“…Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (JN 3: 14-15)

Our lives have a purpose: eternal life. Between eternal life and our lives there is sin. Only Our Lord, the Redeemer, can take all our sins upon Himself on the cross and liberate us from sin. What we need is just to leave our sins at His feet. Confession is a place where we can find God’s merciful love and start life again. From both perspectives, as a penitent and as a priest, we adore Our Lord as Our Redeemer.

“We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your Cross you have redeemed the world.” (Gospel Acclamation)

“Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.’” (MK 8: 32-33)

When God became Man and shared with us His life and mission, we became able to think “as God does,” not just “as human beings do.” There is always a temptation to look at our lives only from a human perspective, escaping from challenges, from what is difficult or unpopular. It is hard to be His witness, uncompromising to the world.

“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” (Gospel Acclamation)

“A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.” (LK 6: 45)

The Descartes era identified the knowledge of man through cognition. The Bible (and in our times St. Karol Wojtyła in his book The Acting Person) characterizes man as the person in action: “out of the store of goodness in his heart [, he] produces good.” When man is a husband or wife, his or her action should reveal his or her identity. Like the ancient world used to say: Agere sequitur esse.(Action follows being). We ARE our God’s children; we are spouses, parents, priests, friends, brothers or sisters. Action follows.

“Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him.” (Gospel Acclamation)

“‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.” (LK 6: 42)

How easy we can see others’ limits and weaknesses. Art historians used to say: we see what we know. The danger of being focused on others’ limits rather than ours lies on a lack of truth. The truth about us is that we are sinners; Our Lord saved us, but with His blessing and help we can change. Our responsibility is to change ourselves for the beauty of our brothers and sisters (or spouses) and not to change them because we know better.

“Your word, O Lord, is truth; consecrate us in the truth.” (Gospel Acclamation)

“Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” (LK 6: 37-38)

All of this advice sounds really simple and possible, butwe know how difficult it can be to put this guidance into practice. “Judging” and “condemning” are connected with self-centeredness ; without becoming a gift of self and forgiveness, this change is impossible, but when they are introduced in “a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, [gifts] will be poured into our lap.”

“If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.” (Gospel Acclamation)

“If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” (COL 3: 1-2)

Our vocation is not for organizing a perfect life here, on earth. We are called to be children of God for eternity. The most common way and common vocation is to be a husband or a wife. Marriage, created by God for helping a couple to go to heaven, “where Christ is seated at the right hand of God,” has all the resources to assist them in doing it. They help when we “think of what is above, not of what is on earth.”

“Rejoice and leap for joy! Your reward will be great in heaven.” (Gospel Acclamation)

“We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” ( Rom 8: 28)

Between “for those who love God” and “all things work for good” is a strong connection and one condition which makes it possible. We know that many more situations will efficiently “work for good” when we have a good preparation and a good team of highly motivated workers, but the situation when “all things work for good” can happen only when we have the right condition—”for those who love God.” With God everything is possible–likethe “yes” of a modest virgin to be the Mother of God.

“Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, deserving of all praise; from you rose the sun of justice, Christ our God.” (Gospel Acclamation)

“The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.” (LK 6: 7)

We cannot imagine that anyone would look at Our Lord in this way: “watched him closely” to “discover a reason to accuse him.” The most merciful, gentle and protective person would not expect anything like this. But at the same moment, we are able to make a very serious examination of conscience of my spouse or my sister/brother: did I receive what I needed, did he/she respect me, and so on.

“My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.” (Gospel Acclamation)

“He took him off by himself away from the crowd.  He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’— that is, ‘Be opened!’ — And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly.” (MK 7: 33-35)

Our relationship with Our Lord is absolutely unique and very … private. For our public relationship is only the result of our private relationship: our neighbors can observe the difference in our lives when we pray or not. We need this privacy because we are coming with our weaknesses or sins and our damages or disabilities. And Our Lord cures these “by himself away from the crowd”—to protect our dignity.

“Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the kingdom and cured every disease among the people.” (Gospel Acclamation)

“Brothers and sisters: You once were alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deeds; God has now reconciled you in the fleshly Body of Christ through his death”… (COL 1: 21-22)

On one side we have a structure of a person separated from God: first—“alienated,” second—“hostile in mind,” and third—“evil deeds”–“alienated,” because in my daily life there was no time for God; “hostile in mind”, because my mistaken patterns of interpretation in my inner dialog dominated and resulted always in a bad interpretation; “evil deeds,” because this was the natural consequence of life without God. On the other side, we have a structure of a person close to God: affiliated, friendly in mind and of good deeds–affiliated, because we are His children and we love to be close with Our Lord and pray; friendly in mind, because we can look for a good side of life (“it is good, because…”); of good deeds, because our love for God and our brothers we can put into action.

“I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father except through me.” (Gospel Acclamation)