JESUS CLIMBS INTO THE BOAT OF MY HEART
Without warning, (Lk 1:5-11) Jesus entered the boat of Peter and began to teach. When Jesus enters our hearts, He also teaches and asks us to trust Him. Like Peter, He gives us an extraordinary mission. He wants to utilise us by proclaiming the Gospel of Truth from the pulpit of our hearts. We are all called to evangelise and to cast out the spiritual net of faith, with the sole purpose of catching unbelieving souls, and those who have lost their faith in Jesus. He asks us, like Peter, to put our trust in Him. When we find Jesus in our heart [boat], we must replace our own freewill with His divine will. We are not to be afraid to live the life that He calls us to live. Trust Him and we will catch stray souls in need of conversion. This is our mission, to be partakers of eternal redemption. This is what we will be judged on after we depart this world. In full communion with Jesus and by obeying His instructions, Peter is overcome by the miraculous catch of fish. Full of the Spirit of Truth, and in the presence of Truth, Peter becomes aware of his sinfulness and says, Leave me Lord, I’m a sinful man. For us to be in full communion with Christ, we must acknowledge our own sinfulness, by going to confession. Receiving Holy Communion in Mass, without repenting for our sins, does not make everything okay with Jesus. To receive Him in the state of sin betrays and offends Jesus terribly. If we do not go to confession and acknowledge our sinfulness, then we are not in full communion with Jesus.
HEIGHTENED SENSE OF GUILT FROM SINS
The test in measuring how close we are to Jesus, should result in a heightened sense of our own sinfulness. St. Paul (1Cor 15:1-11) speaks of his unworthiness to be called by Christ, but yet he is, by the grace of God. Grace brings us new life to be disciples of faith. If we think we have no sins or feel no need to go to confessions, then we are lying to ourselves. Satan controls the sinner in denial. If we are truly converted and wish to please Jesus, then follow Isaiah’s example in the First Reading today (Is 6: 1-2a, 3-8), when he said, What a wretched state I am in! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips. Because of his confession, God immediately purged and wiped away his sins, when his mouth was touched with a burning coal from the heavenly altar. The word purge has references to the suffering holy souls in Purgatory, where we are told a spiritual fire is used to purge sins that still cling to the departed souls. Purgatory exists to satisfy God’s Divine Justice. To avoid His Divine Justice on the day of Judgement, we must first, seek His Divine Mercy on earth, in confession. The souls in Purgatory now offer their sufferings as a sacrifice for the redemption of the world. We can avoid Purgatory by offering everything now as a redemptive suffering to God in order to save souls from going to hell. It was through suffering that Jesus redeemed the world. It is our turn to help in this mission now. God bless, Fr. Brendan.