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_{Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 27, 2008}

          Babe Ruth is one of the most colorful players baseball has ever known.  He is also one of the most famous names in American sports.

          One cold December night in 1946, the words of Jesus in today's gospel – "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" – took on special meaning for Babe Ruth.  He explained why in an article in Guideposts magazine. He wrote:  "Even though I drifted away from the church, I did have my own altar, a big window in my New York apartment overlooking the city lights.  Often I would kneel before that window and say my prayers.  I would feel quite humble then.  I'd ask God to help me...and pray that I'd measure up to what he expected of me."

          On this cold December night, however, the Babe was lying in bed in a New York hospital, seriously ill.  Paul Carey, one of the Babe's oldest and closest friends, was at his side.  After a while Carey turned to Ruth and said, "Babe, they're going to operate in the morning.  Don't you think you should see a priest?"

          Ruth saw the concern in Carey's eyes, and for the first time in his life he realized that death could "strike him out."  The kingdom of God was, perhaps, at hand for him.  He knew he had to take seriously Jesus' words:  "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."  Ruth looked into Carey's eyes and said, "Yes, Paul!  I'd appreciate you calling a priest."

          That night Babe Ruth spent a long time talking to Jesus with the priest's help.  When he finished, he had made a full and humble confession.  He didn't hold back a thing.  After the priest gave Ruth absolution, he patted him on the hand and said softly, "Babe, I'll be back in the morning to give you Holy Communion, but you don’t have to fast."

          Back in the 1940's it was common practice for Catholics to fast from midnight when receiving Communion the next day.  The Babe smiled at the priest and said, "Father, I'll fast anyway.  I won't even drink a drop of water."  After the priest left, the Babe said: "As I lay in bed that evening, I thought to myself what a comfortable feeling to be free from fears and worries.  I could simply turn them over to God."

          Babe Ruth's experience of profound peace after receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a common experience among Catholics.  It's a peace that must be experienced to be appreciated.  It's a peace that comes only from the sacrament of peace.  It's a peace that Jesus gave to the sacrament when He instituted it on Easter Sunday night, saying to His Apostles:  "Peace be with you...Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." (John 20:21-23)

          But the peace of the Sacrament of Reconciliation comes at a price.  And the price is a humble admission that we are, indeed, sinners who want to reform our lives.

          Emily Griffin was a New York advertising executive when she felt herself drawn to Catholicism.  In her book Turning, she describes her first reaction to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  She writes:  "The notion of confessing my sins was hateful to me.  It was not a question of unwillingness to confess my sins before another human being; it was in fact an unwillingness to confess my sins at all.  I could not admit myself to be a sinner.  Yet in some part of me I knew I was flawed and I was profoundly ashamed."

          When Emily decided to become Catholic, therefore, she found herself confronted, for the first time, with admitting that she was a sinner.  Finally, the hour came for her to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

          It was an experience she would never forget.  Like Babe Ruth, Emily experienced a profound peace.  She experienced a spiritual freedom that made her want to jump and shout for joy.  And to her surprise, she found confessing her sins to a priest was not confessing to a priest at all.  She says in her book: "I had begun to see priests not as men but as Christ himself; and I remembered with what tenderness he dealt with the tax collectors and the adulteress."

          I think it's right here that we find the answer to why so many people experience deep peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  It's because they experience the sacrament for what it really is: an encounter with the merciful Jesus!

It's an encounter with the merciful Jesus who dealt so gently with the paralyzed man, saying, "Your sins are forgiven." (Lk 5:20)  It's an encounter with the merciful Jesus who dealt so tenderly with the woman taken in adultery, saying, “Neither do I condemn you.” (Jn 8:11)  It's an encounter with the merciful Jesus who dealt so compassionately on the cross with his enemies, saying, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." (Lk 23:24)

          In today's gospel we are told "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."  It is an invitation to turn from our sinfulness, encounter the merciful Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and reform our lives.

          It's an invitation to experience for ourselves the peace that filled the heart of Babe Ruth on that cold December night in 1946.  It's an invitation to experience for ourselves the peace that filled the heart of Emily Griffin after her first confession.  Aren't we all yearning for that peace in our hearts?