Now that we have kicked off the Jubilee of Hope, it is of the utmost importance not just to consider this year as a year of grace of the Lord but also to snatch the graces God gives us to sanctify us. One of the greatest graces that God has surely been giving us is that of reconciliation with him and with each other through the sacrament of confession.
In fact, in his homily for the Mass which started the Jubilee of Hope for the Archdiocese of Malta on Sunday, December 29, 2024 (Feast of the Holy Family), Malta’s archbishop, Mgr Charles J. Scicluna, shared an important detail with his congregation. He said: Pope Francis to us the Bishops of Malta and Gozo, I feel that he has given us a special delivery, a special message. When we met him on May 17, and we asked him what his heart’s desire was for this jubilee he used these words in Italian: ‘Una grande festa di misericordia (a great feast of mercy)’.
Which sacrament can celebrate greatly this mercy of God other than the sacrament of confession? Jesus was so clear with St Faustina regarding the powerful sacramental efficacy of this sacrament. He told her: Write, speak of My mercy. Tell souls where they are to look for solace; that is, in the Tribunal of Mercy [the Sacrament of Reconciliation]. There the greatest miracles take place [and] are incessantly repeated. To avail oneself of this miracle, it is not necessary to go on a great pilgrimage or to carry out some external ceremony; it suffices to come with faith to the feet of My representative and to reveal to him one’s misery, and the miracle of Divine Mercy will be fully demonstrated. Were a soul like a decaying corpse so that from a human standpoint, there would be no [hope of] restoration and everything would already be lost, it is not so with God. The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full. Oh, how miserable are those who do not take advantage of the miracle of God’s mercy! You will call out in vain, but it will be too late (Diary, 1448).
In this most beautiful paragraph of the Diary Jesus himself calls this sacrament Tribunal of Mercy. In this Tribunal the soul finds solace and also the greatest miracles go on repeatedly. This miracle is so easily achievable. What needs to be done is that the person goes to the priest, Jesus’ representative, confesses and the miracle of the Divine Mercy is automatically shown to that soul. The forgiveness which stems from the sacrament of confession is so great that the damaged soul is resurrected once again for the life of grace.
Let us not forget what St Faustina herself teaches us in her Diary, entry 376 regarding the profit we are to get from Holy Confession. She writes: Concerning Holy Confession. We should derive two kinds of profit from Holy Confession: 1. We come to confession to be healed; 2. We come to be educated-like a small child, our soul has constant need of education.
Because Jesus knows that our souls are to be restored with the sacramental power of the sacrament of confession He mandated St Faustina to pray for sinners to approach this magnificent sacrament of mercy. He told her: Pray for souls that they be not afraid to approach the tribunal of My mercy. Do not grow weary of praying for sinners. You know what a burden their souls are to My Heart. Relieve My deathly sorrow; dispense My mercy. (Diary, 975).
Fully aware of the immense spiritual healing which this sacrament offers Pope Francis, in his Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025, Spes non confundit, may hope fill your hearts, wrote: The Jubilee Churches along the pilgrimage routes and in the city of Rome can serve as oases of spirituality and places of rest on the pilgrimage of faith, where we can drink from the wellsprings of hope, above all by approaching the sacrament of Reconciliation, the essential starting-point of any true journey of conversion. In the particular Churches, special care should be taken to prepare priests and the faithful to celebrate the sacrament of Confession and to make it readily available in its individual form (no.5)… The sacrament of Penance assures us that God wipes away our sins. We experience those powerful and comforting words of the Psalm: “It is he who forgives all your guilt, who heals every one of your ills, who redeems your life from the grave, who crowns you with love and compassion… The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy… He does not treat us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our faults. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so strong is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our sins” (Ps 103:3-4.8.10-12). The sacrament of Reconciliation is not only a magnificent spiritual gift, but also a decisive, essential and fundamental step on our journey of faith. There, we allow the Lord to erase our sins, to heal our hearts, to raise us up, to embrace us and to reveal to us his tender and compassionate countenance. There is no better way to know God than to let him reconcile us to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:20) and savour his forgiveness. Let us not neglect Confession, but rediscover the beauty of this sacrament of healing and joy, the beauty of God’s forgiveness of our sins! (no.23).
Bishop Krzysztof Józef Nykiel, Regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary when reflecting on the time of spiritual renewal, conversion, and reconciliation offered by the Jubilee of hope, pointed out that the Holy Doors opened, one by one, are a symbol of the gate of salvation opened by Christ. Hence, the sacrament of the confessional is the Holy Door to the soul to receive God’s healing and restorative grace. Let us avail of this stupendous grace which is being to us during this Jubilee. Let translate our belief in hope into a transforming meeting with the forgiving Christ as present to us in the sacrament of the confessional, the best gift in this Jubilee of hope.
