September 1st

  While convalescing recently, I sought consolation in Netflix, specifically the Fr. Brown series.  Fr. Brown is a perceptive, gentle priest with a penchant for solving mysteries—which is a very good thing since apparently someone in his parish either gets murdered or disappears on a weekly basis.  His interest in these criminal investigations does not bend toward retributive justice, but rather toward ministering to the guilty offenders.  He wants them to own up to their actions for the good of their souls.
 
        After watching one episode, I found myself considering divine forgiveness.  Did God need this murderer to confess her sin in order to forgive her?  Or is it that the murderer was blocked from experiencing God’s forgiveness by an unwillingness to admit to her destructive behavior?  I put these questions out of my mind, for watching Fr. Brown had allowed television to work its usual magic on me—I was tired.  As I got into bed, I stuck a lump of wax into each ear so that my husband’s CPAP machine and my dog’s midnight wanderings would not awaken me.  As often happens, my husband came to bed a short time later and had something to say to me.  I pulled the ear plug out of one ear and heard him say, “I love you. Sleep well.”
 
        That was the answer to my questions!  Murderers’ confessing, our confessing, is like pulling wax out of one’s ear.  With the blockage removed, it is possible to hear God whispering to one’s heart, “I love you.  Sleep well.  Forgiveness and love are flowing all around you—and flowing through you as well.”