The Sacrament of Confession

This is to bring awareness of The sacrament Confession.

After Resurrection, Jesus appeared first time to the apostles. He was breathing on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained” (John 20:22-23). We all know that Jesus himself instituted and asked his disciples to go for the sacrament Confession. But years after, the question is that do we really practice it? The Church says we must have confession but we failed to do so. We Gujaratis feel shy to do it, some of us educated people say, why should I go to priest and do it? I myself can confess my sins to God. But everyone knows that arguments have no actions, means we only say it but even to God we do not confess. But let us know that priest is the intermediary between us and God and confession is necessary for every Christian to remove the garbage (sins) from oneself to become clean to go to God. Would like to note how Confession is in Bhumel.

Recently I have noticed Fr. Stany and Fr. Martin from Vadtal were on Saturday ministry in Bhumel.They visit Bhumel alternatively.They like to visit people but the very important activity they do is that they sit down for confession before mass as per the requirement and make others to understand that reconciling of man to God is the purpose of Confession. When men or women sin, they deprive themselves of God’s grace. And by doing so, they make it even easier to sin some more. The only way out of this downward cycle is to acknowledge our sins, to repent of them, and to ask God’s forgiveness. Then, in the Sacrament of Confession, grace can be restored to our souls, and we can once again resist sin.

Fr. Stany and Fr. Martin are trying to bring back the beauty and awareness of the sacrament Confession. At the end I will submit my understanding of the sacrament that only Christians have this beautiful sacrament. It was instituted by Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. Therefore, we should embrace it as a gift from a loving God. Let us not mislay it.
-Vijay Macwan(Bhumel)