By Nicholas Soellner
Connecting Liturgy and Life
Editor’s note: For 2026, the weekly “Connecting Faith and Life” column has been renamed “Connecting Liturgy and Life.” The column consists of reflections on Part Two of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), which focuses on the Liturgy and the Sacraments.
cf. CCC 1455-1460
There are many joys to being a parent, such as quality time with family, the smiles and laughter of our children, and the memories we make with the people we love dearly. But there’s unexpected heartache too. Parents will tell you there are definitely parts that are just not fun. Among them, perhaps my least favorite is a stage I like to call, “fight Dad while he tries to buckle me into my car seat even though we’re clearly in a hurry.” The leg strength of toddlers is truly a marvel. For no apparent or predictable reason, our children can become obstinate despite the fact that we’re destined for somewhere we’d genuinely like to go.
Among these heartaches are not just the defiance of our children, but also the ways in which we fail to love them as we should. Regret over harsh tones or hurtful words that are spoken, or lapses in self-control where we do or say something in frustration. But as a sign of God’s mercy, children are also typically quick to forgive when we make the effort to reconcile. In more ways than one, children often reveal that they too are made in his image and likeness.
When we fall into sin, God greatly desires to be reconciled with us. “I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). But there remain plenty of Catholics who see the requirement to confess their sins in person to a priest as a stumbling block. Why does the Church require this? Not out of an arbitrary, “because I said so,” but out of wisdom and love. As the Catechism tells us, “Through such an admission, man looks squarely at the sins he is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible” (CCC 1455). These last eight words are pivotal, as they describe the essential necessity of Reconciliation.
Taking responsibility for our sins brings us into a place of humility that allows for God’s healing, just like it did for the tax collector in Jesus’ parable who went to the temple to pray and who “would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’” Jesus says, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other” (Luke 18:13-14). In contrast, the proud Pharisee presumed that by simply following traditional forms of piety (fasting, tithing, etc.), he did not need God’s mercy. St. Jerome once wrote that if someone were to be secretly bitten by sin, but hid the wound out of shame from those who had the cure, they would not be able to help him (On Ecclesiastes 10, 11). If we do not confess our sins to a priest, how will he know which sins to forgive?
Sin is rightfully understood to wound us, body and soul, and therefore the Church also prescribes her penitents to complete a penance. As the Catechism says, “Absolution takes away sin, but it does not remedy all the disorders sin has caused. Raised up from sin, the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make amends for the sin: he must ‘make satisfaction for’ his sins.” (CCC 1459). Let me be clear, this should not be understood in exclusively legal terms. Rather, our assigned penance is designed to work similarly to the way in which someone who seriously injures an arm or a leg must undergo physical therapy in order to work to restore themselves to their original health.
There are many images used to describe the Church and her saving mission throughout history: the city of God, a field hospital, the Ark of Salvation. All of which offer the very real opportunity for reconciliation with our Lord, who wants to save us from our sins. When I reflect on my own mistakes, I often see myself in my toddler’s resistance to get buckled up: irrationally and wildly fighting the Lord’s loving hands, who only wants to take me someplace I’d very much like to go. May God grant us the humility to pray similarly to the tax collector, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Nicholas Soellner serves as associate director for the Diocese of Evansville Office of Catechesis.