On Mondays, I answer questions frequently asked by those considering a return to the Catholic Church. How do I know this stuff? I was away for more than 30 years myself, and am the co-author of When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics, a book for pastors and parish leaders interested in this ministry.
If I return, will I have to spend the rest of my life on my knees in the back of the church saying, “God, I’m really sorry,” over and over?
No, that’s why the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation is so wonderful and cleansing. When you go to a confessor to discuss your absence from the Church, you’ll talk about mortal sins and any smaller sins that are weighing on your soul. The priest will listen carefully, discuss ways to do better in the future, absolve you, give you a penance—prayers, perhaps, or some service work or some reading—and bless you. When you complete the penance, the stain is lifted from your soul forever.
We may joke about Catholic guilt, but thanks to the beauty of this sacrament, we shouldn’t feel it or carry it around. Being too absorbed in our own “wicked” pasts does not serve God, our neighbors, or ourselves. Striving to live by the commandments and Church teachings does.
Jesus told a great parable about vineyard workers who were hired at different times of the day, yet all were paid the wage those who had arrived early in the morning had agreed to. “Are you envious because I am generous?” the landowner asked those who groused about the situation. God is generous.
If you share your story of being away from the Church for some time, you may get a different reaction from those other vineyard workers, a reaction similar to the brother of the prodigal son who in essence said, “What about me?” when the prodigal son came home and their father killed the fatted calf. Pray for these people, because they don’t understand God’s great mercy.
