“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one” - Elbert Hubbard. All who wanted to succeed in life have made mistakes. That does not mean that one has to do some blunder in order to succeed! All that it means is mistakes do happen in life.

There are many folks who believe that successful people never make any mistake, only ignorant ones do. But the opposite is true. In fact, there is a book called “Einstein’s Mistakes” which describes some major failures he had in his profession.

The late Steve Jobs (Apple) and Bill Gates (Microsoft) have experienced failures. Thomas Alva Edison discovered the light bulb after many failed attempts. Once, when asked about his results, Edison replied, “I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work!”

If you want to start 2012 afresh and maintain that freshness, you got to have a mindset to learn from mistakes. You may not be perfect in all that you do in this year. But you can enjoy every moment of this year with such a mindset.

In fact, you can benefit from mistakes if you can handle them positively.

1. Mistakes can lead you to discovery.
You may be working on something. But you may end up discovering something else! This is the case of the Microwave Oven and Post-it Notes.

2. Mistakes can lead you to a solution.
You may have thought that you blew it. But in fact you found the solution that you were trying to find!

3. Mistakes can make you more knowledgeable.
That is what happened to Thomas Edison. He understood what won’t work as a result of his failures.

4. Learn from mistakes and then, dump them!
You don’t need to cling on to mistakes. When it happens, get the message and then throw them out. Don’t regret over your mistakes. Employ what you learned from them.

In order to start this New Year afresh, we must be ready to learn from mistakes.

In the next post, we are going to deal with the seventh step to starting 2012 afresh. Meanwhile, what are some of the principles you learned from the mistakes you made? Jot them down in the comments section below.

- – – written by Joe Abraham from www.joeandancy.com

Years ago when I was occasionally talking about religion with friends who were not Catholics, they used to say. “It must be awful to have to tell your sins to a priest”. Of course going to confession may not be easy most times. On the other hand I am glad that there is the sacrament of reconciliation when you feel you need it.

Why does the Catholic Church have this sacrament?

Jesus established seven sacraments for His followers. Confession is one of the seven sacraments administered by the Catholic Church. In the case of confession the institution occurred on Easter Sunday when Christ first appeared to the apostles after his resurrection. Breathing on them he said; “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20; 22-23).

We understand from the Scripture that Jesus spoke clearly that He had authority to forgive sins and by virtue of His divine authority He gave this power to men to exercise in his name (Mathew 16; 19-20). Jesus established this sacrament, out of His great love, knowing that even after baptism we could still have to deal with the reality of sin. Thus a sinner who is repentant about his/her sins receives pardon and peace and is restored to the fullness of grace with God. Catholics believe that the sacraments are an outward sign of an inward grace. In this case the outward sign is the absolution and forgiveness of sins, that the priest grants to the penitent. The inward grace is the reconciliation of the penitent to God.

Reconciling of man to God is the purpose of confession. When we sin, we deprive ourselves of God’s grace. In the sacrament of confession, grace can be restored to our souls and we can once again resist sins.

What is sin?

The Church defines sin as a deliberate turning away from God and God’s goodness. Sin is before all else an offense against God. At the same time it damages communion with the Church. In some ways it is really hard to commit sin, because sin involves making a conscious decision to turn away from God. So most of the times the weakness makes us fall into temptations.

Since God is love and wills only what is ultimately good, He continues to call us to conversion. St Peter’s conversion after he had denied his Master three times bears witness to the expecting Father and his love and mercy. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes this sacrament as the sacrament of conversion, the sacrament of penance, the sacrament of confession, the sacrament of forgiveness and the sacrament of reconciliation.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation

It is felt that this is also a sacrament of compassion. God has given freedom for all to love Him and His creation. When we sin, we misuse that freedom. But we can repent and turn back to God. Through His death Jesus rescued humanity to the Father. Jesus continues to dwell within the Church and continues to help us.

Absolution is part of the great mystery of salvation. It does not work like a magic, but it is amazing to realize how extraordinary God’s redeeming love for the humans really is. The God we encounter in the sacrament of reconciliation is the God of compassion. In the battle against sin God is on our side. It does not mean that God is pleased by sin. It means that, because of an overwhelming love for us, God reaches out even further to meet us when we need our creator most.

When it comes to sin, we can be sure that God is not vengeful or spiteful but merciful and forgiving. This is very clear from the behaviour of Jesus. How He dealt with sinners whom He encountered. Luke tells us the story of a sinful woman who sought out Jesus. When He was eating in the house of Simon, the Pharisee, this woman showed up. She was uninvited. Because she had a bad reputation, she was considered a terrible sinner, but Jesus welcomed her in. Simon was outraged that Jesus was associated with this kind of woman. But Jesus knew of her sorrow for her sins and her humble heart which desired healing. Jesus said to Simon “her many sins are forgiven, hence she was shown great love (Luke 7; 47).

For confession, a good examination of conscience is needed. We have to examine how we failed in the love of Jesus. Repentance is the recognition that we have strayed from the right path hurting Jesus and our neighbours. When we confess we are not telling God something he does not know already. We have to pour out the ugly sins to the priest who alone can provide us with the peace of absolution. Accepting a penance from the priest and completing it is a proof of our true sorrow. It is a way of expressing our sincere sorrow and to turn back to God.

Read more on Confession

There was a time when the number of communicants was very less when compared to the large attendance in the church for Mass. The Vatican II documents say that the faithful achieve a more perfect participation in the Mass when, with proper dispositions, they receive the Body of the Lord sacramentally in the Mass, in obedience to His words “take and eat” . The faithful are encouraged to receive Communion in the Mass to live joyfully and gratefully by the strength of this heavenly food. (Eucharistic Mysterium) As a result almost all participants receive communion, these days.

St Paul clarifies that “only after examining ourselves (that is after confession) we shall eat the bread and drink the cup. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord” (I Cor 11; 27).

Sometimes we put off this sacrament of reconciliation or avoid it altogether because we don’t have big sins or there may be some hesitation or nervousness on account of an impression that our faults and sins may get leaked. In this connection it is stated that the Church will never violate the seal of confession. According to the code of canon law 9831, The sacramental seal is inviolable and so is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.

In this connection I would like to mention that the Prime Minister of Ireland threatens that legislation would be enacted in the Parliament to make the Church reveal the confessional secrets if and when the Govt. wants. The Archbishop of Ireland has already told that no one can interfere with the rules of the Church in such matters and that the Church opposes all such threats.

Advocates of Confession

It may not be right to end this article without mentioning the two famous catholic priests who spent their lives declaring the importance of confession. St John Maria Vianney of France, the patron of the parish priests (1786-1859) was known for spending more than half of his day in the confessional. The faithful came from afar to the small city of Ars to pour out their hearts and ask for the Lord’s forgiveness for their sins. It is said that once devil told him “If there were three such priests as you, my kingdom in France would be ruined.”

Another famous person was Padre Pio of Italy (1887-1968). He had the stigmata on 29th September 1918 which remained for 50 years till his death. When daily he woke up at 4.00 am to say Mass, hundreds of people were already waiting for him for confession. His principal activity was hearing confession. He was famous for possession of knowledge about others’ thoughts and had the gift of bilocation, that one is presenting himself in two places at the same time.

Let us hope that more and more Catholics will receive the sacrament of reconciliation to renew themselves and to be nearer to God. Now I hope you all have a clear idea on why should we confess our sins to a priest in the sacrament of confession.

- – - written by K. C. Thomas

It is impossible for us to know all about God, because He is totally beyond our understanding. The only way to know God is for God to reveal himself to us. Ever since God created man in his own image and likeness, man has been creating God in man’s own image and likeness. Some of the attributes humans apply to God are downright false, and an affront to Him.

However, God has revealed himself partially to genuine seekers. There have been great sages who were searchers, and to them God has revealed some of His aspects. For example, Indian sages have concluded that God is satchitanandanityaparipoorna, that He is a being, intelligent, bliss, eternal and perfect. In the Gayatri Mantra, God is described as the support of our life, destroyer of pain, bestower of happiness, shining like the sun, unique, destroyer of evil, and divine intelligence.

Through Jesus Christ, God has revealed something astonishing about His inner life: that He is not a solitary individual, but a community, a community of three distinct persons who are equal and yet one through love. This inner life of God is known as the Holy Trinity. To distinguish these three divine persons from one another, one is called Father, the other Son, and the third Spirit. This is a tremendous and amazing revelation about God’s inner life, an aspect which we would not have been able to discover through our limited intelligence.

This unique revelation implies many things. God’s inner life is full of activity, the Father is turned towards the Son, the Son turned towards the Father, and the Love between them being another person known as the Spirit. The Father is outgoing, the Son is outgoing, the Spirit too is outgoing; reaching out in love everywhere and always. God reaches out to His creation, especially to humans. The Son becomes a human being in Jesus, and the Spirit hovers over the earth, especially guiding, inspiring and strengthening humans everywhere.

Also Read The Trinity Explained

The Holy Trinity thus becomes the model for all relationships, especially for every community, every family, every assembly. The quality of our life depends on the quality of our relationships, and if our relationships are modeled on the Trinity (three different persons, yet equal and related to each other in perfect love) life becomes a joyful and pleasant experience. Love is to be always outgoing, love is sharing, love is respectful, and between lovers there is equality.

The Trinity emphasizes that solitariness is hell and that individualistic selfishness is a curse, unbecoming of any human being. We are born to foster relationships. From the moment we are born, we are related to our mother, father, siblings, grandparents, cousins and the extended family. We are to grow in this relationship, reaching out beyond our extended family. We are to establish relationships with all people, castes, races and nations – which should lead to fellowship, understanding, mutual help and well-being. We are to create a family of nations.

No man is an island, and we all belong to the family of man, and to the family of God. The Son became man that we might become divine. If we understand this and accept it, there would be no more wars, corruption, and exploitation. This is the challenge that the Holy Trinity places before us – be like God, become divine! Becoming divine is an invitation to love, sharing, communion, community, self-communication and joy in giving and receiving. Praise and glory to the Holy Trinity!

Because we are created in the image and likeness of the Holy Trinity, we tend to create communities: families, associations, clubs etc. We try to reach out to others. But then sin comes in and destroys everything. Selfishness, lust, avarice, jealousy destroy whatever we try to build. We have to overcome sin if we want to be constructive.

The doctrine of the Trinity enables to understand how Jesus, a human being could also be divine, the Son of God. The Son became man without losing his Sonship, his divinity. This is very well expressed in the Preface of the Mass for the feast of the Holy Trinity: “You are one God, one Lord, not in the unity of one person, but in the Trinity of one substance. For what you have revealed to us of your glory we believe equally of your Son and of the Holy Spirit, so that, in the confessing of the true and eternal Godhead, you might be adored in what is proper to each Person, their unity in substance, and their equality in majesty”.

Let us pray the Prayer to The Holy Trinity

- – - written by Fr. George Kureethra