Immeasurable Grace

It might be difficult to imagine, but I encounter many people who think themselves so guilty of sin, they don’t know where to begin in their repentance. I remember one time, while hearing the confession of a teenager, I was told, “I mean, I’m not going to stop doing it Father.” You can’t imagine my shock at that moment. I hope it didn’t show at the time. Here was this teenager so wrapped up in sin, not actually planning to stop, but somehow felt the need to confess the sin all the same.

In our hearts we know that God loves us, even if sometimes our hearts have been darkened by the circumstances of life. We walk by the Church, sometimes refusing to enter for months or longer, but we pause and look inside, as if to say, “I know you’re there, God. When I’m ready, I’ll be back.” Take a moment and read today’s Epistle reading below, but read it by inserting YOUR name in the beginning rather than ‘Brethren.’

Brethren, God who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God: not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2.4-10

If you’re in the dense fog of sin right now, like the teenager was, and don’t know where to begin, you’re not alone. God already loves you. God already forgives you. God already is giving you His grace. Sure, you can’t see it right now, but trust me, it is there. Don’t underestimate the power of Holy Confession. It isn’t the power of the priest to whom you confess, but the power is in the Grace of God, an “immeasurable” amount of grace which is present in the Sacrament.