Watertown, NY
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This report is a continuation of yesterday’s story and comes from team leader Scott with our team in Watertown, NY:
Resident B who sat next to Resident A took issue with confession. He believed that since he prayed to God all the time, and confessed his sins to Him directly, that he did not need to utilize the sacrament. He also didn’t understand why he needed a mediator between him and God. I explained to Resident B the scriptural justification for confession from the gospel and Old Testament, with the example of Christ giving the authority to forgive or retain sins to the apostles before He ascended into Heaven, and further scriptural proof of how the Priests and Bishops today of the Catholic Church are the successors to the apostles with that authority. I also explained how the Israelites in the wilderness also needed a mediator between God, and that was Moses, because the congregation could not come close to God like Moses did, lest they die. So, in the same way, the Lord utilizes mediators He chooses for the people in every generation. Resident B considered this thought but didn’t budge on his position. Please pray for Resident B to consider utilizing the sacrament of reconciliation as the Lord desires.
Other residents who haven’t considered their Catholic faith for sometime were reconsidering their involvement, especially when Father offered the sacrament of reconciliation. I was very blessed to be assigned a speech on “forgiveness”. This speech would have to be given right before Father was going to hear confessions, so I needed to give a good speech that would convince them to utilize this unique opportunity to return to their original purity of baptism. Although I couldn’t give the full speech the way I wrote it, because I had to speak it from memory, by the grace of God Almighty I said what was on my heart and the message I needed to say, which was my own confession to everyone else in the room. Even though it still hurt me greatly, I did this because in order to receive you must give, and in order to preach you must also be an example, and words alone can only take you so far. So, I had to give up a piece of myself, and even though it hurt, it was worth it because even if one soul considered being reconciled with God then it’d be worth every second of humiliation and pain.
Resident C, who sat next to Resident B at my table, was very much open to everything the REC had to offer. Upon getting to know him better, he explained to me that the last time he saw his three year old son was when he put him on the bus to school and waved him goodbye. His baby’s mother, who is his girlfriend, is also a good friend to him, but he does not consider marriage. I tried explaining marriage in different ways, and finally Resident C looked at me as if he came to the realization of something beautiful and he was silent for a while after he thanked me. Please pray for Resident C and his family.
Praised be Jesus Christ!