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Some years ago, there was a very popular Jesuit writer. His name was John Powell. He wrote a series of best sellers. Actually, his first book, as far as I know was entitled “Why Am I Afraid to Love?” And then he followed it with a second book entitled “Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am?”
His third book, a sequel to the second, was “If You Really Knew Me, Would You Still Love Me?” It also became a best seller. The books’ covers were all attractive, so were their contents. But I believe his books were bestsellers because they answered so many questions people desperately sought answers for, but were afraid to ask.
From our own experience of human friendships, we know that the more we expose ourselves to people, the greater the risk that our friends will eventually turn away from us. We know from human experience, that the more we expose our weaknesses, most especially to friends, the more we run the risk of losing them.
Perhaps, all of us have experienced these. We have friends and we are afraid to tell them who we really are. We have friends, and we are afraid to love them as we should. We have friends, but we doubt. And we ask questions like : “If you really knew me, would you still love me?”
Fortunately, God is not like that. Because the moment our human friends turn away from us, the moment they get to know us even more deeply, God can only say : “The more you sin, the more I love you.” God can only say: “The more you expose the wounds that sins have inflicted on you, the more I will be close to you.”
There is no reason to be afraid of reconciling with God. There is no reason to be afraid of exposing the wounds of sin in our bodies before the presence of God. Let us not be afraid to tell Jesus that we have sinned. Jesus can only say, “Welcome back. Long have I waited for you coming.”
Familiarity breeds contempt, it is said. This becomes apparent with our friends. When we get too familiar with people, we grow tired of them. We get so used to them, we get so familiar with them. With Jesus, we just have to expose the wounds of sin, and He will be as assuring. In fact, even more assuring than before we exposed our wounds.
When you come to confession and you tell the priest your sins, we say that you tell your sins to Jesus. Actually, Jesus already knows your sins. When you tell your sins to a priest, you are actually exposing your wounds. And you are just telling Jesus, “Lord Jesus, here are my wounds. Transform my wounds into my own strengths.”
When you come to confession, Jesus already knows your sins. When you tell the priest your sins, it is just like going to the doctor. “Doctor, here is my bruise, here is my wound. It is too deep. It has been bleeding all these years. I want to be healed. I want to be made whole again.”
I AM GOD, DO NOT BE AFRAID
I Cor. 4:10
Only Jesus, Always Jesus
