Confession!….As St Paul told his friends today…I tell you……”We implore you!”

“Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame. When the poor one called out, the LORD heard, and from all his distress he saved him.”

Fr Don Haggerty is a priest who serves at St Patrick’s Cathedral….I know Fr Don from the Missionaries of Charity in New York City…I knew his Mom and we go back many years, needless to say he knows me well….For a time on my lunch hour I would go to confession at St Patrick's Cathedral and Fr Don would hear my confession regularly…Now Fr Don knows me as a “good Catholic” who spent his free time serving the poor…But that is simply what people “see”…I am a sinner in need of God’s mercy, like everyone else!…To be very honest - By going to confession with the same priest, who is your friend for many years and really knows you is humbling - And that is a good thing!…..Fr Don knows me, warts and all…This is a good thing because it “brings me down to earth” and we all need this in life….Humility is the foundational virtue for all the virtues….Without the virtue of humility, we are incapable of knowing God and doing his will….The devil knows this…And because the devil is brilliant and knows how to attack us effectively, he uses our pride to “get in the way” of us growing in virtue and holiness…This is why we must learn to “hear the voice of God” and “see past” the tricks of the devil…..Some Christians and even many Catholics do not feel like going to a Sacramental Confession is necessary….I tell you now as a friend….It is necessary!…This is why God gave us a Church - Jesus created the Church - He did not write a book - The Bible came 400 years after the Church was established and the Catholic Church put the Bible together.....…Bottle Line - We are all in need of God’s mercy…And once again to borrow the words of St Paul….”I implore you”…..Be reconciled to God

“And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation”

Today St Paul reminds us all of our need to always be reconciled to God….There is great power, which comes from being in the state of grace…..God’s mercy towards us is infinite but we have to ask for it, its not an “automatic”….Do not get fooled in self-rationalizations and false concepts of mercy…”God understands”….”It does not matter” - “I am a “good guy”…..”I do not have to tell a priest my sins - I tell them to God”….These are the things we tell ourself….And these are the lies the devil “plays on”, keeping us away from peace and grace….Let nothing or no one hold you back from the freedom which God only offers!…Most especially, do not allow the devil to “play you”…..No one is perfect, Jesus understand this - However, this is why he created a Church…This is why he gave us the Sacraments…And the Sacraments are the “medicine for the world”….God did not leave us orphans…However, God helps those who help themself…So I echo the words of St Paul…”I implore you”…..Be reconciled to God