On Thursday, December 3, at 5:30, you can join me and others to inaugurate the Season of Advent with an annual Penance Service that emphasizes spiritual preparation, waiting, and clarity. The service will be held at the Alvin Brooks Center, 5401 Troost Avenue, on the campus of Rockhurst University, that provides convenient parking and easy access from the street. As well as being joined by Jesuit priests who will hear confessions and grant absolution of sins, counselors and spiritual directors will be present to answer inquiries and assist sojourners that seek direction in life, whether to deal with a particular gnawing issue or to connect with ongoing guidance through individual mentoring or group companionship.

There are numerous forms of spiritual healing. Catholics traditionally start with the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This sacrament has gone through various iterations through the centuries, sometimes emphasizing confessing, at other times forgiving; still other times the focus was on doing penance, receiving healing, or experiencing conversion.  “Reconciliation” comes from a Greek word meaning “eyelash to eyelash,” i.e., “re” means again, “con” means with, “cilia” means eyelid or eyelash; in other words, we return to face ourselves. In facing ourselves, we also face God while looking at our sins or shortcomings or struggles. Reconciliation is also a term once used in shipbuilding, whereby pieces fit together tightly so that no water could seep inside. Similarly, in this sacrament, we want to fit together with God so that no sin will seep through to damage us.

After the Second Vatican Council sixty years ago, there was a dramatic shift in the number of Catholics who went to confession (reconciliation) and the number that sought counseling; it was a direct reverse correlation that saw huge numbers going to the confessional boxes drop as huge numbers going to psychotherapy offices rose. There is, of course, a significant difference between confession and counseling, but some Catholics find similar results through the process of unburdening themselves, not unlike what Freud called “the talking cure.” There are also significant differences between counseling and spiritual counseling and between spiritual counseling and spiritual direction. But what they all have in common is the establishment and re-establishment of “right relationship.”  

Right relationship is a moral concept that calls us to connect with one another (as well as with ourselves, God, and all creation) with integrity, dignity, and respect so that we address life’s circumstances with honor, honesty, and openness to growth. The goal of right relationship is healthier, holier, and more wholesome spiritual alignment. This is what can occur in the church’s liturgical seasons of preparation (Advent and Lent). The Sacrament of Reconciliation usually helps. So can spiritual direction, spiritual counseling, and spiritual companionship. Join us on December 3 to consider how you might become more lovingly aligned with the world and come to help prepare a way for the Lord to work within you in more meaningful and receptive ways.