Saturday of Lent V - Ritual
In the cross we recognize the ultimate sign of human rebellion and failure transformed into the sign of pardon and peace. Because it proclaims the parable of the cross, the sacrament of reconciliation can take both sin and grace with full seriousness. Personal sins are serious; they are a concrete acting out of that asphyxiating hostility that makes us empty and impotent when we are challenged to love. But grace is serious, too. For grace is God acting out in us, God giving us his own name: freedom.
Nathan Mitchell, The Rite of Penance, Commentaries, vol. 3, Background and Directions, © 1978, The Liturgical Conference.
