Dirt track outside my door gone, in it’s place pristine gloriously tarred road. Dramatic transformation, forever new. Just like my newfound sobriety, gifted freely to me by Almighty God.
Knock Shrine, day of prayer, silence and solitude, I picked up a prayer card that said - ‘Do not fight against a temptation by yourself, but disclose it to the confessor at once, and then the temptation will lose all it’s force’. (Jesus to Saint Faustina). I decided to go to confession and little did I know but I was about to embark on an exceedingly exciting adventure.
I told Father that I could never enjoy just one glass of wine, one led to more every time. Father asked how I felt next day. ‘Not as good as other days’, I replied. Father’s next words were not what I expected or wished for: ‘If it were me I would not drink wine again, but you will ask Jesus at Holy Mass, you are a woman of Prayer’. ‘Yes Father, I am in love with Jesus and He has spoken’, I uttered.
Right there in that confessional, invasion of Grace revolutionising my life.My former life vanishing in one fell swoop, my new life born anew with The Risen Christ. I could never again partake of a glass of red, foreign concept 🍷 totally alien to my life.
God, in His mercy and kindness granted me a beautiful miracle, seamless transition. In my heart, I could see my wineglass being pushed to the edge of the table of my life, tumbling to the ground, shattering into million tiny pieces. Never to be put back together again.
The Sacrament of Confession is a huge gift from God, counselling steeped in grace and healing. We are confessing our sins to the priest but because the priest is in Persona Christi, truly we are confessing our sins to Jesus. We are not informing Him - He knows everything already, we are simply speaking them out, laying them at the feet of Christ, offloading them from our hearts.
Mammoth Grace in one moment. God gives those biggest Graces to the weakest souls because He knows we are not going to find it on our own unless He does something big. All Glory to God.
The Sacrament of Confession is a huge gift from God, counselling steeped in grace and healing. We are confessing our sins to the priest but because the priest is in Persona Christi, truly we are confessing our sins to Jesus. We are not informing Him - He knows everything already, we are simply speaking them out, laying them at the feet of Christ, offloading them from our hearts.
We are involving and including Jesus in our misery. Jesus, in His Mercy, wipes the slate clean, we are forgiven, cleansed, renewed. ‘If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here’. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
God, not alone refreshes us by protecting us from the heat of vice, He fills our hearts with the love of virtue. Alcohol was not a problem in my life, it was a time wasting thing, a draining pursuit. My shackles are gone, Jesus set me free, so much has changed for the better - ‘Thou hast loosened my bonds’. (Psalm 115:16).
In my deepest heart I was always drawn to this life, I always wanted to live this way, but I didn’t know how to get here, the code eluded me until that day in Knock Shrine when Jesus captured another piece of my heart. I became alive for the first time in the longest time, like I had been living in black and white and instantly everything turns to colour. What a Mighty God we serve.
My new life journey and my new tarred road - Forever new.
‘The more you give up, the more your heart becomes free for God and that is where real happiness comes from. God alone suffices’. (Brother John Diego/Trappist Monk)
Jesus told St. Faustina: ‘When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of Mercy’. ( Divine Mercy Diary 1602)
“You make your confession before Me. The person of the priest is, for Me, only a screen. Never analyse what sort of priest it is that I am making use of: open your soul in confession as you would do Me and I will fill it with light’. (Jesus told St. Faustina)
Therapists (for a hefty sum) will tell us how to manage our guilt. Jesus, on the other hand takes it completely away for no sum at all!!
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