“Confession” (A Poem…and Video!)

“Come back to Me now, My little lost soul, and I will lift all punishment due you. Repent and throw yourself into My arms.… I am here, in the tabernacle. Come to Me here and I will forgive all sin. I will make you as pure as if you had never sinned.”

-Jesus via ‘Anne, Apostle of the Returning King’ in Volume 2: Conversations with the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus (SO GOOD!)

“Confession”

Divine Mercy Sunday, April 16th, 2023

“…[Jesus] breathed on them and said to them,

‘Receive the Holy Spirit.

Whose sins you forgive are forgiven…'”

-John 20:22-23

“Please remember My love. My love overcomes any guilt that you may feel. I did not die for you because you would be perfect on earth, but because you would make mistakes and take actions harmful to yourself or other people. I knew this and I loved you perfectly in this reality. I did not want you to be overcome by your mistakes. I knew you would need to recover, again and again, in My love. I knew you would need to be freed from your guilt and so I absorbed every bit of it in my body on the day they crucified Me. Please understand that this was my great joy…”

-Jesus to ‘Anne, Apostle of the Returning King’ in the “New Locutions” on the Passion WOW…that’s all I can say…

YouTube Video:

Greetings Family and Friends and Happy Divine Mercy Sunday! (And Orthodox Easter! “Christos Anesti!” as we say in my Greek hometown, Tarpon Springs!)

I hope you all have had a beautiful, blessed Lent and glorious Easter season thus far, filled with faith, family, friends, feasting, and fun!

In the weeks leading up to the Paschal Triduum last week, some parishes in here in the St. Petersburg diocese in Florida had been hosting penance services offering the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession, so as to allow as many as possible to receive Our Risen Lord’s Body and Blood in Holy Communion on Easter Sunday in a state of grace!

If you haven’t had your Confession heard in a while, there’s never been a better time to go than now! In fact, if you go to Confession and Communion within the next 20 days, you will be able to receive the special Divine Mercy Sunday grace of not only complete forgiveness of all past sin, but also full remission from any future punishment due to sin (aka wiping away purgatory time!), as promised by Our Lord through Saint Faustina, in her Diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul (699).

Don’t miss out on the incredible life-changing, heart-healing and even soul-saving Sacrament that has worked so many spiritual, emotional, and even physical miracles for me, and so many! Though the devil wants to keep you bowed down in sorrow and locked up in sin, God is oh-so ready to give you a freeing fresh start, a beautiful BLANK SLATE (to quote Taylor Swift!), a soothing “soul shower” as I like to call it!

Honestly, I know it can often times feel nerve-racking or intimidating, but please realize that, really, there is nothing to be afraid of! Because at the end of the day, it is actually Jesus Himself who awaits you in this deeply healing Sacrament! Yes, Jesus Christ, through the words of absolution the priest, who is acting “In persona Christi”– is the One Who fully, freely forgives all your faults and failures in the flaming fires of His fathomless, fervent love for you and you alone!

And it is this RADICAL, unconditional Love, this boundless, indeed scandalous Mercy of His that ultimately allows us to be loving and merciful towards others…especially those who have hurt and harmed us, knowingly or unknowingly.

As C.S. Lewis once put it, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

The following is a contemporary version of the “Act of Contrition” and an “Examination of Conscience” to pray through beforehand, in case you might need a refresher/guide!

I personally like to spend some time jotting down a list of my recent sins and imperfections on a note in my phone as a kind-of Love/Apology Letter to the Lord, just so I don’t forget anything, even the seemingly “little things” that might start small but can really add up (like moments of laziness and lateness, impatience and impulsiveness, pride and perfectionism, and as many of you sadly aware, delay and disorganization in getting back to others via calls or texts…my apologies family and friends!)…

It’s always a good feeling afterward to be able to SWIPE-DELETE this long list of my many past mistakes and start afresh in striving to live out a life of Christlike kindness, selflessness, obedience, gentleness, prayerfulness, and above all love, through the abundantly available yet unceasingly unique grace of God in each precious present moment!

Besides…when it comes to going through and cleaning out my soul, (unlike my room or my car, which also definitely need a LOT of organizing!), I’d like to hope I can be as detailed and thorough as possible, without being over-scrupulous of course! After all, Our Blessed Mother Mary, in her apparitions to the Medjugorje visionaries, has recommended us to go to Confession regularly, indeed monthly, if possible!

Indeed, I can almost guarantee that if you don’t let yourself overthink it and simply just step in to honestly open up and courageously pour out your heart, you will step out feeling a tremendous weight lifted! (I’m not kidding, I’ve literally “jumped for joy” like a giddy little child on Christmas morning after receiving absolution once! …Yet why am I sensing that some of you might not be surprised…? 🙂

And speaking of which, I have some exciting news!

FINALLY…it is finished!

After writing this poem at the end of 2020, I was, by the abundant grace of God, the powerful prayers of many, and the timely help of a few, finally able to create and upload the following VIDEO of “Confession“…

Enjoy and feel free to share, share, share! (maybe just with one person who the Holy Spirit puts on your mind to reach out to!)

The following are the words to the abridged version of the poem! For the full version, click here: https://liveandliveon.com/2020/12/09/confession-a-poem/

Indeed, perhaps the best part about “stepping out” of the Confessional is having your heart purified and prepared to rightly, readily “step in” to the Communion line at Mass! if you can receive Our Lord physically, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in Holy Communion, even just once more during the week, it will literally mean more the WORLD to Him!

Feel free to find (Sunday and daily) Mass and Confession times in your own area using the amazing MassTimes.org website!

Note: Divine Mercy Image and quotes from Saint Faustina’s Diary belong to the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Wanna Join Me in Prayer?

Monday, April 17th @ 9:00pm Eastern,  

I will be praying the Rosary and would love to have you join me on a Conference Call, even if only for a decade or two! The more the MARY-er! lol 🙂 Simply dial:

(719) 820-9402

May God bless you, Mother Mary keep you, and all the angels and saints surround you and your families in this glorious Easter season!

Yours in the infinite, intimate Love of Christ, Our Condemned and Crucified yet Risen and Resurrected King!

Greg O. Perenich

ALSO… HUGE shoutout to Lynn, Dan and Joa for all they do to bring Christ’s love and mercy to this world, in amazing and artistic ways, (such as their Youth Ministry work and YouTube channel!)

…and for their help in making this video, this vision, a reality! 🙂

Please, please, please…keep their family in your heartfelt prayers! They are very much in need of them in this time…

JMJ