Obtaining God's Forgiveness, And Remaining In The State Of Grace

Obtaining God’s Forgiveness, And Remaining In The State Of Grace

Eileen Renders                                                                           March 2024

   How do we stand in our Creator’s eyes is a good question to ask ourselves this Lenten Season. Have we received absolution and a blessing from our priest through the sacrament of Reconciliation? Should we make the terrible mistake of going to Confession, and then leaving that Confessional to go out and repeat the same sins that we confessed, asked for forgiveness, and made no attempt to eliminate that sin from our lives is not a good Confession.

   In the Confessional we confess our sins, voice our sorrow for having offended Christ, and promise that with His blessing we will sin no more. For example; many millennials today seem to believe that living with a partner is acceptable as they are just trying it out to begin with to see if it can work. Therefore, leaving the Confessional to immediately return to such a sin is not worthy of God’s forgiveness. Those who repeatedly fabricate lies to hurt someone they do not like, and are harmful to that person must stop, or one has made a promise to God that they have no intention of keeping. That is not a good Confession. And it does not permit any of us to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion when we are not in the state of grace.

   A good Confession is one where we honestly admit our sins and are truly sorry for having hurt God. We ask for His forgiveness, and grace to keep us from sin, and promise not to sin again with His grace.

   Therefore, remaining in the state of grace requires us to become more conscious of our sins, and think about Christ’s sacrifice and death on the Cross caused by our sins, yours and mine. As we frequent the sacraments and work toward moving away from sin, we are truly blessed. As we become closer to Christ, we would rather feel pain than inflict pain on our sweet, and merciful God. We begin to fear sinning because we want so much to one day be welcomed into His arms in Paradise.

   A sincere Act of Contrition is just that, sincere. It is sincere because every word we say to Christ in admitting our sins, and the knowledge of how we once again, have hurt Him, hurts us even more. Remaining in the state of grace requires us to not commit mortal sins. It requires much more than willpower. It requires a deeper sense of love for Christ, and the desire to never offend Him again. None of us are good enough to be with God in heaven. We were born with Original sin that we inherited, and we continue to sin throughout our lives. In spending more time with God through the sacraments, in prayer and just speaking to Him we can begin to understand that there is not another soul in the world who deserves the love, loyalty and commitment that we owe to Christ. This Lenten Season let us fall asleep in prayer with Christ, and awaken each day with a new resolve to live our lives in a way that will be pleasing to Him.