Day 134: The Forgiveness of Sins (976-987)

• It’s Day 134!!

• ARTICLE 10: I BELIEVE IN THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS

• ONE BAPTISM FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS

• THIS IS REMARKABLE!!

• Paragraph 976 says, “The Apostle’s Creed associates faith in the forgiveness of sins not only with faith in the Holy Spirit, but also with faith in the Church and in the communion of saints.”

• Why?

• Because it was when Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to the Apostles that Jesus gave them HIS OWN DIVINE POWER TO FORGIVE SINS

• John 20:22-23, “[Jesus] breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

• That is how the forgiveness of Jesus Christ comes to us

• What He merited by His life, Death, and Resurrection

• In giving us the Holy Spirit 

• That FORGIVENESS

• That MERCY

• It comes to us through the ministry of the Church

• WHICH IS INCREDIBLE!!

• Paragraph 977 says, “Our Lord tied the forgiveness of sins to faith and Baptism: ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved.”

• So Baptism is the FIRST AND CHIEF Sacrament in the FORGIVENESS OF SINS

• THAT IS SO IMPORTANT!!

• BUT…

• After we get Baptized, we are TRULY TRANSFORMED

• We are made into God’s sons and daughters

• We are truly forgiven of Original Sin and any actual sin

• AND YET…

• We STILL experience the effects of The Fall

• Because of that we have this inclination towards evil aka CONCUPISCENCE

• We DO choose sin

• So rather than leave us ON OUR OWN…

• Jesus has given us the grace of forgiveness through the SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION

• IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL!!

• IT IS SO POWERFUL!!

• IT IS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!

• THE POWER OF THE KEYS

• Paragraph 981 says, “After his Resurrection, Christ sent his apostles ‘so that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations.’”

• Paragraph 982 says, “There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive.”

• THAT IS SO ENCOURAGING!!

• Jesus Christ giving the Apostles and their successors HIS OWN DIVINE ABILITY AND POWER TO FORGIVE SINS means that none of us SHOULD EVER EVER DESPAIR

• Although at the same time many of us are TEMPTED TO DESPAIR

• So do you see our brokenness and our broken hearts?

• SO LET’S PRAY!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise. We thank you. We give you glory. We lift up your name. We ask that you please send your Holy Spirit, a Spirit of confidence and of courage especially in our moments of discouragement. Lord God, send the Grace of the conviction that you love us in the midst of our weakness, especially when we are experiencing despair, temptation towards discouragement. Send the Holy Spirit, the fire of your Love, to never give up, to never surrender, but to always lean into your mercy, to always lean into your Grace. We thank you for mercy. We thank you for your forgiveness. And today, Lord God, for all the areas that we need mercy, for all the ways that we need your forgiveness today, please meet us in our need. Please grant us your mercy. Grant us your Salvation. Grant us your forgiveness. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• MY GOODNESS!!

• PRAISE GOD!!

• STOP AND GIVE THE LORD PRAISE!!

• ARTICLE 10: I BELIEVE IN THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS

• SO POWERFUL!!

• Where does it come from?

• Jesus Christ, obviously

• By the merits of His Life, Death, and Resurrection we can have our sins forgiven

• What Jesus made POSSIBLE is made ACTUAL in the Holy Spirit

• It is communicated to us by the vehicle of THE SACRAMENTS

• Paragraph 977 says, “Our Lord tied the forgiveness of sins to faith and Baptism: ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved.’”

• Paragraph 978 says, “‘When we made our first profession of faith while receiving the holy Baptism that cleansed us, the forgiveness we received then was so full and complete that there remained in us absolutely nothing left to efface, neither original sin nor offenses committed by our own will, nor was there left any penalty to suffer in order to expiate them…”

• This is stating the POWER of Baptism

• We will talk more about Baptism when we get to PILLAR 2: THE SACRAMENTS

• In Baptism, not only are we made sons and daughters of the Lord

• We are also made temples of the Holy Spirit

• ALL sins have been COMPLETELY EFFACED so fully that THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO HEAL

• IT IS ALL HEALED!!

• AND YET…

• Paragraph 978 continues, “...Yet the grace of Baptism delivers no one from all the weakness of nature. On the contrary, we must still combat the movements of concupiscence that never cease leading us into evil.’”

• CONCUPISCENCE is the BROKEN part of us

• We are made for GOOD

• We are made for TRUTH

• We are made for BEAUTY

• AND YET…

• We sometimes are drawn to things that are COUNTERFEIT

• We are drawn to things that are NOT GOOD

• We are drawn to things that are NOT TRUE

• Sometimes we do things that are NOT TRUE, NOT GOOD, and NOT BEAUTIFUL

• We are still oriented that way, kind of twisted

• We all still experience this

• Paragraph 979 says, “In this battle against our inclination towards evil, who could be brave and watchful enough to escape every wound of sin? ‘If the Church has the power to forgive sins, then Baptism cannot be her only means of using the keys to the Kingdom of heaven received from Jesus Christ.”

• Why?

• We’ve had our sins forgiven once

• BUT…

• Here we are with our broken hearts and WE CHOOSE SIN AGAIN

• God does not want to leave us ABANDONED even after we have been RESTORED THROUGH BAPTISM

• BUT WE FALL AWAY

• Therefore, what does God do?

• Paragraph 979 continues, “‘...The Church must be able to forgive all penitents their offenses, even if they should sin until the last moment of their lives.’”

• There is a WORD OF HOPE in there

• Hopefully you heard it

• Are we saying that we can just sin until the last moment of our lives and then be forgiven easily at the end?

• Well, not easily

• The price of forgiveness of our sins is the Death and Resurrection of God Himself in the Flesh, in Jesus Christ

• SO IT IS NOT EASY!!

• IT IS NOT MAGIC!!

• To truly be forgiven of our sins not only requires the Lord’s work 

• It is accomplished in His giving of the Holy Spirit in going to Confession

• BUT…

• It also requires COOPERATION on our part

• It also requires REAL REPENTANCE on our part

• IT IS NOT MAGIC!!

• WE DO NOT EVER WANT TO TAKE THE SACRAMENTS FOR GRANTED!!

• The temptation could be there to not go to Confession until a later date, therefore get in your sinning right now

• How does Fr. Mike know this?

• Because he has a broken heart

• And because he hears confessions and sometimes that is one of the temptations people bring

• Just like Fr. Mike experiences it in his own life

• AND YET…

• What does the Lord call us to?

• TRUE, HUMBLE, AND AUTHENTIC REPENTANCE!!

• Where we actually TURN AWAY from our sins and TURN TOWARDS His Grace

• Paragraph 982 says, “There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive. ‘There is no one, however wicked and guilty, who may not confidently hope for forgiveness, provided his repentance is honest.’ Christ who died for all men desires that in his Church the gates of forgiveness should always be open to anyone who turns away from sin.”

• SUCH AN INCREDIBLE STATEMENT!!

• That means that NOBODY IS TOO FAR GONE FOR THE LORD!!

• NOBODY IS DISQUALIFIED!!

• This is YOU and ME

• With our BROKEN HEARTS

• With our BROKEN PASTS

• Even our BROKEN PRESENT

• THERE IS NO ONE WHO IS TOO FAR GONE THAT CHRIST DOES NOT CONTINUALLY REACH OUT AND CALL US TO HIMSELF!!

• BECAUSE JESUS DESIRES US!!

• The WHOLE POINT of Jesus’ Life, Death, and Resurrection is TO BRING US HIS MERCY

• IT IS TO UNITE US TO HIMSELF!!

• IT HAS ALL BEEN DONE!!

• HIS SAVING WORK HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED!!

• What remains to be done is OUR COOPERATION

• To let the saving work of Jesus Christ actually be accomplished IN OUR LIVES

• St. Ambrose, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Augustine have some great quotes here

• These early Church Fathers say SO CLEARLY that the ordinary means of reconciliation with the Lord comes THROUGH THE MINISTRY OF THE PRIESTHOOD

• INCREDIBLE!!

• St. John Chrysostom says in Paragraph 983, “Priests have received from God a power that he has given neither to angels nor to archangels…God above confirms what priests do here below.” 🤯 🤯 🤯

• St. Augustine says in Paragraph 983, “Were there no forgiveness of sins in the Church, there would be no hope of life to come or eternal liberation. Let us thank God who has given his Church such a gift.”

• (Hmmm…Fr. Mike is going to skip St. Ambrose!! St. Ambrose says in Paragraph 983, “The Lord wills that his disciples possess a tremendous power: that his lowly servants accomplish in his name all that he did when he was on earth.”)

• SO LET US THANK GOD FOR SUCH A GIFT!!

• LET’S PRAY FOR EACH OTHER!!

• Especially for those of us who are discouraged

• Especially for those of us who think they are disqualified from God’s love and mercy

• YOU ARE NOT DISQUALIFIED!!

• YOU ARE NOT DISQUALIFIED!!

• WE ARE PRAYING FOR YOU!!

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!