Confessionals in the Abbey Church

It says in the Old Testament that at the word of the Lord, the heavens were made. And throughout the Scriptures, throughout the Old Testament, the Word of the Lord is the operative aspect of God. His creation is done by the words He speaks. He upholds all things by his word. In the New Testament, it is revealed that that Word is not just something said or thought, it is a person. And as Isaiah says in the first reading, that person, the Word of God, has been sent into the world to do a job. And that job - the Word will fulfill and complete. The job is to redeem the human race. To teach us, and then to suffer and die for us, and then to rise in glory for us. To lead us into the kingdom of God, which, in this world is the church, and in the next is the kingdom of heaven.

The danger is that there are ways in which the Word can, when it is sown, become unfruitful. As it says, “Hear, then, the Parable of the Sower.” There are those who hear the word but don’t understand it. And the evil one, he says, comes and steals it away and they do not accept it. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy, but has no root and lasts only for a time. And we know, or we have known people like that, people who convert or discover the faith and then lose it, because there was no depth to it. Then, there is the seed sown among thorns. These are those who hear the Word but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the Word and it bears no fruit. And I suppose that is a group in which people like ourselves might fall. That is to say, we have, certainly, worries and anxieties which are valid and real. We want enough money that we can support our families to live in some comfort, and that is all fine. Of course, we also know that the desire for money can become obsessive and excessive, and it can kill or at least overshadow the words and the teaching of our Lord in the gospel. And then there is the seed sown on rich soil, which we hope we can be, for bringing forth good fruit - in works of goodness and charity to the glory of God.

Abbot Matthew as Principal Celebrant

There are many ways in which we can work to be fruitful members of the church, members of Christ, followers of Christ. Of course, there is prayer, the sacraments, holy reading, reading the Scriptures and other good books. By this we can go far in instructing ourselves and others in the gospels. The danger of course is we can become like the people of our Lord’s time with gross hearts, fat hearts, hearts that have become sick and cannot hear the Word of God. One thing that we can do and should do is confess our sins, both out of and in the sacrament of Confession. Confession is falling into disuse, has fallen into disuse.

With the sacrament of Confession goes the practice of Examination of Conscience. The Jesuits, I don’t know if they still do this, but the Jesuits in the old system used to examine their conscience twice a day. We should at least regularly examine our consciences. Going to confession is one thing that makes us do so, it should make us do so. Of course, we have to be careful that we do this honestly and as fully as we can - we can be almost always sure that we are missing something. But we should try not to miss those sins and faults that we commit. In the old days, of course, people went often once a week. Dorothy Day went once a week, and as has been said of her, she wasn’t doing it just to “talk things over with the priest.” She was going to confess her sins and get absolution. So, it is something we should look into ourselves about. If we haven’t been to confession in a long time, maybe we should go and maybe we should make a habit of it. And we should also try, and as I say it is not easy, we should also try to make an honest examination of conscience.
 

Abbot Matthew Stark (image: A. Hansen)
Abbot Emeritus Matthew Stark became the monastery’s first abbot when the community was elevated from priory to abbey in 1969.