THE SACRAMENT OF SALVATION
An old and pious nun
was dusting the statues in the chapel of the convent. A small metallic statue of Jesus fell down
from her trembling hands while she was wiping it with a soft flannel. She knelt
down and picked it up from the floor of the chapel. She then tearfully kissed
the statue and said aloud, "My dear Jesus, if you had not fallen down, you
would never have received that kiss from me."
Quoting this story, Archbishop
Fulton. J. Sheen said, "I wonder if our Blessed Lord does not feel the
same way about us, for if we had never sinned, we never could call Him
Saviour."
A catechist asked his
students, "What is the first thing we must do to obtain forgiveness for
our sins?" An innocent child replied sincerely, "Sir, first we must
commit a sin."
Mark Twain remarked,
"We are all like the moon. We have a dark side we want no one else to
see."
A man was totally
transformed after participating in a retreat. When he returned to his hometown,
a friend asked him, "What do you think of you now?" He replied,
"I am a sinner." "Then what were you earlier?", the friend enquired.
The reply was simple and clear, "I was a sinner." The friend asked
again, "Then what is the difference after the retreat?" The penitent
person replied, "Earlier, I was a sinner running after sin. But now I am a
sinner running away from sin."
Archbishop Fulton. J.
Sheen says about the confessional in the Church, "In it is to be found the
Sacred Heart of the forgiving Christ forgiving sinners through the uplifted
hand of His priest as He once forgave through His own uplifted hands on the
Cross." It is said that the Church is a hospital for sinners; not a museum
for saints.
Rev. Fr. Jay Mello,
Parochial Vicar of St. Mary's Parish, Mansfield, Diocese of Fall River,
Massachusetts, USA and columnist for 'The Anchor' newspaper wrote, "The
Second Vatican Council describes the Church as the 'Universal Sacrament of
Salvation', simultaneously manifesting and exercising the mystery of God’s love
for humanity.. The Church is the Sacrament from which all the other
Sacraments come forth."
..............................................................................................................
© By: Prof.
Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science &
Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India, Prof. Mrs. Rajamma Babu, Former Professor, St. Dominic's
College, Kanjirappally, Leo. S. John, St. Antony's Public
School, Anakkal, Kanjirappally and Neil
John, Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath, Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally,
Kottayam-686507, Kerala, India.
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