This Wednesday evening (March 4) the Diocesan Lenten Pilgrimage takes place at the Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. Mass is at 7:00 PM and Confessions will be heard from 6:00 PM to 6:45 PM. Lent is a time to repent and the Lenten Pilgrimage presents us with the opportunity to receive God’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Several priests will be hearing Confessions before Mass. Through confession to a priest, who acts in the person of Christ, we have our sins forgiven and we are given the grace to help us resist future temptations.
From the Second Vatican Council document, Lumen Gentium, we read: “Those who approach the sacrament of penance obtain pardon from God’s mercy for the offences committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labors for their conversion.”
“If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven, if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” – John 20:23