NOTES for Jo1 1:5-2:2

How familiar to some of us is the fear and reluctance to acknowledge our sin and take it to confession... It seems that, having fallen yet again, you will not be able to rise, and that the Lord has grown thoroughly tired of all this. Perhaps the priest to whom you confess has too... It is precisely for such moments, when it is difficult to look forward and upward, toward His face, that the words we read today were spoken: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9). These words are meant to restore to us—or prevent us from losing—that precious gift of God: peace of heart, which He grants to His children if we ask Him for it. Peace is a state of soul and spirit in which communion with God does not require a deliberate effort; we do not need to force ourselves to sit down to pray or to perform good deeds against our own resistance. In this peace we constantly sense God’s presence, entrusting our life into His caring hands. It is precisely in such a state that Jesus’ words, “The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (Jn 6:37), will never be forgotten, helping us to rise again and follow Him, warmed by His light.