Good morning. I want to talk about one of the key things that you’ll find at the heart of everything that Jesus taught when he walked this earth. And it was one primary theme. Forgiveness. Forgiveness, forgiveness. And when I think about it, I realized when I was growing up as a Roman Catholic, I was always wrapped.

Forgiveness was wrapped around a ritual, a place I went to tell my sins to the priest. And the priest would in turn tell me. And I needed these words for me to believe it in a sense, or at least I was taught that these words were essential to me receiving this gift of forgiveness when he would say, I absolve you from all of your sins. So I had this image in my mind that I needed some kind of ambassador to speak for me, a priest that would go to God and say, please forgive this person who has sinned. And that’s not what the sacrament of reconciliation is about. The sacrament of reconciliation is a sacrament that awakens in every human being a conviction that is there core, but is often hidden.

A core conviction that God is forgiveness. That his response to me when I fail him is not to be angry or rejecting or separate, but to come rushing in to do something for me. We have a hard time believing that. And so to me, reconciliation is a beautiful sacrament, a prayer of the church to make sure you believe you are forgiven. How many times have I talked to people about their sins when they come back over and over again to say the same sin, and I say, you keep confessing it. They say, I want to make sure that I’m forgiven.

What is it in us that doubts that God doesn’t forgive? It has to be a misconception of the fact that he is forgiveness. We don’t realize it. That’s who he is. That’s the best description of the fullness of God revealed in Jesus. A forgiving Father who rushes toward us when we’ve lost our way.

And there’s nothing in him that has to do with rejection or punishment. It’s about pouring life into a hole that’s inside of us, created by our shame. So trust in his forgiveness.