10 Comments

Beautiful article, Deacon Mueller! I was especially delighted to see a quote from my patroness! It seems that few people sadly know about her, so I was very happy to see her and St. Francis de Sales quoted in this beautiful reflection. May God bless you and have a blessed Holy Week!

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St Jane is one of my very favorites. You have a wonderful friend in heaven. God Bless!

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That story gave me chills - a soul so connected to her Father that it pulls others into Him. Like gravity. Just wow.

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Wonderful reflection!

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This reflection is utterly beautiful, healing, comforting🙏🕊🌹Thank youbso much!!!!

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Baptism is the first of the sacraments. It is the sacrament associated with Christ’s Spirit being poured into us, being lifted out of our sin nature, and having eternal life. The Holy Spirit seals us. With the sanctifying grace which we have through the Holy Spirit, we participate in the Eucharist; otherwise, there is nothing for the Eucharist to nourish, strengthen, and express (cf. Vatican II’s Sacrosanctum Concilium 59).

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Peter, Exactly! That is why I wrote … “ I know that we like to live in the world of, “I am OK, you are OK.” But we are not OK without Baptism, without the blessed Trinity filling us with life. When we sin, we are not OK without receiving Christ’s forgiveness and healing through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and His life, in the Eucharist. This is a reality! “

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I think that if we make better use of the Holy Spirit by walking in the Spirit, the sacrament of Reconciliation would not need to be of much use for us (cf. Galatians 5:16-25). Notice that it is listed after the Eucharist.

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If we mortally sin, we lose the life we are given in Baptism. The sin is deadly “mort” in Latin. Reconciliation must occur before receiving the Eucharist. Think of it this way, if we sin mortally we are dead spiritually. You can give medicine to a corpse but it will not have an effect. Through the Sacrament of reconciliation we are restored to life. Now alive, when we receive the Eucharist we are nourished, strengthened through the life of Christ and grow in holiness. We cannot receive the Eucharist without first being reconciled with God.

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Awesome comment, Deacon!

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