My friends in Christ, our Gospel text from Saint Matthew is an interesting one, given where we are right now in the liturgical year, and that for a couple of reasons. One, it features Jesus not at all, nor does it even mention His Name – though Advent is that season wherein we are preparing to celebrate His birth. And two, this text, given its timing in the liturgical year, is a bit anachronistic; it features Saint John the Baptist as a full-grown adult, though in the final month before Jesus is born, the Baptist would himself have only been five months old. But of course, the point still is well made that Advent is, again, a season wherein we prepare for the coming of Christ. Saint John the Baptist fulfills the prophecy of the Prophet Isaiah, and the Prophet himself foretold long ago, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths.” Advent prepares us for Christmas; Saint John the Baptist prepares us for the coming of the Lord. But how, exactly, does the Baptist do this? By preaching a message of repentance. “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” And repentance, of course (that is, contrition for our sins and turning away from a wayward path) – repentance, of course, leads right to conversion, which is where Jesus Himself takes up the refrain in His own message of repentance: “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” And so, if we are going to seize upon the true spirit of Advent – which is not a spirit of gifts and parties and frenetic busy-ness and endless noise…but a spirit of prayer and preparation – then that which we seize upon is precisely that: prayer and preparation. And part of preparation is, like the Baptist tells us today, repentance. Advent, then, is something of a winter-time Lent. But now, repentance – that is not a very popular message, is it? Why is that? It is because repentance suggests strongly that we even have something in the first place from which to repent. It suggests that we are wrong somehow – gasp! The nerve! Father Lewis dares to suggest that we are wrong somehow? Somebody call the bishop immediately! See? Not too popular, is it? Repentance is tough, because it is awkward, and it is humbling, and it requires that we change somehow…and for all of our big talk about how change often can be a good thing…how opposed to change, deep down, we really are – even sometimes violently so. Repentance and conversion are radically central to the preaching of both the Baptist and the Messiah; and therefore, they are central also, in very truth, to our Christian creed. But “these are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except [our] own.” Chesterton said that a century ago…and oh, how it is still so true today. We are expected to go along to get along; we are expected to tolerate (meaning to accept and embrace) every whacky proposition; we are expected to go to church and worship there, and only at these appointed days and times, but never be so insolent, so rude, as to claim a voice in the public forum, thereby “forcing our religion on others.” These, yes, are the days when we Christians (especially Catholics!) are expected (and demanded) to fall in line and goose-step to the drums of this modern-day tyranny of moral relativism…but God help us! God help us if we dare even whisper the words “repent” and “convert!” Woe to us – and send now for the thought-police to come and drag us away…. But you know, a fat lot of good for us to rail and rant against such irrational injustices. Easy for us to point over there and say that those people need to repent and convert. No no. The message of repentance and conversion – that is a message for us. For me, first of all; I am called upon (by the Baptist and the Messiah both) to “repent,” to “believe in the Gospel.” Let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with me. Just so! Let there be repentance and conversion on Earth and let it begin with me…. I have seen this on bumper stickers, a quote attributed to Gandhi: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” So true! And so, if the world is going to become a better place…and if we truly are going to “prepare the way for the Lord” and thus embrace the true spirit of Advent (a spirit of prayer and preparation), then we must recognize that there is a third “P” in all of this: prayer…preparation…and penance. I shall state it directly, point-blank, and without preamble: go to confession. We need to go to confession. And not just whenever the parish happens to have a penance service. We need to get tapped into that sublime grace of the Lord’s mercy on a regular, frequent basis. Imagine if someone took a shower only once or twice a year; we would find that out pretty darn quick! Just so, our souls need regular cleansing, a regular check-up. And as our bodies engage in regular physical cycles (we get tired, we sleep, we are refreshed; we get hungry, we eat, we are satisfied), just so do our souls engage, similarly, in regular spiritual cycles (we are tempted, we sin, we need the grace of absolution given to us in confession)…. But now, there are some frequently-asked-questions to consider. “Why go to confession if I am just going to sin again?” An amusing question! You may as well ask why go to the doctor if you are just going to get sick again, or why go to the refrigerator if you are just going to get hungry again? “Why do I have to go to a priest for confession? Why not just say to God that I am sorry in my own personal prayer?” Because Jesus says so, that is why. Christ says to us, through Saint James, to “confess [our] sins to one another, and [to] pray for one another, that [we] may be healed.” That says nothing about keeping to ourselves and making our sins and confession an entirely personal affair, but it explicitly tells us to confess to one another. Now, why confess specifically to a priest? Because the priest has been especially authorized by God both to hear the confession and to absolve the sin. If one is not a priest, well then certainly he or she can hear your confession…but can actually do nothing about it! Back in seminary, we wore clerics as seminarians, and we were sometimes approached by folks to hear their confessions; we looked like priests but were not yet actually priests, but the people could not tell the difference just to see us. And we would apologize and tell them that, in fact, we cannot hear their confessions because we are as yet only seminarians. And on a few occasions (as, sometimes, I am wont to do), I would have a bit of fun with it: “Sure, I can hear your confession, but I have to warn you, I am only a seminarian, so I cannot give you absolution, and by the way, I am a huge gossip!” Oh, how the people ran away from me! In any event, Christ gives His priests the authority both to hear confessions and to absolve sin; after His Resurrection, He said to the Apostles (the first priests of the Church), “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” And this divinely authorized ministry of reconciliation is confirmed also by Saint Paul, also an Apostle (and therefore also one of the first priests of the Church): “this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” And one more frequently-asked-question, to conclude: “What if I am just too embarrassed, too ashamed, to confess my sins?” Another amusing question! What if I went to the doctor, and I told him about my fever, and my cough, and my other usual, non-embarrassing symptoms, and yet was just too embarrassed to tell him about that embarrassing rash on my upper inner thigh? Were that embarrassing (yet very important) detail left out, the doctor would misdiagnose me – and huge problems are going to result because of it! The priest is a spiritual doctor. Doctors are governed by HIPAA laws; priests are governed by the Seal of Confession. If I make even one mention of a particular sin, committed by a specific person, which I only knew about because it was confessed to me in the confessional, then I would have broken that seal and would have automatically excommunicated myself and therefore can no longer function as priest. And my sin of breaking the Seal of Confession can only be absolved by the Pope himself. Yes. It is that serious! Which is why Catholic priests the world over will happily plead guilty and go to prison for refusing to break the Seal, even though governments are making laws requiring us to do so: Australia; Ireland and other nations in Europe; California is making a push – and Washington, as usual, will soon follow California’s lead. But we dare not listen to them; we dare listen only to Jesus. So…go to confession. We have many opportunities for regular confession here at Saint Mary, and in fact, even more opportunities are being made available. Go to confession therefore; repent and believe in the Gospel; pray, prepare, do penance – thus will we fully embrace the true spirit of Advent as we make ready for the birth of the Christ-Child on Christmas.