King David, in 2 Samuel 12, is confronted by Nathan who told David a story and David suddenly repented of having arranged to kill Uriah the Hittite.
My question is what took David so long to repent. It was at least 9 months because the baby was born. David was a man after Gods own heart, so he must have known he was guilty immediately…No?
Kings have always had a sense of entitlement. God made me king, therefore I can do what I want type of thing.
Perhaps he was very prideful and to say I am sorry out loud and actually naming one’s own sins is hard. Even faith-filled Catholics know that God offers us healing & mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, through Christ Jesus, our Savior, but yet, many of us take longer than we should to humble ourselves and get the courage to admit our sins out loud, even though we have prayerfully told God we are sorry.
In the Garden of Eden, after the fall, Adam & Eve hid from God when He called out for them.
In Season 2, Episode 6 of “The Chosen,” Mary Magdalene falls back into her previous sinful ways after being convinced by an evil spirit that she is who she used to be. The ending of this episode pretty much depicts the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Mary Magdalene felt like she would be a bother to Jesus and that she was unforgivable. Mary (the mother of our Lord) offers to take Mary Magdalene to Jesus and assured her that now, not later, was a good time to do so.
Mary Magdalene enters Jesus’ tent (kind of like entering the Confessional) and shares how sorry she is. Jesus tells her that she is Forgiven. And, though I cannot remember the exact words, that He wants her heart.
If we define ourselves by the sins of our past, are we giving God our heart?
He desires us to be free (free from addiction, hurt to others, guilt, a sense of worthlessness, etc.)
When you confess your sins to Jesus and make an act of contrition, you are no longer defined by your sins’ past. You are forgiven, loved, worthy, not because of anything that we have done, but because of grace.
David was a man after God’s own heart, as we all are if we take our relationship with God seriously.
Jesus wants to reconcile us to the Father. We are not a bother to Him. And wee are forgivable. So, why then do we hide from Him? Embarrassment, shame, ego, indifference, or fear.
I challenge us all, by God’s grace, to replace our feelings of humiliation with humility. Jesus wants to reconcile us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and forgive us of our sins, which we call out by name, like Got, our Father called out the sins of many throughout Sacred Scripture and wills us to repent and (re)turn to Him.
I have heard some non-Catholics say that Catholic Christians have it so easy. “They can just confess their sins and then act as though nothing had happened.” I would argue that it is never easy to confess our sins out loud, to hear what we have done to our Lord, but the true grace that God blesses the humble-hearted is so worth it! He loves each and every sinner and He calls out to us. We can either hide or we can we can answer Him.
Having been raised as a Protestant, I disagree with that viewpoint. I was literally taught that no matter what I did, my sins were forgiven. However, when I went through RCIA, I learned differently - we have to want to and try to change our behaviors to be truly forgiven. For example, a couple living in sin cannot really have that sin absolved (from what I learned) because they have no intention of stopping that behavior.
You are also right about the difficulty of confessing out loud. It is so difficult for me to do, but I try.
Yeh, technically, the Israelites weren’t supposed to have a king anyway. But they insisted
This was a very uplifting read. Thanks. I do think something needs to be added, though, namely that being totally forgiven/absolved means more than just going to Confession. That’s because sin leaves a residue (“damage”) on our souls and that is what expiation is about. I know this is so because once years ago after committing a serious sin (which I no longer even think to commit), I went to confession and the priest was great, and I felt forgiven, except that something was nagging at me/didn’t feel at all “right,” like the way I had felt b4 committing this sin. Well, through prayer (rosaries, etc) I was able to also expiate the residue of that sin off my soul… hopefully completely.
It is difficult telling a priest our sins because we feel that he will look down on us, but think of all the sins he’s heard about in confession, and yours may seem like child’s play to him. Still… I believe there is pride in all of us that we aren’t even aware of a lot of the time… the pride that says: No, I’m good w/ God… don’t really need to put myself through this confession thing… But what a lie that is and we know who the Father of Lies is…