Laying down our burdens

It has been my experience that people often try to unload their burdens by sharing them with their dearest friends. The problem with this is that one burden unloaded becomes another burden taken up. Thus, the friend who has just received the burden often feels the need to seek out another dear friend onto whom they might be able to unload their new found burden. Thus begins a vicious cycle known as gossip. Often gossip is not intended, but brought on by the fact that so many of us place our burdens on those who do not have the supernatuaral grace to be able to bare them. God is good, however, and thus we have Confession. Confession, being one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, and having been instituted by Christ Himself, is accompanied by great graces. The grace of the sacrament is not only that which is received by the penitent, but also, that which is gifted to the Confessor, the priest, himself. God is so good, He knows our fallen natures and He sees our weaknesses. Being a merciful God, He provides for His priests the unearthly ability to allow the burdens of others to channel through their mortal bodies to the Heart of our loving Father in heaven who is then able, as only God is, to forgive and forget. The priest, in persona Christi, as Christ Himself, is able to confer this forgiveness on the penitent and true relief is achieved, without the burden being passed through the continuous chain of gossip and eventually causing more hurt than anyone had ever imagined. My prayer for all of us, both reader and writer, is that we will take to the Confessional with all haste. Run to the sacrament when our hearts are heavy laden. Allow Christ, through His priests, to provide us with the relief our our burdens that only He, as our loving God, can do. Be a good friend to others, and lay down your burdens at the feet of the almighty God.