My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
+
THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST: THE MYSTERY (SACRAMENT) OF REPENTANCE/CONFESSION
The Holy Sacrament of Repentance and Confession can rightly be called "the Forgotten Medicine." The whole world is lying in evil. Every one of us is infected with the deadly disease (virus) of sin, and one can be cured from the disease! The medicine is provided, and it is miraculous at that. You are healed the moment you take it. But we do not reach for it, to be healed and to lighten our conscience. Why? Because we have forgotten and neglect it.
There are earthly medicines for earthly diseases. And there is an Omnipotent Heavenly Doctor and heavenly medicines for the most terrible disease called sin. This Doctor is Jesus Christ, "the Physician of our souls and bodies". Because every sin is a transgression of God's Holy Law, only God can forgive sins with His wondrous Omnipotence. He can blot out sins as if they had never existed. "Though your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow; though they be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool" (Isaiah 1:18 [Old Testament]), He promises. But for this to happen, there is one requirement for us--to repent truly.
"Nobody is as gracious and merciful," says Saint Mark the Ascetic, "as the Lord is, but even He does not forgive the sins of the man who doest not repent;...we are being condemned not because of the multitude of our evils, but because we do not want to repent."
How does the forgiving of sins occur?--through the Sacrament of Repentance/Confession. The Christian burdened with his sins goes to the priest with deep repentance in his soul and with a sincere desire to change and reveals to him in a detailed, frank, and full confession the secrets of his heart and conscience. The priest, convinced of the sincere repentance of the Christian and after the suitable introductory prayers, reads to him the sacramental prayer: "May our Lord and God Jesus Christ, according to the grace and kindness of His love for man, forgive you, child (name), all your transgressions; and I, the unworthy priest, through the power given to me by Him, forgive you and free you of all your sins, in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen."
In that moment, whatever the priest is forgiving on earth is also being forgiven in heaven! Is there a greater mercy than this? We could not have believed that this is possible, if it had not been told us by the One Who never spoke an empty word or a life (cf. 1 Peter 2:22).
Sin is a great evil with immeasurably heavy consequences---eternal torments in hell! But its cure, established by Jesus Christ, turns out to be so easy! This is simply incredible--just as Jesus Christ told the ten lepers: "Go shew yourselves unto the priests" (Luke 17:14), and they, when they went, were healed, so it is as if He were speaking to us, sinners: "you are sick with spiritual leprosy? Do not be afraid! You will be healed. Just do this: go show yourselves to the priests."
If we ignore such a mercy of God, how many more punishments we will deserve, because we have no done for our salvation even that small thing which is given to us to do and which is so easy.
What should we do when we are with the confessor?
We have to do the following: 1) Remember that we have come to Christ's infirmary. Here, the visible doctor is the priest, and the invisible--Christ Himself; 2) Confess our sins without false shame; 3) Not seek excuses for our sins; 4) Consciously conceal absolutely nothing: 5) Do not confess with general phrases which have no meaning; 6) Confess briefly, but precisely, the character of each of our sins; 7) Not reveal other people's sins, and conceal, whenever possible, the names of the persons who have tempted us or who have sinned with us through our fault; 8) Not to boast before the priest of any virtues of ours; 9) Not to transfer the blame on others, but only on ourselves; and 10) have a sincere desire not to sin again.
Do not disrespect the sacrament or abuse it for any other personal reason or to accuse your Father Confessor of anything. That in itself is a serious and grave sin.
What Should Do When We Leave the Confessor?
After we have confessed well, we must carry out the penance which has been given to us: bows (metanoies), intensified prayer, fasting, diligent readings of God's Word, almsgiving (charity), visiting the sick, caring for orphans and widows, etc. We must pay attention to the following three points:
1) If you have an enmity against someone, "forgive with all your heart"; so that God will also forgive you (cf. Matthew 6:14-15). Otherwise, your confession will be in vain.
2) Others who have admitted in Confession that they have violated their celibacy or family honor must "give up the bad road forever." They cannot love both the sin and God.
3) Finally, if you have misappropriated another's possession, if you have fobbed someone, "return that which does not belong to you." Otherwise, there is no forgiveness for you.
We see then what the rules are for a saving confession: first, before we go to the confessor, we must examine well our conscience; second, when we are with the priest, we must confess sincerely, with a broken heart, and without shame and excuses; third, when we leave the priest, we must carry out our penance, put an end to the hostility, give up our impure life, thoughts, and return that which is not ours.
He who does not correct his behavior through Confession does not confess but talks idly, according to the words of Saint Basil the Great. (Source: The Forgotten Medicine. The Mystery of Repentance by Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev)
It is through the Sacrament of Repentance and Confession that the Orthodox Christian believer prepares himself or herself to receive the Divine Eucharist or Holy Communion. Some have reduced the preparation to practically nothing. There is no fasting, no forgiveness for our enemies, there no reconciliation, there is cleansing or purification, there is no repentance, there is no prayer, there is no alms and yet one dares to approach Christ and receive him with arrogance, defiance and unclean. What does one expect to be given by our Lord under these circumstances? Forgiveness? absolution? Rather it is condemnation!
Use the Nativity fast to truly unite yourself with Christ, our Lord, God, and Savior. What the believer seeks from Him is sanctification and salvation.
_________________________
"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" - Saint John Chrysostomos
+++
With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George