From homily at Nationals Park in Washington DC
"In today’s Gospel, the risen Lord bestows the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and grants them the authority to forgive sins. Through the surpassing power of Christ’s grace, entrusted to frail human ministers, the Church is constantly reborn and each of us is given the hope of a new beginning. Let us trust in the Spirit’s power to inspire conversion, to heal every wound, to overcome every division, and to inspire new life and freedom. How much we need these gifts! And how close at hand they are, particularly in the sacrament of Penance! The liberating power of this sacrament, in which our honest confession of sin is met by God’s merciful word of pardon and peace, needs to be rediscovered and reappropriated by every Catholic. To a great extent, the renewal of the Church in America and throughout the world depends on the renewal of the practice of Penance and the growth in holiness which that sacrament both inspires and accomplishes."
It is no accident that the hardest thing for Catholics to do also ends up being, according to the Holy Father, the thing that will most help them to grow in holiness. We must achieve a great balance between receiving the sacrament of penance and receiving the Eucharist. There is nothing wrong with receiving the Eucharist regularly; unless, of course, the patterns of sin in our lives render us unable to unwrap the grace made present by the sacrament. The sacrament of reconciliation always brings about the virtues of courage, humility and faith within us, which are fundamental to anyone wanting to change and to be made more fully into the likeness of Christ, whom we have the privilege of receiving in the Holy Eucharist.
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