Category:Lecture/Sermon

I am Deacon John; I am about to graduate from seminary, will be ordained in May. My parents found a place in Tennessee for retiring. Their church is in walking distance, very rare in the South. The pastor there gave a sermon titled the Fourth Quarter. The thief on the cross that was saved had turned to Jesus to repent and was saved. He was ordained as a saint. God calls us to the heights of holiness, the universal to holiness. We are all called to the holy life of Jesus. The question is not who is a sinner, we are all sinners. It is about humanity. Saint Dismas defended Jesus and was forgiven. You do not have to wait to the last minute to turn to God. When we turn to God for grace, he responds. It means living in grace, further away from sin, it means reconciling. Reconciliation is Jesus extending his hand from the cross. A priest and sinner once in confessional saw Jesus extending his hand to the sinner. We confess to Jesus, who gives forgiveness. Every time we receive reconciliation we are given the strength to sin no more. Every time I go to reconciliation I encounter Jesus. When a priest prays over you in the sacrament of reconciliation, may God absolve you from your sins, it is Jesus forgiving us. Run to the sacraments to receive Jesus Christ himself, do not wait to the fourth quarter.