Viruses and Sin

When a person is infected by a virus, he or she would often quickly see a doctor and/or go to a hospital for treatment. This is because, a virus left untreated could cause serious damage to one's health, even death.






Computer viruses, once detected, are quickly removed using antivirus software, to prevent any further or possible damage of one's computer or personal files.

  

However, when a person has sinned, does the person immediately seek confession to prevent any further or possible damage to one's soul and relationship with God? Some people are regular in their confession, while others procrastinate, coming only once or twice a year. Both Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI recommend weekly confessions to purify one's soul and to maintain right relationship with God.







In his 2003 encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia (The Eucharist and Its Relationship to the Church), John Paul II warned: “I therefore desire to reaffirm that in the Church there remains in force, now and in the future, the rule by which the Council of Trent gave concrete expressions to the Apostle Paul’s stern warning when it affirmed that, in order to receive the Eucharist in a worthy manner, one must first confess one’s sins when one is aware of mortal sin.”

Let us therefore make every effort to examine ourselves and go for confession, while we are on this earth. Let us not wait to the last minute, for we do not know when death will take us.