Greetings to all. I would like to start off by saying that I'm not the best story writer, so I've decided to go with something resembling an essay. This is not as much an extended essay as it is a "meditation" of sorts. For me, this is a chance to share with you what I learn on my faith journey. I will post what I learn from meditating on Sacred Scripture, and stuff about prayer. Keep in mind that I am no saint; I am a sinner with a "humble contrite heart" (from Psalm 51, "A humble contrite heart, O God, You will not spurn.") who wants nothing more than to serve our Master. Also, I am a Latin Rite Catholic.
One day, my sophomore religion teacher attempted to introduce a bunch of tired teenagers to the traditional practice of Lectio Divina. Now, for those of us who don't know, Lectio Divina is essentially meditating on a certain passage of Scripture, praying to the Holy Spirit to help you find what God is telling you in this passage, and then sharing you findings with a group.
Back to my story, though. So, my teacher told us to open our Bibles to John chapter 8. This is the part of the Gospel where Jesus tells the people "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." As you can tell by my pen name, this verse has a certain significance to me. So, I'm sitting there, at my desk, it's 1:30 in the afternoon on a very hot May afternoon and I'm praying to the Holy Spirit "Holy Spirit, what do you want me to see here? Is there a message for me especially hidden in this verse?" So, I'm sitting there, reading this one verse over and over again. After about twenty minutes, I'm snapped out of this sort of daze I was in by my teacher exclaiming "Time' up! What d'ya got?". After everyone had shared what they had found, I was still trying to grasp the significance of the whole story.
I figured it out. As you can tell by my Pen Name, I screw up. A lot. I find myself saying the Miserere (Psalm 51) quite a bit and I'm in Confession way much more than I'd like to be. But, despite all of our failures, we are still loved by God. While the whole world is pointing at us and shouting "Sinner! You have committed grievious acts against God! You are condemned, what have you to say in your defense!", God kind of shoos them away and tells them "You are also a sinner, remember that." God is our only judge, and He is the only one who will judge us. No one on Earth has the power that the Just Judge has.
The other thing I learned from this story is that Christ is more merciful than we often think. As the adulteress was standing there, looking at Jesus as He wrote something in the dirt, Jesus looked up and said to her "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?". The woman replied by saying "No one, sir." Jesus replied to her by saying "Neither do I condemn you. Go [and] from now on sin no more.". Why is this exchange significant to us two thousand some years after Christ? When I read this verse, I see a kind of Confession. Christ has forgiven the woman of her sins and will not condemn her because of her sin. Yes, she did something serious and yes, she will pay for her sin in Purgatory. But, she was saved from Hell. What does this have to do with anything? Well, if we have confessed our sins, then Christ will not hold those sins against us when we are judged before His Throne. Jesus won't say "Well, on this day of that month, you committed this sin and confessed it on this day. But, still you committed the sin in the first place. I have no choice but to condemn you to Hell. Next!" No, rather, it will be like the sin didn't happen. We will still have to work that sin off in Purgatory, but that is so much better than Hell.
Why am I telling you this? Because we need Divine Mercy more than we often realize. We seem to think "Oh, God will forgive me if I just say a Rosary." But, while there is absolutely no harm whatsoever in saying the Rosary, we still need to go to Confession. As uncomfortable as it is, keep in mind that the priest has trained himself to forget what you confessed. He is also not allowed to break the Seal of Confession under any circumstance. Priests have died to protect this sacred seal, and many more will gladly go to jail or even give their lives to protect the sacredness of the Confessional. That said, we've left the light on for you and the good padre (the priest) is waiting for you. So, go if you must. If you don't have to right now, I ask you to seek forgiveness for any venial sins you may have committed either through prayer, or by going to Mass. I want you to do one more thing for me; which is I want you to read this part of John's Gospel and meditate on it. I want you to ask the Holy Spirit to show you what God wants you to learn from this tiny fragment of His Word. This whole "essay" is simply what I learned, but God reveals something different to all of us.
Pax et bonum,
Sinner
What did you think about this first "chapter"? Should I keep going or would you like me to shut my virtual trap already? I hope I didn't bore anyone to death with all of this. Please, review this and tell me what you think. But, please be nice. Constructive criticism is nice, but don't be a jerk about it, please. As a side note, I HAVE NO STANDING IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. I AM PART OF THE LAITY, NOTHING MORE.