The Mass has a few silent prayers which are offered. Maybe we have never heard them or paid much attention to them. The one that I would like to highlight is when the priest or deacon kisses the Gospel he prays: "Through the words of the Gospel may our sins be wiped away."
When we hear the words of the Gospel we come into an encounter with Jesus Christ and thus we come into an encounter with His saving mercy. It is often pointed out that Catholics do not know the bible. It is sad to say that on average this statement is very true. Nevertheless, when we come to study the Bible especially the Gospels we come to know of Jesus Christ and His love for us.
This is the same Jesus Christ who looked upon this woman and told her, "Your sins are forgiven." This is a very impressive statement and who among us would hope that the same would not be said of us.
1st Samuel reminded us of the sin of King David. He fell into adultery and killed a man and yet we heard concerning him, "The Lord on his part has forgiven your sin." I hope that we do not want to remain with the Pharisee who wanted to keep the woman at a distance. If we want her kept at a distance then we too must claim that we desire to be kept at a distance from Christ and His mercy.
No matter the seriousness of the sin of our past life Christ desires that we be assured of the forgiveness of our sin. No matter the sin which is currently prevalent in our life Christ assures us of the assistance necessary to banish it from out life. Christ desires for us to come to Him and to His mercy. It is not His desire that we be kept at a distance from it. There is always a way out from our sin and this is made apparent by Christ's interaction with this woman. This is the same invitation in which Christ makes with us that we may be freed from the burden of our sin.
And so to think of the beauty which is discovered within the Sacrament of Confession. In the Sacrament of Confession we come in burdened by the weight of sin, but leave from its midst entirely liberated. It is said that following a confession that God remembers nothing concerning the sin of our past life. Instead we have received absolution and thus have been instructed, "Your sins have been forgiven."
May we truly desire to be like this woman in our Gospel. She had the courage to approach Christ and from her courage she received the forgiveness of sins. It would of been easy for her to make excuses to why she could never be accepted for her sinful past and yet she reached out in the faith to this man that she had heard so much about. She did not allow these fears to overcome her, but instead she overcame them and was consoled by Christ.
