Jesus Rejoices Over Every Sinner Who Repents
One day, while sitting in front of the Blessed Sacrament in Adoration, in my mind I saw a picture of myself and then I saw Jesus rejoicing over me. I was wondering why Jesus was so happy and then I realised that it was because I had just been to Confession. Luke 15:10 says, “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Jesus showed me that, along with the angels, he also rejoices over a sinner who repents. He dances with great joy when we confess with real repentance. He tells everyone in heaven that his child is back to holiness. His child has become a saint again! He is so happy when we confess and he declares that happiness around heaven. How great is that?
He showed me how we can see with the eyes of faith, what happens in heaven, when we repent of our sins and ask for forgiveness in the Sacrament of Confession. Jesus says to the angels, ‘Yes, my child has come back. I knew that they would come back one day. Now let us celebrate their return.’
A Grand Festival in Heaven
He celebrates our repentance with a grand festival in heaven. Just think about it, do we want to see Jesus rejoice over us? If we resolve to confess regularly, we will see him rejoicing. Even though we may only commit little sins, these spoil our innocent hearts and we need the healing touch of the Sacrament. If we clean our hearts regularly for Jesus, he can live within us. He cannot live anywhere that is spoiled by sin. When I had this experience, I cried out with joy. The best thing that we can do in this life is to make our God happy.
Persevere and Don’t Give Up
Will Jesus give up on us if we sin? No. Jesus wants us to persevere and not give up fighting. We all are soldiers in the army of Jesus and the duty of soldiers is to fight. When a little baby learns to walk, even though he keeps falling down, he never gives up but gets up and tries again. That is what God wants to see from all of us.
This does not mean that Confession is a licence to sin. Jesus gives us the grace through the Sacrament to defeat sin, and after our Confession we must use this grace to strengthen us for the fight. There are other sources of grace that will help us: Regular Scripture reading, personal prayer, fasting once a week, attending Holy Mass every day if possible, regular confessions and spending time before the Blessed Sacrament.
Jesus Gives us the Grace
These will all help us and make us stronger to fight and defeat the devil when he comes to attack our weaknesses. Don’t forget that Jesus knows the struggles that we go through, when we fight and when we fall, because he knows that we are weak.
My advice to everyone is to repent of your sins, no matter how big or small they are. Repent and receive God’s forgiveness and grace. Remember that Jesus is rejoicing in heaven because of your Confession and don’t forget that we can resist temptations and avoid sin. We can do it because Jesus gives us the grace to do it. Praise be to God!
“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17″
Written by Dona Solichan