08-02-24 Belajar Berdoa dari Anak-anak: Kisah Inspiratif untuk Memperkuat Iman

Friday 5th week in ordinary time "Mk 7:31-37" They brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they besought him to lay his hand upon him. And taking him aside from the multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Incommunicado, he could not hear or speak properly. He was unable to explain his problems. But when he put himself in Jesus' hands (Ephphatha!) "his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly." Many people have a 'speech impediment'; they find it difficult to talk about their miseries. To recognise our sins and to talk about our mistakes can be embarrassing, but just like with a doctor, until we explain our problem and show our wound, Jesus can't help and heal us. That's the essence of Confession. "I was a good child," writes a young boy. "I prayed, received the sacraments and went to Confession every other week. At the age of 14 I understood that God wanted something from me and started praying more intensely. But one day I made a mistake. I committed a sin against Holy Purity. I felt so embarrassed that I didn't dare go to Confession. After a while I stopped praying. I was grumpy, defiant and exploding for silly reasons. I was stuck. It wasn't my mind that was blocked, it was my soul. My mum suspected that something had happened; my sisters, my friends, my teachers too... But more than anyone else, I knew that something HAD happened. My silence was consuming me within. One day I couldn't take it anymore. I went to the priest and told him. I expected an angry reprimand. Instead, very kindly, he explained to me how silly it would be to keep a splinter in my finger hurting for weeks because I was afraid of the pain when it would be pulled out. In two minutes the priest solved all my problems. I went out in peace. I was again the same boy my mum, my sisters, my friends and teachers knew… but with more experience. How silly to keep silent, to feel embarrassed to go to Confession; what folly to carry my sins as splinters in my skin when the solution is so simple and easy to get." Mary, Mother of Good Counsel, may I never be embarrassed of being sincere, confessing my sins and starting again.