Focused Link: Denying our Sins - Part One

I've always been impressed by the sharpness of the writings and preachings of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, one of my favorite contemporary Catholic preachers. Below is an article about confession and the need for reconciliation.

The full article, along with commentaries by a Sheen scholar (Barbara Kralis)
http://www.catholic.org/featured/sheen.php?ID=2414

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This is a story about a girl. I received a call from two little girls who came to the rectory, to go immediately to an apartment house near the Hudson River. And they said,

"Kitty is dying."

"Who is Kitty?"

They said, "Don’t you know Kitty? Everybody knows Kitty."

I inquired about her illness and the little girls said, "She’s dying."

I took the Blessed Sacrament and holy oils. I climbed up five dingy flights of stairs to one of the dirtiest rooms that I was ever in. Meat, fat, papers, rags were all over the floor. And over in the corner lay a dirty cot and this young girl on it. She was very sick.

"Are you Kitty?"

"Yes, everybody knows me."

"Kitty, would you like to make your peace with the good Lord?"

"No, I can’t, because I’m the worst girl in the city of New York."

"No," I said, "you’re not the worst girl in the city of New York because the worst girl in the city of New York says she’s the best girl in the city of New York."

I begged and pleaded with her to go to Confession and she said, "No, I can’t. I’m too rotten."

She said, "Look at my arms, all black and blue. That is from my husband. I don’t bring in enough money from the streets and he beats me. Now he’s poisoned me and I’m dying of poison."

I rehearsed for her the parables of our Blessed Lord and, finally, she went to Confession. But, I had not anointed her because it took so long to convince her of God’s Mercy and the poison was getting into the different areas of the brain. And, as it did, she seemed to have the impression of losing the external organs.

For example, she would reach for her ear and say, "Mother, here’s my ear, you keep it when I’m gone."

And, there was a girl that came into the room. Kitty begged to give up her life by saying,

"Here, Ann, here’s my eye. And, here’s my tongue, you keep that."

I realized, then, that she was very serious, and I anointed her and immediately she was all right. Then, I said,

"Sorry, Kitty, you’re back in this world again."

"Yes, just to prove that I can be better," she said.

So, she became an apostle among the very people with whom she worked. And, I would be hearing Confessions on a Saturday night; I would open the slide,

"Father, I am the girl that Kitty told you about."

"Father, I am the boy that Kitty told you about."

One night Kitty came to the rectory and said,

"I have a girl who committed murder."

"Where is she?"

"She’s in the Church."

"No, the Church is locked," I said.

"Well, she is across the street, then, seated on the stoop."

So I went to the door and called her over and in a short time she went to Confession.

That was the way that Kitty continued to exercise the apostolate of Mercy, after having been forgiven.

Now, we all have enjoyed this Mercy. We are the most fortunate people in the world because when we are burdened, we can go to the good Lord and receive an external sign that is needed. An external sign that we have been forgiven.

Sin is not the worse thing in the world. The worse thing in the world is the denial of sin.

If I am blind and deny there is any such thing as light, will I ever see? If I am deaf and deny there is any such thing as sound, will I ever hear? And, if I deny that I am a sinner, how can I ever be forgiven?

So, worse than sin is the denial of sin, which is our modern attitude toward life.

If then your soul is burdened, take it to the Lord in Confession. He died for you. He will forgive you.

And, just as there is hardly anything more refreshing than a good bath, so there is nothing spiritually more refreshing than absolution. The beauty of it is that we can start all over again.

The Lord’s Mercy is unlimited, but we just have to have trust in Him. So, I will leave you this consoling thought. If you had never sinned, you never could call Jesus, ‘Savior.’

Thank you and God love you.