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

river, go on to the sea- but to turn
the river back and purify it and bring
it at last up to the highlands, the
sweet, beautiful highlands, and to re-
store it to its pristine purity-that is
hard; and yet it has been said by a
great orator-priest that this is what
Almighty God does in the sacrament
of penance. The soul before confess
sion is MS the polluted stream. God
pushes the mind back to the hills Of
memory, then to the highlands Of
youth and to the tablelands of infancy
to that baptismal innocence when the
words of absolution fall and the soul
is washed clean.
nationalist, infidel, have you never
felt in your soul the need of confess
sion? know of young man, an I'M
believer, who in the midst of wreck
went to a Catholic companion and
said: Let me confess my sins to you;
In few moments will be before my
Maker Daniel Webster said, in the
great White murder case, that there
is no escape from confession except
suicide, and suicide is confession If
you do not feel the need of confession
at all, it is because you never realized
your sins and have not felt the burden
of contrition. God has instituted this
most beautifV sacrament so as to un-
burden the heavily-laden soul. An in
stitution Of degradation? Just con-
trast the difference between human
and divine law. If a man commits
sin against society, what happens? The
law pursues him and hunts him out.
1t says, You are my prisoner and per-
haps drags him through jeering crowds
and puts him in prison, where he
awaits trial. Then testimony is given
against him in open court, he is de-
graded in public and, if found guilty.
is sentenced, and if a mortal crime. he
Is hung or electrocuted How does
God work? He, too, follows the sim
ner. He. too, lays His hand upon him
and says, You are my prisoner All
is done in the silence and solitude of
the soul. No one knows it. 1t nav
come in the dead of night or it NAV
come in crowd like this, in the midst
OF sermon. God draws that soul and
leads it apart and inspires it with good
resolutions, and when he comes into
court it is to the divine tribunal of
mercy as the Church calls it. The
crowd is warned away. No man is
there but Gods minister. and when
that soul excuses itself, it is the only
one to bear witness. The priest must
believe whatever it says for or against
itself. And if found guilty-whot
then?
The Catholic confessional is the on
~ tribunal in which the man found
guilty is acquitted. 4 absolyc thco
IRON thy sins, in the name of the
rather and of the Son and of the HOLY
Ghost. Go and sin no more.' and these
sins are gone forever, never more to be
brought up in Judgment against him,
for they are washed away. Go to the
shore of your great river and throw in
little stone. There is n momentary
ripple and then the stone is gone for
ever from human sight, Just as these
sins which made q momentary effect
on the ears of the priest have gone
into the ocean of Gods mercy. Moth
ing Is more beautiful, nothing is moro
gracious and consoling than this very
practice of confession. God has made
it as easy as He could. Had He re-
ruired us to come up ut High Mass and
confess our sins before the whole peo-
pie. as He had n right to do, it would
dlave been cheap price to pay for the
kingdom of heaven. If God had given
the power Of forgiving sins to angels
it would have been something wonder
full. He did better than that I would
have been afraid to confess nv sins TO
an angel. The great st. Michael, be-
fore l had gone very far, would have
drawn his sword and said, What! YOU
vile worm of the earth. how dare YOU
offend your God! But God did not do
that. For we have not n High Priest
who cannot have compassion on our in
frm1ties, but One tempted in all things,
like as we are, yet without SIM Thus
spoke the Apostle of Christ, and it can
be said even more so of Christ's min
listers, who are your own brothers,
knowing the weakness of human ma
turc and knowing what it is to fail
ana fall and to have sins of their own.
10 these has been given the power.
Whenever l enter the confessional if
seems as if my guardian angel is watt
ing outside to greet me and to see the
mark of my baptism shining forth.
God has worked another miracle. AS
He said to Lazarus, after he was fo,,r
days in the grave, Arise, thou that
sleepst. thou art not dead, and Christ
will give thee life.'"
OVER THE NORTHWEST