"Not That Simple"

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"When confession does find a meaningful sacramental expression, the experience of forgiveness can be quite astounding. I have sometimes woken in the night after going to confession, bowled over by the surprise of the forgiveness I did not even know I wanted. When a friend or husband forgives you you feel much better, but when God forgives you and the awareness of it hits you, mediated by one person whose compassion represents that of the whole Church and of God, then you just cannot believe that you have needed it so much. Sin is not that simple, you have thought; contrition is not that simple; reform is not that simple. But when reconciliation comes despite your incapacity to be simple about sin and sorrow, then problems and doubts do not seem that relevant any more. Yesterday they were relevant; they needed a place in the sacrament; they needed to be expressed. But once expressed they do not seem to matter much. All that matters is that God holds you in her loving embrace. First be re-united; then resolve the differences."

--Margaret Hebblethwaite, Motherhood and God

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