So back in July some priest friends of mine started a book club and invited me to join.  There are only four of us in it, including Fr. Scott Bullock, who was the pastor here nine years ago, and we basically pick a book, read two chapters of it, and discuss it every two weeks over Zoom.

 

It has been pretty good because it keeps me accountable to reading.  I love reading, but sometimes I don’t feel like it, or probably more often I will start a new book and not finish it, usually because I bought a new, shinier book.  So this little club holds me accountable to reading and actually finishing the books.

 

The book we are reading right now was my choice. I started it back in April, read the first three chapters and stopped, but I really wanted to finish it, which I finally did with the help of the group. The book is by Dr. Bob Schuchts called Be Transformed - The Healing Power of the Sacraments. 

 

And as we were having our discussion on Thursday, I couldn’t help but think about these readings and the Gospel especially.

 

So in this Gospel, Jesus calls this well known sinner, the chief tax collector Zacchaeus down from the tree to stay at his house, and seemingly immediately, and with no prompting, Zacchaeus says to Jesus, "Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over."

 

In our book club, Fr. Scott made this comment, “We have a need, as humans, to fix what we have broken, and a tension exists until we do.” This is true, something has to give, we know of our guilt, we have this shame, and we have to get rid of it. 

 

Now, for us Catholics, we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation where we are able to confess our sins, be absolved and cleansed of them, and then restored to “right relationship” with God through doing some penance. 

 

As you may have guessed, the Sacrament of Reconciliation was our topic in the chapter we were discussing, specifically how confession heals our wounds of shame and restores us to be pure and undefiled in the eyes of God. So Fr. Scott went on to ask, “Where does the rest  of the world put their shame?”

 

He proposed that the un-dealt-with shame comes out sideways, as anger and frustration, because when we are powerless to fix it ourselves, (you know, this Zacchaeus-type need to make things right,) when we can’t fix it ourselves, it leads to frustration, which can also lead to aggression and war.

 

Fr. Scott went on to say that many sins today are being forced on everyone else to accept them, to agree with saying sin is okay or even good, so shame is either given to God or it is inflicted on others.  And I think he is dead right, (and this is why I hang out with priests who are smarter than me, so I can learn things.)

 

In the book, Dr. Schuchts said, “God’s mercy is the only known remedy for our shame. And the Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of the Church’s primary means of communicating this incredible and completely undeserved gift of God’s compassion and forgiveness. Through the sacrament, the Holy Spirit is capable of reaching the deepest areas of our heart that keep us in degradation and separation. “The whole power of the sacrament of [Reconciliation] consists in restoring us to God's grace and us with him in an intimate friendship” (CCC, 1468). As such it heals the wounds of shame (dis-grace) and restores us to our true identity Christ, as pure and undefiled children of the Father (see 1 Jn 3:1-3).”

 

This is so beautiful if you think about it, we aren’t just forgiven in the Sacrament, our true identity is completely restored! God’s merciful love is beautiful.

 

Our first reading from the book of Wisdom explained this relationship of love and mercy, saying, “[Lord,] you have mercy on all, because you can do all things;  and you overlook people's sins that they may repent. For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made;  for what you hated, you would not have fashioned. And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you? But you spare all things, because they are yours, O LORD and lover of souls, for your imperishable spirit is in all things!”

 

God loves us so much, and according to Sr. Faustina, He burns for us with the fire of love and He is an Ocean of Mercy (Diary of Saint Faustina Kowalska, 1142).

 

St. Faustina went on to record the words of Jesus saying, “Let the greatest sinners place their trust in My mercy. They have the right before others to trust in the

abyss of My mercy. My daughter, write about My mercy towards tormented souls. Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight Me. To such souls I grant even more graces than they ask. I cannot punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal to My compassion, but on the contrary, I justify him in My unfathomable and inscrutable mercy. Write: before I come as a just Judge, I first open wide the door of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through the door of My

mercy must pass through the door of My justice…”  (Diary, 1146).

 

This is what the book of Wisdom was also talking about when we heard, “Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little, warn them and remind them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O LORD!”

 

God is always trying to reach us when we are lost and our souls are tormented, to bring us back into full relationship with Him, we just have to turn to Him.

 

After Zacchaeus had turned to Him and promised this penance in order to fix things, Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house... For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."

Zaccaeus had received salvation. Some people might say that we don’t have to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation to receive our salvation, which might be true in an exact sense: Jesus, who gave us the Church and the Sacraments, can of course work outside of them, He is bigger than them and can save us in any way that He wants.  He is almighty God.

 

But why?  Why wouldn’t we go to this beautiful healing sacrament, entering into the Door of Mercy, having our guilt and shame removed, so that we can live in the full love of God as his pure and undefiled children?  Why wouldn’t we want that, rather than having to enter through the Door of Justice?

 

Jesus gave us the sacraments for our benefit, for our healing, for restoration of our identity in Him.  In the Sacrament of Reconciliation (John 20:23) we never have to doubt that God heard us, because we hear the priest say to us, “Through the ministry of the Church, I give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins...” 

 

It’s so awesome to hear those words!  This is why we should run to the confessional to deal with our sin and shame, rather than sitting in it and letting it fester to anger and frustration and worse.

 

Dr. Bob Schuchts closed the chapter with these thoughts, and I’ll close with them as well: “The priesthood is the face of Christ, serving as the frontline ministers of reconciliation in the Church. The ordained priesthood reveals God's mercy in a very direct way through the sacrament (see James 5:14-16). 

 

Everything starts with Christ's death and resurrection. The graces flow from there through the sacrament of Reconciliation, and then these graces must be lived in every aspect of our lives.  

 

In what area of your life do you need to hear that Jesus does not condemn you? Are you willing to let go of your shame and receive His mercy?” (p. 132)