Because Christ has risen and breathed his Spirit upon us, we Christians have been born unto a new life and are a people of hope. “Praised be God...who in his great mercy gave us new birth; a birth unto hope which draws its life from the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Pet 1:3) Through the Risen Christ, we have become sons and daughters of God, a wholly “new creation.”

Even though human weakness and sin are an ongoing reality in our lives, sin no longer defines us. Jesus, in his mercy, and out of the super abundant merits of his Easter victory, provided a powerful vehicle of forgiveness of sins committed after Baptism. In his Easter appearance to the apostles he assures them. “Peace be with you.... Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven them....” (Jn 20:21) Like Baptism, the Sacrament of Penance, too, is an Easter sacrament, which keeps the new life, born of Baptism, vibrant and growing all through our lives.

As I noted in my last column, the lavish mercy of God, revealed in Christ, is made perpetually available to us in the Paschal Mystery. As Pope John Paul II wrote: “Making the Father present as love and mercy is, in Christ’s own consciousness, the fundamental touchstone of his mission as Messiah.” The Sacrament of Penance (Confession) is a marvelous gift, through which we can experience on a very personal level the unfathomable mercy of God.

Human respect can get in the way of our accessing this gift of the Risen Savior. Sin is humbling. We would rather not be reminded of our failings. We are not helped either by our culture, which tends to deny sin in countless ways. One cause of this denial is that the world does not understand the gift of God’s forgiveness. It does not understand God’s mercy. For us Catholics, consciousness of sin and consciousness of God’s merciful forgiveness go together. Regular reception of the Sacrament of Penance keeps both alive.

Denial of sin deprives us of our deepest experience of God — as for us and with us, in spite of our sins — as unconditionally loving of us even in our individual sinful circumstances. Due to the practice of Confession, Catholics tend to be honest about sin because we have experienced God’s mercy. We must not lose this.

Each time we avail ourselves of the Sacrament of Penance as a weak and flawed son or daughter, we have an experience of God as the prodigal father of the Gospel parable. How very real and joyous that scene. Each Confession is an experience of Easter -- a kind of resurrection from the dead. We are liberated from the burden of our guilt and shame and reassured of God’s love. Our spirit can rise to live again and we can go forward with peace and joy. The forgiveness of sins is the first sign of the Easter outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon redeemed humanity, the first sign of Jesus’ victory over sin and death being shared with us.

In addition, as the Second Vatican Council noted, each sacrament gives worship to God. (“Sacrosanctum Concilium,” No. 59) To confess our sins — even if they are not serious — is prayer and worship of the highest kind. It acknowledges God’s sovereignty and holiness. It activates the flow of grace that Christ, our Savior, won for us. As we present ourselves as sinful and needy, God is praised because our radical dependence upon the goodness and mercy of God is expressed.

The Sacrament of Penance also restores in us an understanding of our goodness and our potential for holiness. Our self-image and identity as a son/daughter of God is restored. Hope is rekindled and we strive for further conversion and spiritual growth. We can once again view ourselves as a “saint in the making.” We break through the “lie of Satan” that tries to make us believe that we are hopeless sinners and that it is no use to try to be good.

Because it was on Easter that Jesus gave us the sacrament of the forgiveness of sins, it seems clear that God can “live with” our sinfulness and brokenness. He does not condone sin, but he loves the sinner. And he sees beyond the sin to the precious son/daughter. Nor does he want our limitations and sins to discourage us. God knows the goodness he placed within us and our potential for holiness because of his grace. Jesus takes us by the hand and leads us on toward the full realization of that new “you,” born in baptism, and destined for the glory of God.

Certainly, “there is cause for rejoicing here.” (1 Pet. 1:6)

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