The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1902-03-15

"Our Catholic friends here tonight
recognize the similarity and ut the
same time the difference between the
Old and the New. The law of confess
sion is plain, as is also the law Of res
titution. But the old law was great
deal harder. All we tell them to do :.
now when they have taken that which
does not belong to them is to restore
1t. They don't have to pay twenty per
cent. interest. Moses says when you
cannot find the owner, give it to the
priest We don't do TINT. The priest
now says, When you cannot find the
owner or his heirs, give it in charity,
don't give it to me- If we had time
l could run through the books of the
Old Testament and here and there find
other allusions to confession. Job says,
IF as n man have hid my sins and
concealed my iniquity III my BOSOM
| In Proverbs we read, 'He that hidcth
his sins shall not prosper but lie that
obtain mercy and in Ecclcsasticus, n
book Protcstants, for reasons of their
| own, have dropped, we are told, BE
not ashamed to confess thy sins, but
submit not tl,ysclf to every man, as If
we should say now, he careful to
whom you 20 to confession. Select
| good cOnfcssor.'
"Lct us, however, hurry on to tho
great question, confession in the New
| Law. Before our Lord made His first
public appearance, the Jews went out
to John the Baptist. Doing what?
| 'Confcssing their sins,' not confessing
| they were sinners-that is n very differ
ent thing. When our Divine Lord be-
gan Ills public ministry, before He
came to the grand final act and gave
| full power and commission to His
Apostles, He made certain allusions
preparatory to the comforting Of full
powers. You remember the ten lepers
who came to Him and Ie said, Go
show yourselves to the priests Those
lcpers knew what was meant, for, by
the book Of Moses laws the lcpers be.
fore being isolated had to 70 first to
the priest and make their confession,
n sort Of general confession prepara-
tory to going into that exile which was
to end only in death. These ten, re-
mcmbcring that duty, went, and on the
way they were healed. We Catholics
see in this beautiful illustration the
familiar doctrine of the Catholic
Church, namely, that Almighty God
does not wait for sncerdotal absolution
to forgive, but as soon as the sinner
makes perfect act Of contrition, with
a resolution to go to confession MS soon
as he can, he is in the state Of grace.
because like the lepers, he is healed as
he goes.
"Now, we come to the beautiful
story Of the healing Of the man sick
with the palsy. This beautiful miracle
is rccited in full in almost identical
words by the three Evangelists in
what is called the synoptical Gospels
Of SITS. Matthew, Mark and Luke. Re.
member that our Divine Lord in His
miracles, as in His parallels, always
taught lesson. Every miracle taught
and illustrated some spiritual truth.
You remember that the sick mans
friends let him down from the roof,
and Christ, seeing his faith, said, Son,
thy sins are forgiven thee.' But the
Scribes and Pharisees began to mur.
muir in their hearts, saying, This man
blasphemeth. Who can forgive sin but
God alone? There you have the very
question I started out to answer-a
question which was handed in to me
personally to answer.
"My dear Protestant friends, when
you put that question do you forget
who first put 1t and that you are simp-
ly making the question of the Scribes
and Pharisees your question? See how
our Lord met it. Did He say, Man
cannot forgive sin. forgive sin be.
cause I am God, the Son Of the Father,