​All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the Lord, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.

Jer 31:34

I enjoy finding verses that put us all on equal footing. We can say that we’re all the same until we’re  blue in the face, but until we can read it in black and white I fear that some will not believe it.

The verse perfectly encapsulates that feeling.

All.

From least to greatest.

All shall know me.

I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.

I have just come from reconciliation. I try to go once a season, more if there is something significant happening in my life – traveling, going on retreat, teaching a class. My church does a Lenten Penance Service for the parishioners together. You still have the privacy of the confessional, but your penance is said together. There’s music. I find it a very nice way of bringing the community together. Unfortunately, we had a snowstorm on that evening so I wasn’t able to attend, but I was able to make the time today, a week before my retreat, two weeks before Easter to go to reconciliation.

When I went in it didn’t feel like much, but it was the first time that I remembered my act of contrition card (I don’t have it memorized yet.) It was the first time that I made the sign of the cross and said, “bless me father for I have sinned.” It was the first time that I stated when my last confession was without being prompted. It was the first time I didn’t umm through my sins or wrongdoing.

It was the first time it felt normal-ish.

Remember their sin no more.

I go in, close the door, state my sins, talk, receive penance, and then I’m absolved. I don’t have to worry about G-d bringing it up like an ex might continue to remind you of that time you whatevered twenty years ago and that’s why you’re not married now. I also don’t have to worry about my priest remembering. I’m absolved, and it’s gone for both of us. All of us who seek reconciliation.

G-d doesn’t hold anything against us, and we should learn from that to not hold things against ourselves. Once we’re forgiven in the confessional, we should let it go and not feel guilty or bad about it any longer.

On this fifth Sunday of Lent, don’t forget your responsibilities for the Lenten season. Have you gone to reconciliation? Have you stuck by what you’ve given up or abstained from? Have you prayed more? Is there a special devotion that you like to pray to? Mine is Mary, untier of knots. Lent continues for another two weeks. There is still time to find your way. Each day is a new beginning. It’s not too late to start.