By Olivia Obijiaku
Rev Fr Patrick Atama has asserted that those who do away with sacramental confession cheat themselves and extend their hour of mercy from God. Taking this stand at the Mass of Divine Mercy Sunday, which he celebrated in Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Sunday, 7th April 2024, the priest lamented that some Catholics stay away from the sacrament for months and years.
Encouraging the faithful to ask questions when the need arises, he explained that Divine Mercy Sunday is a special day when the gate of the boundless mercy of God is opened for all who are willing and ready to receive it proffering the Sacrament of Penance as a pathway to acquiring His mercy.“Today we are invited to receive the mercy of God through total repentance and conversion.” The priest oriented. “The Feast of Divine Mercy is the biggest promise of grace to mankind. His mercy is infinite.
It is a special Sunday when the divine gates from heaven are wide open and Jesus offers total forgiveness of sins and punishment to any soul that goes to confession and receives Him in the Holy Communion.His mercy is greater than our sins. His mercy is greater than evil, suffering and death. None of us will survive if God should judge us based on our sins because we are all broken and wounded.When you fall, stand up and continue the journey.
Retrace your steps and adjust. But when many of us commit sin, we feel shy confessing them. That is why we prolong moments of mercy. Many of us spend months and years without going to confession. You are cheating yourself.
We are the ones putting limits to the mercy of God. That is why you deprive yourself of sacramental confession. The priests are always there for you to confess your sins.Do not allow your sin to discourage you from going to confession. God knows that you cannot do anything without Him. And so, frequent the sacrament of confession.
The story will change one day as long as you frequent the sacrament. That is why the Lent is a moment of transformation, searching for God’s mercy always through our prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These are some of the ways we seek the mercy of God.
But it does not stop with Lent. We are asked to continue with these acts because our struggles continue.We need Jesus, the Great Healer. He gives us the medicine of mercy so that we will be healed and be made whole again and at the end of time, we will be able to inherit the Kingdom of God. In His mercy, we have victory, salvation and eternal life.”Fr Atama noted that some Catholics allow non-Catholics to discourage them from going for confession.
He told them that they their belief differ in that regard, nudging them to, ‘be proud of your faith wherever you find yourself. Jesus is the one who established this confession. Many of us die in silence and allow other doctrines that are not relevant to our faith becloud their minds and at the end they get confused.
He then charged parishioners to emulate the early Christians who were merciful to one another and to “believe in this mercy of God and in this Sacrament of Confession.”
