SH11 – The Sacred Heart, Sin, and Confession – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts Podcast

0:00ThecerningHearts.com presents building a kingdom of love, reflections with Munsenior John Esif. Munsenior Esif is a priest of the diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania. He has served as a retreat direct rank confessor to St. Teresa of Calcutta. He continues to offer direction and retreats for the sisters of the missionaries of charity. Munsenior Esif encountered St. Padre Pio who would become a spiritual father to him. He has lived in areas around the world serving in the Pontifical missions, a Catholic organization established by Pope St. John Paul II to bring the good news to the world especially to the poor. He continues to serve as a retreat leader and director to bishops, priests and sisters, seminarians and other religious leaders. Building a kingdom of love, reflections with Munsenior John Esif. I'm your host, Chris McGregor. When the

1:02two kingdoms clash, Jesus as the commander of the forces of light in the world and the devil Lucifer as the commander of the forces of evil and darkness in the world and when they come into a head-on clang in the world itself, we just all over the world war, violence, killing, abortion, all the terrible things that are going on. I was just... So how does this war, violence and famine, how does a loving God allow such pain and suffering in the world? And as we as we factor in the devil and as we factor in sin, sin is so important and what it brings about that third enemy of human mind death. So Jesus coming into the world as the head

2:03of the kingdom of light is head-on in every soul in the same battle. How do we recognize the evil that's in me and the light that's in me? What is that particular gift that God has given us which we make so little of today? There was a beautiful priest who came from... He came from a premiere, I believe, came from Eastern Europe and he came into one of the parishes in the United States and he said to the pastor he was supposed to be an assistant or helping the pastor. He said I would like to hear confessions. The pastor said, oh people just don't go to confession in this parish. He said, well I would like to just offer that. I'm here and many people don't know me but I know English and I'd be able to offer

3:05this to the parish. So he put out a notice that he would hear confessions from nine until noon during the day from one until five every day from Monday to Friday and the pastor saying well there might be just three or four who go to confession every week but he sat he said it doesn't make any difference. I'll pray I'll be in the church I'll be available. The first day he sat there pretty much alone from nine to noon from one to five. Pretty soon by the time the week was over there were ten or twelve who would come. At the next week and the third week lines and lines were lit were lining up to go to confession from nine in the morning to noon from one in the afternoon till five. The whole parish was

4:08coming to a new life. The the power of the sacrament of reconciliation. I really believe one of the reasons why the spirit of darkness the spirit of evil has so taken over the world today is because we have so few people who are exercising this use of the sacrament of reconciliation. When I was little boy growing up in Wolfsbury, Pennsylvania I was taught that I had to go to confession and the way I went to confession was first you would examine your conscience. Now in those days we would never go to communion with how going to confession which meant that every Saturday all of us would go to confession my father my mother my brother my sister all of us we would go down to St. Anthony's and because Sunday

5:14was not the vigil for Saturday was not the vigil for Sunday it was confession day my dad used to call it the Saturday night bath and so we would go sometimes my dad wouldn't want to go and we'd all remind him of how many times he cursed that we of course we we we had a kind of group examination of conscience and my brother also in fact we used to kind of on the way down to the church we were in the car and we'd all be telling each other about our sins because I could remember saying I think I cursed three times this week and my brother would say I heard you four times at least so then I would all pay for and then sometimes because I wasn't sure how many times I cursed because you had to tell the sin the number of times and the circumstance of the sin that went on we would go every Saturday and we would always remind each other on the way down of

6:19and that was pretty good my mother was good at reminding my dad of his sins and I think he was pretty good at reminding her of her sins and that well that was pretty good and I think with that that group awareness of sinfulness that can divide the family the arguments or whatever we did that week there was a very I think very poor way of going to confession and I I don't offer it to you and over do I everyone to go back to that way of doing things first of all the examine of conscience if we had such a poor notion of what that was examination of conscience it's very important that you listen to me here is not introspection I don't look back if you want to go to confession every two weeks everyone it's not looking back at what you did at yourself to judge intro to it to look

7:22in inspection space you to look in at my sins is not what his confession is to go over your week and what times you might have been jealous what times you might have been judgmental or whatever what are you doing when you introspect on your sins you are looking at yourself introspection is not a record of what I remember of doing that I offended God and separate myself from Jesus for a Christian for those of us who want to use the sacrament of reconciliation separation from Jesus is what is sin the only one who can please and glorify God is Jesus in me he's constantly glorifying the Father the relationship of Jesus in me to the Father is what grace is to be maintained sin is the

8:25interruption of that grace and when I do not love God first of all and my neighbor with the heart of Christ because I of myself will always be in sin for that for the Christian sinfulness is the ordinary activity of what I do for the Christian grace is what I'm capable of and have given in given by baptism by confirmation and for those who are priests by ordination and for all of us by the Eucharist who receive the body the blood the soul and divinity of Christ Christ lives in me as Paul says by baptism Christ lives in me eat my flesh drink my blood I in you you in me and so the power of remaining in Christ is because of Christ grasping me and holding me in the presence of the Father and reflecting me

9:29and manifesting me to my neighbor what is sin then when a Christian becomes aware that to the extent that he lives in me that's my union that's my holiness and what I do is to interrupt that and all of us can do that by our thoughts by our words by what we do or don't do because Christ may want to do something in a particular occasion but I fail to do it how do I examine myself in the light of a Christian conscience only the Holy Spirit can bring to light when I separate from Jesus I can't judge myself when Jesus says in Matthew's gospel judge not and you shall not be judged with what measure you judge social view be judged many of us are judging ourselves and many of us can come into the

10:35confessional and be confessing to Almighty God and theming ourselves and self condemning and self judging which is not self condemnation is not humility the awareness of my complete total bankruptcy without him I can do nothing that's what humility is being able to be judged by God and see God who is all merciful as he looks at me we should really pray for this first movement with regard to returning to God's grace in the sacrament of reconciliation asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten us as to how I am separated from God let me make it a little bit more concrete supposing as a little girl I was jealous when I was

11:37growing up and my sister got a new dress I felt jealous and when I went to school my classmates got a's and I didn't get such good marks and even my mother might have said well why aren't you smart as your sister and as I went along and someone was told she was pretty and I was jealous as I begin to review my life one of the consistent things all of my life when I got to high school and I may have been passed over in a day what happened as I now I have gone to confession but I never really saw that my root the capital sin cup which it means the head of the snake must be the one that gets crushed if if my capital

12:39sin is in the angelic and when I'm confessing is I talk about my neighbor I gossip when I gossip about others may be the one that I really jealous of but I cut off the tail of the snake I really don't come out and say when I see this person am I jealous is that what it is in me am I comparing and competing with this other girl or person for the job or for the situation in which I'm in oh am I as a Christian going to grow in love where I look at each person what is the mystical body of Christ the recognition that in every person is Christ and they have gifts and to rejoice in the gifts they have but I myself don't do

13:43that I compare and compete and comparing and competing results in envy and jealousy and division and so I'm either above or below but not co-operating with in my sisters and my brothers and my family and my work or wherever I go how do I grow in Christ likeness how do I grow in union with him so that now I don't look at the other with jealousy and envy but I look at them with love recognizing Christ in my neighbor as well as in me who is the one who sees with the eyes of love of the person that I was envious of or jealous of only him growth in the Christian life can be enhanced so much by this sacrament when I see that I actually am filled with pain when

14:50someone is advanced or receives an honor and that pain grips me that's what God doesn't want me to have nor is that what Jesus had in his heart he had in his heart love for each one in my family and in the community around me and what is the communion or the community is growth in the awareness that each of us has Christ this person can go along every day one of my favorite hymns or songs actually is to dream the impossible dream this man of Lamontia what he would have in his eyes was such a beautiful vision of everyone he saw the best in everyone and one of the scenes that he has is he walked into a bar and there was a bar made who actually was a prostitute and as he looked into her

15:50he saw beauty he saw Christ and he called her a dulce en el and what she didn't see in herself he saw in her and she became there's a creative power to the look of a person because it's Christ glance Christ in the world radiating love to every person he meets can you imagine how this sin of jealousy and envy cuts and destroys all day long what I look at what I see and destroys instead of enhances and brings about the glory and the beauty of every single person that I look up and bring out the beauty in them because what they may not see in themselves Christ in me season them and creates that power to dream the impossible dream that power is what fights the

16:58imbeditable fall because the devil wants to separate us and one of the worst sins in its a capital sin is jealousy look at the wars it brings about look at the horrors that can happen to a husband and wife look at the chaos in schools and in workspaces that jealousy brings destruction death confusion god wants harmony and peace and co-operation he has filled his body with this holiness you've been listening to building a kingdom of love reflections with mon senior john s of to hear and or to download this conversation along with hundreds of other spiritual formation programs visit discerninghearts.com or you can find it within the free discerning hearts app this has been a production of discerning hearts i'm your host christma granger we hope that

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