“And when Jesus was come into the house of the ruler, and saw the minstrels and the multitude making a rout, he said: ‘Give place, for the girl is not dead, but sleepeth.’ And they laughed him to scorn. And when the multitude was put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand. And the maid arose. And the fame hereof went abroad into all that country.”
Even more extraordinary than the healing of the bleeding woman is the raising of a dead child; so too is the mending of a heart by love less magnificent than the events that take place in the sacrament of confession. When someone is not in the state of grace, they do not possess the virtue of charity; true love does not abide in their heart: “But their heart was nor right with him: nor were they counted faithful in his covenant” (Psalm 77:37). The transportation of someone from the state of mortal sin to the state of grace, the state of love, is a lifting up of the heart from death to life. Consider, Theophila, the life of St. Monica, who wept for years over the spiritual death of her dear Augustine, just as there are mourners here lamenting for the death of this child. God, however, has the power to give life: “And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7); “When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: ‘Receive ye the Holy Ghost’” (John 20:22), and comes to console those who mourn for this type of death: “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:5) by bestowing life: “It is he who giveth to all life, and breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25). There is also a lesson here about the view of death, for in Christ death is not something to be feared, but is sweeter than sleep, for through it do you enter into the embrace of love that is heaven: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). Therefore, where the love of God is present, death is as the repose of sleep, for it is a transition to the fullness of life, new life in the resurrection: “But God… hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-6). To those who do not know this love, “If thou didst know the gift of God” (John 4:10), this idea is ridiculed, as death is despised: “In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery: and their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace” (Wisdom 3:2-3). This is the meaning of the mockery of those who laugh at Jesus, who in turn do not get to look upon His beautiful work: “He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them” (John 12:40), for the heart that knows the love of God can see His love in action: “Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). This is a great highlight of the confessional, for it is there that Jesus takes many gently by the hand to raise them back to the life of love: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy hath regenerated us unto a lively hope” (1 Peter 1:3), and cleans the feet of those that have dirtied them with the faults that inevitably arise in life: “He that is washed, needeth not but to wash his feet, but is clean wholly” (John 13:10). Consider the great celebration that takes place when your Savior takes your hand in the sacrament of penance, for in all conversion, no matter how small, there is rejoicing in heaven: “I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance” (Luke 15:7), which occurs at every movement of your heart back to God: “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunders, saying, ‘Alleluia: for the Lord our God the Almighty hath reigned” (Apocalypse 19:6). This is how to prepare for confession: To approach the confessional realizing that your Abba is running forth to bathe you in affection, to cover your soul with kisses, and that your hands are being gently taken that you may be lifted up, that your feet are being washed by a tender Lord, and that you have the beautiful grace to encounter the mercy of the Most Holy Trinity firsthand: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity” (1 John 1:9). This tenderness restores love to its fullness in you, raising you from any fault to the image of Love Incarnate; take all that was not love to Jesus that He may kiss the bruises in your soul and send you out to play once again, as a child that fell needs the kiss of a mother to then go run once more.