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Pontiff Talks on Sins and Forgiveness

The sins we commit distance us from God, and, if they are not humbly confessed, trusting in the divine mercy, they will finally bring about the death of the soul. This miracle thus has powerful symbolic value. Jesus, as Isaiah prophesied, is the servant of the Lord who “bore our infirmities, / endured our sufferings” (Isaiah 53:4). In his passion he will become like a leper, made impure by our sins, separated from God: He will do all this for love, with the aim of obtaining reconciliation, forgiveness and salvation for us. In the Sacrament of Penance Christ crucified and risen, through his ministers, purifies us with his infinite mercy, restores us to communion with the heavenly Father and our brothers, and makes a gift of his love, joy and peace to us.”
Pope Benedict XVI delivered this address on February 15 before praying the midday Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter's Square, Vatican City.
Below is a copy of the Pope’s message as translated by Joseph G. Trabbic.

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

On these Sundays the Evangelist Mark offers a sequence of various miraculous healings for our reflection. Today he presents a very special one -- that of a healed leper (cf. Mark 1:40-45) -- who, coming to Jesus, gets on his knees and says: “If you wish, you can make me clean!” Jesus, moved, stretches out his hand, touches him and says: “I do wish it. Be made clean!”

The man is healed instantly and Jesus asks him not to tell anyone and present himself to the priests to offer the sacrifice prescribed by the Mosaic law. The healed leper is unable to be quiet and proclaims to everyone what happened to him so that, the evangelist reports, still more sick people ran to Jesus from every part to the point of forcing him to stay out of the cities so as not to be besieged by the crowds.

Jesus says to the leper: “Be made clean!” According to the ancient Jewish law (Leviticus 13-14), leprosy was not only considered a sickness but the gravest form of “impurity.” It was the duty of the priests to diagnose it and declare the person afflicted with leprosy unclean. This person then had to keep his distance from the community and stay away from towns until he was certified to be healed.

Leprosy thus constituted a kind of religious and civil death, and its healing was a kind of resurrection. We might see in leprosy a symbol of sin, which is the true impurity of heart, distancing us from God. It is not, in effect, physical malady that distances us from him, as the ancient norms supposed, but sin, the spiritual and moral evil.

This is way the Psalmist exclaims: “Blessed is he whose fault is taken away / and whose sin is covered.” And then, turning to God: “Then I acknowledged my sin to you, / my guilt I covered not. / I said: ‘I shall confess my faults to the Lord,’ / and you took away my guilt and my sin” (Psalm 31:1, 5 [32:1, 5]).

The sins we commit distance us from God, and, if they are not humbly confessed, trusting in the divine mercy, they will finally bring about the death of the soul. This miracle thus has powerful symbolic value. Jesus, as Isaiah prophesied, is the servant of the Lord who “bore our infirmities, / endured our sufferings” (Isaiah 53:4). In his passion he will become like a leper, made impure by our sins, separated from God: He will do all this for love, with the aim of obtaining reconciliation, forgiveness and salvation for us.

In the Sacrament of Penance Christ crucified and risen, through his ministers, purifies us with his infinite mercy, restores us to communion with the heavenly Father and our brothers, and makes a gift of his love, joy and peace to us.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us invoke the Virgin Mary, whom God preserved from every stain of sin, that she help us to avoid sin and to have frequent recourse to the Sacrament of Confession, the Sacrament of Forgiveness, whose value and importance for our Christian life needs to be rediscovered today.

[The Pope then greeted the people in several languages. In English, he said:]

I greet all the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims here today for the Angelus, especially the members of the joint Catholic-Orthodox pilgrimage from Finland. I pray that the time you spend in Rome may deepen your love for Jesus Christ our Lord, and for his Church. In this Sunday's Gospel, we hear how Jesus healed a leper who came to him and pleaded to be cured. To those who turn to him today, Jesus continues to offer healing and strength. I encourage all of you to place your trust in him, and to bring before him your hopes and your needs, for yourselves and for your loved ones. May the Lord grant your prayers and pour out upon all of you his abundant blessings.



 
LIVES OF THE SAINTS

SEPTEMBER 1
ST. GILES
St. Giles was born in Athens, Greece, in early times. When his parents died, he used the large fortune they left him to help the poor. 

SEPTEMBER 2
BLESSED JOHN DU LAU AND THE SEPTEMBER MARTYRS
Blessed John was the archbishop of Arles, France.. 

SEPTEMBER 3
ST. GREGORY THE GREAT
St. Gregory was born in 540 in Rome. His father was a senator. His mother is a saint, St. Celia.

SEPTEMBER 4
ST. ROSE OF VITERBO
St. Rose was born in 1235 in Viterbo, Italy. She lived at the time when Emperor Frederick had conquered land that belonged to the Church.

SEPTEMBER 5
ST. LAWRENCE JUSTINIAN

St. Lawrence Justinian was born in Venice, Italy, in 1381.

SEPTEMBER 6
BLESSED BERTRAND

Blessed Bertrand lived in the last half of the twelfth and first part of the thirteenth centuries.

SEPTEMBER 7
BLESSED JOHN DUCKETT AND BLESSED RALPH CORBY

Blessed James Duckett studied at the English college of Douay and became a priest in 1639.

SEPTEMBER 8
BIRTH OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

We do not usually celebrate the birthdays of the saints.

SEPTEMBER 9
ST. PETER CLAVER

St. Peter Claver, the Spanish priest of the Society of Jesus was born in 1580.

SEPTEMBER 10
ST. NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO

St. Nicholas was born in 1245 in Ancona, Italy. His parents had waited long and anxiously for a child.

SEPTEMBER 11
BLESSED LOUIS OF THURINGIA

Blessed Loius, the German prince, lived during the last part of the twelfth and first part of the thirteenth centuries.

SEPTEMBER 13
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

St. John Chrysostom was born in Antioch around 344.

SEPTEMBER 15
OUR LADY OF SORROWS

Our Lady had many great joys as the mother of Jesus, but she had much to suffer, too.

SEPTEMBER 16
ST. CORNELIUS AND ST. CYPRIAN

St. Cornelius, a holy priest of Rome, was elected Pope in 251. He accepted because he loved Christ.

SEPTEMBER 17
ST. ROBERT BELLARMINE

St. Robert Bellarmine was born in Italy in 1542.

SEPTEMBER 18
ST. JOSEPH OF CUPERTINO

St. Joseph was born on June 17, 1603, in a small Italian village to poor parents.

SEPTEMBER 19
ST. JANUARIUS

St. Januarius lived in the fourth century. He was born either in Benevento or Naples, Italy.

SEPTEMBER 20
ST. ANDREW KIM TAEGON AND ST. PAUL CHONG HASANG

St. Andrew Kim Taegon was a priest and St. Paul Chong Hasang was a lay person.

SEPTEMBER 21
ST. MATTHEW

St. Matthew was a tax collector in the city of Capernaum, where Jesus was living.

SEPTEMBER 22
ST. THOMAS OF VILLANOVA

St. Thomas was born in Spain in 1488.

SEPTEMBER 24
ST. PACIFICUS

St. Pacificus, a little Italian boy born in 1653 was named Charles Anthony. He was just five years old when his loving parents died.

SEPTEMBER 25
ST. SERGIUS

St. Serguis, the famous Russian saint lived in the fourteenth century.

SEPTEMBER 27
ST. VINCENT DE PAUL

St. Vincent de Paul, the son of poor French peasants, was born in 1581.

SEPTEMBER 28
ST. LAWRENCE RUIZ AND COMPANIONS

St. Lawrence Ruiz, and his fifteen companions were killed for their faith in 1637, in Nagasaki, Japan.

SEPTEMBER 29
ST. MICHAEL, ST. GABRIEL, ST. RAPHAEL

Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are called "saints" because they are holy.

SEPTEMBER 30
ST. JEROME

St. Jerome was a Roman Christian who lived in the fourth century.

 
ABOUT ARCHANGELS
SAINT MICHAEL
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SAINT GABRIEL

St. Gabriel Prayer

SAINT RAPHAEL

St. Raphael Prayer
 
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Tour of the Relics of the Passion
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REFLECTIONS

“Jesus’ Baptism”

Why did Jesus, the sinless one sent from the Father in heaven, submit himself to John’s baptism? John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke 3:3). In this humble submission we see a foreshadowing of the “baptism” of Jesus bloody death upon the cross. Jesus’ baptism is the acceptance and the beginning of his mission as God’s suffering Servant (Isaiah 52:13-15; 53:1-12). He allowed himself to be numbered among sinners. Jesus submitted himself entirely to his Father’s will. Out of love he consented to this baptism of death for the remission of our sins. Do you know the joy of trust and submission to God?

 
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