A Hospital for Sinners
- " If I touch the holy water font, it'll melt. " - " I better not go to confession because, if I enter the church, it may burn down! " - " I'm just too 'dirty' to go before God right now...I need to clean up first. " Whether they are an excuse to not go to church, or a genuine notion that someone actually has to 'get right with God' BEFORE they receive the Sacraments, these comments (paraphrased, but you are likely familiar with many variations of them) are wrong minded, backwards, and completely miss the purpose of the Sacraments. You may have read in any number places, in any number of ways, that " the church is not a museum for saints; rather it is a hospital for sinners ". And this is the truth of the matter. We need not be "clean" in order to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation (i.e., going to confession). Reconciliation is given to us by Christ for exactly that purpose...to reconcile us to Hi