The Confessional

‘Forgive me father for I have sinned, it has been five months since my last confession’, Seth says to Father Oakes, who made the sign of the cross. He was at his parish of St Jude the Evangelist, on a cold November Saturday morning.’ In that time I have met someone. He’s a 25 year old construction worker; I’ve met during my job. We argue. I don’t agree with him. He’s mimicked me for being single. He’s encouraged me to smoke weed. Sometimes he sits on his tools, and ridicules me for being at work’. There was then a long pause whilst Seth rubbed his face with his hands after he had said this. Often, the life of the young catholic brought him to tearful contemplation. It is so strange that this helped him mentally, and spiritually, but is rarely spoken about. ’He’s on a zero hour contract. He has two children. He used to attend St Mary Magdalene’s. He represents the poor man, and Jesus was disguised as the poor man, but I never realized’.

‘Amen. When the rich young man came to God, there was already an abundance of grace within his heart. This is where many have missed the point. They think the story is purely about leaving everything behind, to go on a long journey. A vacation, if you like. Like the journey of the disciples, it is to get somewhere so that they can be seen as someone better than before. This person had everything. He had climbed to the top of the highest mountain, and yes God had helped him. He went half-way up, before nearly the very top. You guessed it, in those moments he was not far from the kingdom of heaven! But when he did finally make it, he realized not what he left behind. He realized who. This is the hardest lesson of all that I’ve never taught you. Seth, God is with you because the light within your soul has reflected a divine spark that you have seen. Then you have expressed it to Him today. All this should stay within your heart and mind. Yes it’s right to tell of it if anybody asks. Maybe the ground beneath your feet is the real mountain. Today you have told me that. Human beings spend a lifetime climbing these mountains. By that I mean the mountains that don’t raise their eye-lines above anybody else’s. They must climb to become who they were before, so that they can see each other’.

‘The last thing I want you meditate on is this. Duality, as you have already realized, has a part to play. When I say ‘there is no mountain’ I’m not actually saying that at all. What I’m really saying is that there is a mountain, and there isn’t one! You could almost say ‘we have to go up, to come down’. Just like Jesus did, which we all must revere, because no-one else has ever done what He did. It is clear, that you now see Jesus, a lot of the time, at the top of the tallest building. For your penance, please recite the words of the hymn ‘Make me a channel of your peace’, before the crucifix in the main part of the church. Now an act of contrition.’