Lent and the importance of Sanctifying Grace from the Confessional

If we wanted to describe God, what would be some characteristics we would attribute to Him? Sanctity- God is Holy. This means in one way that he is very Sacred and precious. But guess what? Sanctifying grace is the Life of God dwelling in us. Therefore, when we receive sanctifying grace, we become sacred and precious. Sanctifying grace erases the gross sins in our souls and makes us brand new. When we sin, particularly mortal sin, we become like a broken car. We might look the same on the outside, but our inside lacks life. Therefore the grace that we get from confession is like the gas we need to get to our journey which is heaven. And Im not talking about stinking gass! How does God look? Beauty: Sanctifying Grace makes our soul Beautiful. In the words of St. John Chrysostom we become like a beautiful picture. Sin is like mud. When you throw mud on a picture it makes it look ugly. But Sanctifying Grace is like Windex, or Oxi-clean, depending on your preference. The point is God isnt just beautiful. HE IS BEAUTY. And everything that looks beautiful or cool or awesome, the reason it looks that way is due to Gods presence in it. The only reason something is beautiful is because it reflects God in some way. Thats why St. John Vianney used to call sinners Big Fish. Fish can be kind of ugly just as sin is ugly... St John Vianney: Uh ohhh, we got ourselves a big fatty fat fish. Hey fatty stinky fat fish. And when we go to confession we reflect in a certain sense, Jesus who is truly man and Truly God; not in the sense that Jesus ever sinned, of course he never did. But rather in the sense, that in confession, we subject our human will to the will of God, Just like Jesus. Does Jesus want us to stay distant from Him? Does he want to come over his house to hang out with us and talk with us? Does he want us to celebrate his birthday with Him? During Lent, does he want us to be there for Him when he is suffering, and stay close to Him? What kind of relationship should we have with Jesus then? Friendship: God is pure love. But we as humans are not pure love, we sin. And when we sin, we are like enemies of God, because when we sin, its never out of love! But God knows that we are imperfect. When he gives us sanctifying grace, he makes it possible that we be friends with Him. This is because with Sanctifying Grace, Jesus gives us the gifts that we need in order to have a friendship with God, namely, Faith. We cant be friends with God unless we believe in Him. I cant say, Oh my best friend is an imaginary dog that weighs 350 lbs named Mr. Grumples. We must believe in God if we want to be his friend, and in order to believe in God we must receive the gift of Faith. And every time we go to confession, we are renewed in this Gift is a much more deeper way so that we can know God in a much deeper way, and therefore have a much deeper friendship with Him. Now let me ask you a question. God created us right? Does that mean He wants us to be his cousins? His uncles? His grandpas? Or course not! He wants us to be his Children! Sonship: Sanctifying grace makes us to be adopted Sons of God. Think about it, only Jesus is Gods eternally begotten Son. God creates us, yes, but we are born in sin because of original Sin. Therefore, we need sanctifying grace so that we can become more like God so that we can acknowledge Him not only as creator, but Father. It makes sense that we call priests Father because the priest as a most special instrument of God gives us Sanctifying Grace in the person of Christ, particularly through Confession. And as a good Father, the priest is always looking out for his childrenthat means all those people who are under his careeven if they act like stubborn babies: The way in which another sinner was won over is quite typical. About the year 1840 a certain man named Rochette took his son, who was sick, to the wonder-worker of Ars. His wife accompanied him; she went to confession and received Holy Communion. As for Rochette, he had but one concern: namely, to obtain the cure of his boy. He paid, indeed, a few visits to the church, but he kept in the neighbourhood of the holy water font. There he was when the

saint, coming from behind the altar where he was hearing the confessions of priests, began to call him. He refused to budge. At that moment his wife and his son were close to the altar rails. "Is he really that much an unbeliever?" Father Vianney asked the wife. At last, at the third summons, the man decided to walk up the nave. "After all," he thought, "the Cure d' Ars will not eat me!" He went with Father Vianney behind the altar. There was no time to lose. "This is for both of us, Rochette," said the Cure, and, pointing to the confessional: "Go into there," he said. "Oh!" the other replied, "I don't feel like it." "Well, begin here then." replied Father Vianney Incapable of offering resistance to so sudden an attack, Rochette had fallen on his knees. "My father," he stammered, "it is some timeten years...." "Make it a little more." "Twelve years then. . . ." "Still yet a little more." replied the holy Cure. "Yes, since the great jubilee of 1826." "Ah! there we are! One finds it by a dint of seeking." Rochette then made his confession like a child. The following day saw him kneeling by the side of his wife at the altar rails. Their boy, the faithful chronicler adds, left in the church of Ars his two crutches, for which he had no further use!