The agility of a ballerina is like the touch of God reaching each sinner!

The agility of a ballerina is like the gentle touch of God reaching each sinner!

Watch how a ballerina can drift across the stage on her toes, allowing her movements to appear as a butterfly drifting in space, beautiful and untouched by just the wind.  There is a form of silhouette eloquence in the moves that match the music causing the dancer to move amidst the breeze of nothing more than the twists and turns that call for a purity that is divine.  

Imagine that you are a collection of the sins that have accumulated over time and seem to cry out to God for solace and redemption.  Is God waiting to put you down by opening a tally of wrongdoing that represents your everyday weakness that pulls you further away from his call to change?  

There was a period in history when a Catholic could only confess once in their life.   The fact that in some areas, absolution after confession was only given once during a person’s life had good intentions behind it.  The early Church wanted to show how serious the effect of mortal sins are not just on the sinner, but on the whole Church since we’re all connected as members of the body of Christ.  (From an article on the Internet).

The grace of God has finally been accepted within the Church and absolution is a regular part of confession, private or public.  When I was a minister for recovering alcohol and drug addicted persons in Texas, ten of the patients chose me as a fifth-step confidant.  I heard confessions that a priest would hear in Catholic penance services.  Only a few of these patients were Catholic.  To this day their sins never left my mouth.  The sad thing is I could not give absolution since I am not a priest.  However, I always reminisce how valuable this part of repentance is since it is the Church through Christ that receives an empty heart and soul.  

Using an ominous example of how deep God’s mercy is;  you are sin represented by just one drop of water and stand before an ocean, which is reminiscent  of God’s mercy.  Once you (the sin) jump into the ocean (God’s mercy) there is not any way to identify you (sin) any more as the sin is absorbed in his mercy.

Watch again as a ballerina becomes a work in gentleness and purity with every movement that captivates the soul in grand peace and comfort.  That is God, through the Sacrament of Confession, becoming the silhouette of forgiveness with no scolding, no anger, just total love for his child.

Ralph B. Hathaway