By Amy White
The Texas Catholic
The life of the Christian is a homeward journey, a pilgrimage oriented toward salvation — but there are a lot of obstacles along the path: thorny entanglements with sin, muddied conceptions of the way forward, mounting exhaustion from the journey. Even the most well-intentioned believer can easily get “off course” in the pursuit of holiness, according to Father Arthur Unachukwu.
“We know that our trajectory, our goal, is towards this holiness and friendship with the Lord,” said Father Unachukwu, Diocese of Dallas vicar general, moderator of the curia, and vicar for clergy, “but then life happens. We get distracted.”
The Church, however, offers an opportunity for course-correction: the Lenten season — a time to pause, to reorient, and then to continue in earnest on that journey toward God.
During the 40 days of Lent, the Body of Christ is invited into an intentional period of reconciliation through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In a special way, Father Unachukwu said, the Church also encourages its members to turn to God by entering into the confessional this liturgical season.
“The Church prescribes not only a visceral repentance, (but) also a deeply spiritual repentance, which takes place in confession,” he said. “One has to stand before God and say, ‘Lord, I have offended you, and I offended my neighbor, and I offended myself in the course of this. I want to get back on the right course.’”
By making amends in the confessional, the faithful are unburdened — through the grace of God — of the heavy “baggage” of sin that can weigh them down in their upward ascent toward holiness, Father Unachukwu shared. Through confession, they are also given spiritual strength for the journey.
“As humans, there are things we cannot do on our own. We need a spiritual strength to do those things,” he said. “At the heart of it, we are also asking the Lord to give us his Holy Spirit, his strength, that grace, the gift to do what we ought to do.”
The guiding light of Christ
Recognizing the importance of reconciliation during Lent, the Diocese of Dallas has long sought to increase accessibility to the sacrament of confession during the liturgical season, including through a “The Light is On for You” initiative, Father Unachukwu said.
“Here in our diocese, for years, we’ve had a wonderful opportunity that we call ‘The Light is On,’” he explained. “That is specific days we have where, throughout the whole diocese, people know that if they go to this church or that church, that Christ’s light will be on for them to go and receive the sacrament of confession.”
That “light” in the initiative’s name, he added, refers both to the light above a confessional box, which signals a priest’s presence inside, and to the light of Christ, which guides Christians onward in their pilgrimage toward salvation.
This year, the diocese designated two days for The Light is On for You: March 25 and April 1. Besides those days of reconciliation, many parishes are offering additional confession times during Lent, according to the needs and circumstances of their local communities.
“My advice and my counsel to people is to check your parish website,” Father Unachukwu said.
At St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, for example, the parish has added time for adoration and confession on Tuesday evenings throughout Lent in addition to the parish’s regular confession times, according to the parish’s pastoral administrator, Father Ryan Hiaeshutter.
“Lent is a grace-filled season in which the Church invites us to slow down, step back from the busyness of our lives, and prayerfully examine our hearts,” he said. “When the light of the Holy Spirit reveals the attachments and burdens we carry, the sacrament of reconciliation becomes a sacred place to bring them before the Lord. There, we can lay them at his feet and encounter anew his mercy and peace.”
As a priest, Father Hiaeshutter said, he has personally seen the power of the sacrament.
“Some of the most memorable moments I’ve experienced in the confessional are when someone begins by saying, ‘Father, it’s been 10, 20, or even 50 years since my last confession.’ When I hear those words, my first response is simply, ‘Welcome home,’” he shared. Often, these words inspire deep emotion, even tears, in those confessing their sins. “Moments like these are among the most powerful and grace-filled experiences of priestly ministry.”
Father Unachukwu likewise noted the power of confession to change lives. The sacrament is real and efficacious, he said; so, “why are we surprised when we see conversion happening? … When people are coming back 20 years, 25 years, 30 years, 50 years they’ve been away from the confessional — that, to me, is a miracle in itself.”
Reflecting further on the sacrament, the vicar general said that the image of reconciliation is that of the prodigal son. The journey toward salvation is ultimately a homeward one, after all — a return of God’s children into the arms of their loving Father.
“He’s a good Father. He’s ever ready. He’s always there,” Father Unachukwu said. “The light is always on.”
Cutline for featured image: A confessional is seen in a file photo at the Memorial Church of the Holy Sepulcher on the grounds of the Franciscan Monastery in Washington. (OSV News photo/Nancy Phelan Wiechec)
