Daily Reflection Friday 22th July, 2016.
By Rev. Fr Oliver Onah
By Rev. Fr Oliver Onah
In his Sonnet, William Shakespeare said, would that man may know his end. On the last day, there will be great wailing all over the land. People would be disposed to confess all their hidden faults but no priest would be available for confession because both the goose and the gander would be crying for mercy. In St Mary Magdalene, we celebrate eternity in time. Renowned for her First Class Ph.D. in prostitution, she saves herself from everlasting disgrace by confessing in time, all the festering sins that would make her cry on the judgement day. She is aware that time (divine mercy) cannot be celebrated in eternity (divine justice) but eternity can be celebrated in time. Whoever is not saved in time might not be saved in eternity. Today, Jeremiah calls us back to our Creator (Jer 3:14)). Let me ask you. Why have you stayed too long without confession and Holy Communion? Lack of priests? Why do you conceal some sins in confession? Because of shame? Perhaps you prefer praise in time to shame in eternity. The devil once replied to a holy solitary in confession: “I now restore to these penitents what I before took away from them; I took away from them shame while they were committing sin, I now restore it, that they may have a horror of confession”. St Alphonsus says that “gangrenous sores are fatal; and sins concealed in confession, are spiritual ulcers, which multiply and become gangrenous”. God made sin shameful that we might abstain from it, and gives us confidence to confess it by promising pardon to all who like Mary Magdalene accuse themselves of their sins. “After confession, says St Chrysostom, a crown is given to penitent’. St Mary Magadalene the one time prostitute is wearing her own crown now. Will you?
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