Newness Itself Must Be Renewed
Bishop Paul S. Coakley
“God of mercy,
You wash away our sins in water,
You give us new birth in the Spirit,
and redeem us in the blood of Christ.
As we celebrate Christ’s resurrection
increase our awareness of these blessings,
and renew your gift of life within us.” (Opening Prayer, Second Sunday of Easter)
THROUGHOUT THE EASTER season the Church’s newest members continue to reflect upon the meaning of their experience at the Easter Vigil when they were initiated into the mystery of Christ and His Church through Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist. The prayers of the Church’s liturgy during this paschal season express the praise and gratitude of all the faithful for the newness of life and redemption that we have celebrated during the Easter Triduum and which we renew constantly in the sacraments.
“See, I make all things new!” (Rev. 21:5) During the Easter season we celebrate new life, the new covenant, and the new law of love which we have received through Christ’s death and resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are a new creation!
“Nevertheless,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, “the new life received in Christian initiation has not abolished the frailty and weakness of human nature, nor the inclination to sin” (CCC 1426). We carry this treasure of divine life in earthen vessels.
“Do not think that the renewal of life that came about once for all at the beginning is enough; newness itself must be renewed.” These words of the ancient Christian writer, Origen, remind us that the struggle of conversion from sin toward holiness and eternal life continues throughout our lives. By faith in the Gospel we are lead by grace to Baptism, the principal place for the first and fundamental conversion of life. Here we renounce evil and gain salvation through the forgiveness of sins and the gift of new life in the Spirit.
BUT CHRIST’S CALL to conversion continues resound in the hearts of Christians throughout our lives. The so-called second conversion is an uninterrupted task for the whole Church which, though holy, is always in need of purification as it travels constantly the path of penance and renewal. (cf. LG 8)
For Christians, sin remains a possibility even after Baptism. Continuing conversion remains a necessity. But conversion is not only our work. It is, first of all, God’s work whose grace calls us to repentance and offers us His mercy.
Christ entrusted to the Church his ministry of reconciling repentant sinners. On the day of his Resurrection the Risen Christ appeared to his apostles saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and those you retain are retained” (Jn.20:23). In fulfilling this mandate the Church carries on Christ’s ministry of healing, forgiveness and reconciliation through the Sacrament of Penance. As the Divine Physician, Christ acts through His ordained priest to offer mercy, heal the wounds of sin and restore our communion with God and the Church which sin weakens or even destroys.
THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE (Reconciliation) is a precious gift which Christ entrusted to the Church. The Easter season invites a renewed appreciation for this precious and indispensable sacrament of Divine Mercy.
The communal celebrations of the Sacrament of Penance in which many are accustomed to participate during Lent and Advent, though very beneficial, do not exhaust our need for this Sacrament, nor the benefits we can derive from it. If we are seeking holiness and the fullness of the Christian life, we have to make good use of all of the means that God places at our disposal to assist us, including this sacrament. The more we open our hearts and consciences to the healing love of Christ in this sacrament, the more sensitive we will become to His presence in our lives. Only the experience of God’s particular and unconditional love for us will truly reveal the mystery of sin for what it is: not merely the breaking of an external precept, but the rupture of our relationship with God who loves us beyond our imagining.
Published
The Register, April 4, 2008