January 19, 2025 // Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Sister,

I remember the first time I realized I was a new creation.

I was sixteen years old at a conference and was invited by a presiding priest to call to mind my sins that had a suffocating grip over my life. Lying, drinking, fornicating, masturbation, gossip, and more came flooding to my mind in an instant. I was overwhelmed by the amount of sin brought in front of my mind. 

The priest invited us to imagine where Jesus was in all of these instances. Quickly my memory discovered where He was—next to me as I lied to my parents, sitting with me as I cried on the bathroom floor out of guilt for my alcohol and drug consumption, within earshot as I gossiped about a friend, waiting for me with His hand outstretched as I chose another over Him.

I cried mounds and mounds of tears as these memories flooded back into my mind; my breath caught in my chest as I saw Jesus in every single picture. 

You were always there.

Every tear that rolled down my cheeks was a tear for every sin I had committed for years and years and years, knowingly entering into these transgressions and never stopping to realize how much they hurt me, my relationships, and most importantly, my union with Christ.

I went to Confession to tell the Lord of my sorrow and repentance and to receive His forgiveness. And I walked out a new creation. I was no longer a girl with great sin on her shoulders; I was a girl washed by the blood of Jesus.

I’m so grateful that the sin in my life then and now is not what defines me. I’m so grateful that what I’ve done (or not done) and how I’ve hurt myself or others has been washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ.

And the same is true for you, Sister. 

We are made new by Jesus Christ’s saving power on the Cross, and we get to enter into that tangible truth every single time we receive His sacramental grace.

God rejoices in you and in me. He is our Bridegroom, waiting like a patient Lover for us to put Him first, for us to love Him first, for us to look to Him first. 

He was always there, and He always will be.

Love,

Jenna