Blood of Life is given; when we rise, repent, we restore communication with the Body – we allow access to the grace of the Holy Spirit in our body, letting in Jesus Christ, who knocks on the doors of hearts we closed before Him with sin. When grace arrives and Blood reaches the “organ”, it feels pain, intense pain (depending on how long the blood had not reached the organ) – these are the first fruits of the Eucharist.
(People who, after a long absence from the Church, finally come to It [often not because they have understood the meaning of life in God, or started seeking the Truth – God, but because they are in sorrow, troubles, pain (not from sin, no!), and they want to be freed from them and happily settle on earth], make a fatal, irreparable mistake, when they think that they will feel better, well, as they imagined in their utilitarian fantasies – they think there will be peace, relief, and joy. In reality, those who sincerely began to repent, to give access to God to themselves, (including through the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist) at the first stage of healing, “reconciliation” feel increasing pain, that is, formally it does not get better, but worse! That is, I begin, with the influx of blood into the body, to feel myself. An organ that had not received blood, wounded by sins that did not hurt because the nerve impulses did not reach it, I did not feel myself, was dead or under anesthesia [beat a dead man – he does not hurt; when they perform surgery under anesthesia – nothing hurts, I feel good because I am asleep, I ‘am not there’, but when the subdued nervous system gets the opportunity to transmit information to me, who has come to my senses – the pain is unspeakable].
And therefore, when we sincerely come to the Church through repentance, confession [we give access to ourselves to God] and the Eucharist [we restore communication with the Head of the Body and the Holy
Members and begin to nourish on the Blood, in which everything necessary for living functioning is contained] – we feel pain, and, not understanding what is happening [a normal process of healing is happening] we leave the Church, and not finding relief [and it only gets worse; because we want not health, but peace, pleasure, painkiller, not medicine] in the Church, we go to fortune-tellers, “grannies”, psychics, “healers”, into sects, where there are enough drugs in the literal and figurative sense for all followers. Drugs do not cure, they numb, help to forget, to fall asleep and, as in intoxication, not to wake up and to die. And there are so many who are convinced that they are in the Church and they are well, that is, they have never felt pain from wounds, pain that increases with the intensification of spiritual life (and does not decrease at the first stage of resuscitation, healing). This means that people do not give access to God to themselves (although they may partake of communion every day, every Sunday). They eat – and grace is not assimilated, not “digested” because they understand the sacraments as magical actions, that is, God will do everything, and my task is to perform the rite, the sacrament correctly, and then everything will happen by itself. And we forget a simple thing, that since the Lord saved us, and to this day “the Kingdom of God is taken by force and those who exert effort – obtain it”. God has given Himself to each of us and therefore now “everything” depends on us: whether we accept the Gift or not? Whether we will live the Eucharistic Life of the Church or not? And we treat the Sacraments like pills, medicines, which act on their own – the main thing is to take them, – this is one of the reasons for the spiritual paralysis of Christians.
What then is confession, or what happens during confession? After the above, there is no need to say that confession has nothing to do with reporting one’s sins – deeds, listing them, and reading them off a note, and which are often accompanied by sentimental tears and laments and promises (see below) not to do so anymore. Such “penitents” (confessors – V.A.) receive the absolution prayer (often Catholic in form and content, see below) and, having received forgiveness of sins, relief, and, as sinless, holy, they approach the Eucharist (because something else needs to be performed), and then self-satisfied, with a sense of duty performed, on the wings of exhilaration (euphoria) they fly into the world… What can be sadder than such a picture!
Let’s paint another picture. A patient comes to a doctor with test results. Diagnosis: you have liver cirrhosis – half needs to be removed; gangrene of the legs – legs need to be amputated today, because tomorrow will be too late; an urgent valve replacement is needed in the heart; kidneys need to be transplanted with donor ones – your own will fail in a week or two… Hearing such a diagnosis, the patient joyfully runs out of the office, thrilled with himself – he is a hero, life is just beginning, only a formality is needed – to get to the operating room today, and then to perform several more operations… And then the Holy Fathers scared me that sin – is something terrible that cripples, kills, and here it’s just… Should such be the joy and reaction of a “normal” patient? Of course, the reaction and emotions after such a diagnosis are different! On the one hand, he rejoices because he lived in delusion, an illusion of health, prosperity, and then he learned the truth about himself, terrible, but true. He did not know he was mortally ill until such a revelation. (How many cases are there, when a “healthy” man, who runs to the gym or to some heavy work, suddenly falls dead on the road. It turns out, his heart was sick, and he, poor thing, did not know and without repentance… Of course, he would give everything just to learn about this terrible, salvific truth – would have gotten treated, and lived, having the opportunity to repent). This diagnosis is not the end of the disease! It is just the beginning of a long, to the sweat of blood, labor of repentance, healing! The beginning of treatment, operations, organ transplants, blood transfusions… (Someone will say: there will not be enough money for those operations, not to mention donors, medicines… In this world – yes, but in the Church there is no lack of one thing – patients who want to use the free Divine medicine. Everything is there: Doctor (Christ), Donor (Christ), Medicine (Christ), the main thing – the desire and determination of the patient to endure the treatment course: “he who endures to the end will be saved”).