This guy got his vocation from Jesus by going to Confession. I love that.
Jesus couldn’t care less what you think you do for vocations: If you don’t go to Confession regularly, you do absolutely nothing.
Let’s get on our knees, my brother priests and bishops. Our own going to Confession is the only way to promote vocations, because only then do we know what it’s all about.
Do you have special super-neat programs for vocations? You know, all the specialized questionnaires and all the demographics and psychological studies and arrays of perks and stuff like that? Jesus doesn’t give a damn about any of it.
Jesus is the One who calls, not you. Get out of the way. Let young men see Jesus in you. Unless you yourself are going to Confession, unless you know the wounds of Jesus ever so personally, unless you are on your knees before Him, they won’t be able to see Jesus in you.
If you’re not going to Confession, they’ll say: “So, what’s the point?” And you’ll respond with all sorts of programs and niceness. And they’ll become atheists.
I know, I know. There are many priests who don’t go to Confession. It’s hard to go to Confession to them, isn’t it? Sure. But it may save their souls. Do them a favor.
Actually, I’ve been too nice. Let’s put it this way:
A priest who doesn’t go to Confession will not promote vocations.
It’s not an absolute, but it’s most likely that:
A priest who doesn’t promote vocations almost certainly doesn’t go to Confession.
Oh, and you laity. The same goes for you. Think about it. Pray about it. Go to Confession.
Oh, and, from Saint Bernard:
Where can the weak find a place of firm security and peace, except in the wounds of the Savior? Indeed, the more secure is my place there, the more he can do to help me. The world rages, the flesh is heavy, and the devil lays his snares, but I do not fall, for my feet are planted on firm rock. I may have sinned gravely. My conscience would be distressed, but it would not be in turmoil, for I would recall the wounds of the Lord: he was wounded for our iniquities. What sin is there so deadly that it cannot be pardoned by the death of Christ? And so if I bear in mind this strong, effective remedy, I can never again be terrified by the malignancy of sin.
Oh, and, some related posts on the HSH ferocious series on Confession on the sidebar of the blog:
- My fellow Bishops and Priests, is not our own going to Confession the Heart of the New Evangelization? – The answer to that would be yes. Plus, a great cartoon.
- “Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” And then: “I hate other priests who tell me I’m on a slippery slope for not saying the Liturgy of the Hours” – Yikes! A bit of a monitum.
- Saint or Sinner: It’s Either Both or None – This is another of my favorite posts on the blog.
- JESUS GOES TO CONFESSION – Another of my favorites! If you want to know how much Jesus loves us, this post will give you an indication. A seven-fold Yikes!
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
I was reading the other day the story of the 16th-century Franciscan nun and alleged mystic and miracle worker, Sr. Magdalena of the Cross. For years, she had all sorts of people going, from princes to prelates (though she did not fool St. Ignatius Loyola or St. John of Avila). Then it turned out she had made a pact with the devil in her youth, and all her alleged miracles and visions were diabolical deceits. Happily, she eventually repented and converted, and was exorcised.
One thing that particularly struck me was that at one point, she claimed that St. Francis appeared to her and told her she needn’t go to confession anymore. That should stand as a huge warning, as well as a back-handed testimony to the power of Confession.
All I can say is “yes, yes, yes.”
[[... comment edited out... Sorry, Clare, but you might want to re-read the post and the cited articles. Thanks! ... (and the rest in that series on Confession in the sidebar of the blog) ]]
That young man radiates peace and sincerity. What a lovely picture! And, of course, thank you for this post and all the others.
Quite the experience in confession today. I confessed to anger against a certain person. The priest asked a very trenchant question (“Why did God put that person in your life?”) that eventually made me realize that I have been wrong about something for the past three months – something that wasn’t directly the subject of my confession. Now it seems like I have been given some very much needed hope.
There’s a world of good in the confessional and the places it sends one are full of surprises.
Gregg: You’re exactly right. The Holy Spirit will always provide you something over and above the forgiveness of sins. Even a simple penance I once received of three Hail Marys, or an Our Father, were totally cool, since this is what the Divine Tribunal appointed by God Most High has for us. I had what I thought were very moving meditations from those prayers in the context of offering these as a Penance.
Having to confess sins is humiliating; but the very humiliation is itself a grace. For one thing, we could all stand an increase in humility. For another, the humiliation of confessing is a great preventative measure. There are sins I have been able to avoid, in no small part because I don’t want to have to confess them again.