Saturday of the Third Week of Lent (March 21, 2009)
If you sit down and take a look at the steps we have walked together, some steps are very similar to previous ones. There are certain virtues that Jesus wants to drill in us because He knows that once we acquire them and make them part of our everyday life, our journey will be so much easier. One of these virtues is humility and He introduced it back on Step #15. Actually, even though on that particular day the reading was from St. Matthew and today is from St. Luke, the sentence I took from the reading is almost identical. If they had lived today, I have the feeling that Luke would have been accused of plagiarism, since it’s believed that Matthew wrote the scriptures first.
In today’s reading the Pharisee prays exalting himself “God, thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity-greedy, dishonest, adulterous…” (Luke 18:11). On the other hand, the tax collector prays with humility “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 18:13).
We all have sins and until we have the humility to acknowledge them and place them at the foot of the cross, we will not be able to complete this journey.
Let’s take time today to acknowledge our sinfulness with humility and let’s seriously consider taking the time to go to confession and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Saturday or the third week of Lent (March 10, 2017)
This year, I took the bull by the horns and decided to go to confession the weekend before Ash Wednesday. I know myself, and if I didn’t go at the beginning, I would have put it off til Good Friday. The biggest thing I got out of my confession was a huge lesson in humility.
The priest that heard my confession was an older Spanish priest who could not hear very well and spoke very loud. After I finished, he told me that for my penance he wanted me to pray for world peace. Then he remained quiet for a few minutes, to the point that I was wondering if he has forgotten to give me the absolution and final prayer. But finally, he spoke up:
“Do you know how to pray the rosary?”
“Yes, of course,” I replied.
“Then for your penance, I would like you to pray a whole rosary for world peace. You don’t need to pray it now. You can pray it when you get home. And if you have someone to pray it with you, even better.”
“I can do that,” I told him. “As a matter of fact, my husband is coming to confession right behind me. If you give him the same penance, we can pray the rosary together.”
He absolved me from my sins in God’s name, and I walked out.
I went to the pew, prayed a few minutes, and then sat down to wait for Rafael so we could pray our penance together.
When Rafael joined me, he knelt down for a few minutes, and then sat down next to me. I opened my purse, took out my rosary, and was ready to begin. He looked at me, and said:
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to pray my penance.”
He looked at the rosary, then at me, and said: “The priest asked you to do a whole rosary for your penance? What did you do, kill someone?”
“Wait,” I asked him. “What penance did he give you?”
“One Our Father,” he answered.
At that point, I began to laugh so hysterically that I had to walk out of the church. When I came back, I told Rafael how I had dictated to the priest what penance he should give him. He looked at me, and said: “Who do you think you are to know what penance I deserve? The priest surely taught you a lesson.”
He sure did. I went to the chapel, and humbly prayed the rosary on my own. We then stayed for mass, and have been laughing at my confession experience ever since.
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