Catechesis Notes for the Week — Confess Your Trespasses to One Another — “I’m sorry! Forgive me!” These are the words of daily contrition and repentance. “I forgive you!” These are the words of new life from God and the life we share with one another. There is nothing more central to the baptismal life of a Christian than to live by faith in the undeserved mercy of God in Christ and to share that mercy within the body of Christ. It brings constant healing and renewal. This is the meaning of this week’s Bible Verse: “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” We are righteous by faith in Christ and He desires that we pray for one another so that our consciences are healed by Christ’s forgiveness shared within the body of Christ. This emphasis upon confessing our sins to one another and praying for one another that we might be healed by Christ’s forgiveness is what the third section of the Catechism is about. The plural pronouns in the passage from Romans indicate that we are all joined together by our Baptism into Christ so that His undeserved forgiving grace might shape our lives. “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”CP250126