The season of Lent is a time when we are invited to examine our hearts and life, and to grow closer to Jesus.

Years ago, I wondered why I would want to confess my sins to a priest rather than confessing to God directly. As a teenager, I used to confess my sins to God alone until one day when a priest asked me to help him serve at a high school retreat. I watched all the participants and I saw how they changed at the end of the first day. They all went to confession and they came out crying. I sat there wondering what was happening to them.

Afterwards, the priest gave me three A4 sheets and said, “If you want to experience God’s love, write all your sins and come to confession with that so that you can read it to God”. In that moment I felt that I wanted God’s love and I started to write my whole life on those pages.

When I finished, I went to the confessional and started to read. More than an hour later, I still sat there crying and confessing all my sins. I remember leaving there a free man and I still cannot express those feelings properly. I felt the love and peace of God within me.

I slept very well that night.

After that experience I went back to my normal routine, but I wish I could have stayed there forever. I knew God was real and that He loves us so much. To walk with Him, I must have a prayer life to connect myself with my God. One of my friends asked me why I tried to pray every day and I told him, “This is not a burden for me. I love my God; therefore, I want to talk to him every day.” I started to say “Good morning Jesus” every morning and “Good night Jesus” every night. This small action led me to this journey. Scriptures came alive in me after this. My relationship with God is giving me inner peace and I know no one can take it away from me. I believe our Church is inviting us to spend more time with Jesus, especially in this Lenten season.

My prayer journey helps me to forgive others and accept them as they are. Every single day I can see God in nature. It’s wonderful to feel the Holy Spirit in the wind. Jesus allowed the Holy Spirit to lead him into the wilderness, and if we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us during this time we will see things that we cannot see now. We will see God’s presence everywhere, and everyone will see God in and through us.