A Lenten Encounter with Mercy

A Lent to Remember

A Lenten Encounter with Mercy

Homily Talking Points

Week 1

Session 1: Where Are You?

• God uses our guilt to get our attention and to show us that something needs to change.
• God is a loving Father who seeks us out when we sin.
• A well-formed conscience is essential for our happiness.
• God doesn't just want more from us, but He wants more for us!

Week 2

Session 2: An Encounter with Mercy

• We are not defined by our failures and mistakes; rather we are defined by God's love for us.
• Confession is an encounter of God's mercy.
• In the sacrament, God not only forgives us, but he also heals our wounds and the root causes of our sin.
• It is Christ himself whom we encounter in the Sacrament of Reconciliation—the priest is acting in the Person of Christ.

Week 3

Session 3: The Rite Explained and Session 4:Bonus Episode for Children

• God forgives our sin in order to clear the way for love.
• We can choose to grow in grace or not.
• A good examination of conscience is taking the time to reflect on how we have failed to live up to who we are called to be.
• Mortal sin completely ruptures our relationship with God.
• A sin is mortal when it is a grave matter and is committed with full knowledge and full consent.
• The Rite of Penance includes the Sign of the Cross, stating how long since your last confession, listing your sins, receiving your penance, making an Act of Contrition, and receiving absolution.

Week 4

Session 4: The Paschal Mystery

• Fully human, Jesus can represent the human family and offer a gift of love on behalf of all humanity. Fully divine, his gift of love takes on infinite value--offering the perfect, redemptive sacrifice for all.
• When we say Jesus “descended into hell” in the Creed, this does not refer to the place of damnation, but the realm of the dead. Jesus in his human soul united to his divine person went to the realm of the dead and opened Heaven’s gates for the just who had gone before him.
• By his Death, Jesus liberates us from sin. By his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to new life in him that we may become sons and daughters of God and have eternal life.
• By his Ascension into Heaven, Jesus precedes us into his Father’s glorious kingdom in Heaven and then sends us the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
• Jesus invites us to participate in the mystery of his Death and Resurrection by uniting our entire lives—our daily works, joys, and sufferings—with the Cross of Christ.