Confess
Your Sins at the Acceptable Time
If anyone here is a slave to sin then let
him make himself ready through faith for the new birth into the freedom of
God’s adopted children. Let him put aside his wretched servitude of sin and
take on the blessed service of the Lord; so that he may be counted as a worthy
sharer in the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven. Through confession, strip
yourself naked of your old human nature, which is being torn apart by deceitful
desires, and clothe yourself in the new nature, which is being mended and made
whole by knowledge of the One who created you. By faith receive the guarantee
of the Holy Spirit, so that you will be received into your eternal home. Come
before the mystical Seal of God’s kingdom so that you may be easily recognised
by the Master.
Be counted as part of the holy and spiritual
flock of Christ, to be set apart on his right hand and receive the inheritance
that has been prepared for you. Those who still wear the rough garment of their
sins are on his left hand because they have not come to the grace of God which
is given through Christ in the baptism of rebirth. It is not a new physical
birth I mean, but a spiritual second birth of the soul. Bodies are born of
visible parents but souls are reborn through faith, for the Spirit blows where it wills.
If you are found worthy, you will hear the
words Well done, good and
faithful servant – when your conscience has been examined and found to
be free of all taint of hypocrisy.
If anyone here thinks of putting God’s grace
to the test, he is deceiving himself and ignorant of the power of things. Keep
your soul sincere and free of hypocrisy because God searches the mind and the
heart.
The present time is the time for confession.
Confess what you have done, whether by words or by actions, whether by day or
by night. If you confess at the acceptable time, you will receive the heavenly
treasure on the Day of salvation.
Make yourself pure so that you may be a
vessel of more abundant grace. Remission of sins is given equally to everyone
but the sharing of the Holy Spirit is given differently to each man, according
to the faith of each. If you have expended little labour, you will receive
little in the way of reward; if, on the other hand, you have laboured greatly,
great will be the reward you receive. It is for your own benefit that you are
running this race: run hard, in your own interest.
If you are holding anything against anyone,
forget it, let it go. You have come here to receive forgiveness of sins, so you
must first forgive whoever has sinned against you.
Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
From the Instructions to Catechumens by St Cyril of
Jerusalem
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