Cardinal Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII, was nuncio in Paris and paid great attention to worker-priests. He often invited them to his house so they could discuss their concerns and difficulties.
One of them recounted a terrible experience:
“I had to take a child to the hospital because rats had eaten into his head,” said Father Pierre, who worked in a cement factory and coughed suspiciously all the time. “The poor little one will probably die, he is in such a dreadful state.”
Another priest told the nuncio: “I found an unemployed father dead in his horrible den among his four children. He had hanged himself because he saw no other way out.”
One would prefer to run away from such events; even hearing about them is painful!
A starving child being attacked and eaten alive by rats… A corpse lying among helpless children…
And children and adults consumed and destroyed by sin!
Wherever St. John the Baptist looked—and wherever we look now—the dreadful sight of sin is everywhere! And there is no other help than what St. John the Baptist proclaimed: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Mt 3:2)
Problems are not solved by so-called liberalism, permissiveness, or indulgence toward sin! There is no other solution than the one given by the Baptist: “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance… His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Mt 3:8,12)
As a young priest, I served as chaplain of the prison in Kaposvár. My bishop appointed me during Advent, and I celebrated Mass there in the prison chapel on Christmas afternoon. For days I searched through my books to find thoughts that might touch hearts hardened like stone.
When I entered the chapel, I almost fainted when I saw the harsh faces before me. I walked toward the altar while praying silently, and on the last step my shoe slipped and I fell.
The whole group burst into loud laughter. For a few moments I stared at the carpet, my face burning, then I suddenly stood up, and after their mocking laughter died down, I smiled and said:
“You see, this is why I came to you — to show you that a person can get up even if he falls. One can rise again from sins too, with true repentance.”
With his fasting, appearance, and strictness, St. John the Baptist wanted to accomplish the same thing: to awaken people from sin.
“Therefore, sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires. Do not offer the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness, but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead…” we read in the Letter to the Romans.
Blessed be our confessions that break our chains! They raise us up and free us from the slavery of sin.
Unfortunately, in recent times there has been a tendency in our Church to say that general absolution is enough and that confession is unnecessary.
A remark from a Protestant pastor can make us think deeply:
“It is time for courageous self-examination… Consider the Roman Catholic practice of confession. Should we not admit that we ‘threw out the baby with the bathwater’? We Protestants generally accept, have included in our liturgy, and publicly confess during worship that we are sinners. In contrast, the Catholic who goes to confess to his priest is prepared to name his sins one by one. He is not sinful in general, but sinful in specific ways — and thus receives absolution personally and concretely for each sin. He is freed from the oppressive burden of that specific sin. We, on the other hand, proclaim universal forgiveness even to those who have never confessed a single concrete sin.”
Advent is also the holy time of purification and repentance! “…and all people shall see the salvation sent by God.” (Lk 3:6)
St. Anselm remained faithful to the king even when King Henry I trampled on the rights of the Church. Yet he did not yield a single step from his convictions and his vocation. To threats he replied: “I am not afraid of suffering or death, but I am very afraid of sin.”
Fr. Imre
Spiritual Advisor del GECC.
