The priest guided Eisen into one of the confessionals and said,
"Sir, please wait a moment. I will ask another priest to help you. This is our rule. Please understand."
Eisen nodded after hearing this, then he closed the door of the confessional, took off his tall hat, and waited for another priest to come to the opposite cubicle.
This design is to protect personal privacy and also to hide the identity of the priest.
Those who come to confess have different identities, maybe just an ordinary student, maybe a housewife, or maybe a serial killer.
So confession is an extremely private matter, but in the Church, everyone is equal, all are children of the Holy Light: this is how the Church views believers.
It does not matter what the identity of the person who comes to confession is or what sins he or she has committed, because confession is for the purpose of admitting sins and repenting.
But others may not think so.
In 1393, Bachelor John of the Bohemian Kingdom died as a martyr;
Bachelor John once confessed for the princess of King Vazlaf. After the king learned that the princess had an unknown lover, King Vazlaf first tempted Bachelor John with wealth and honor, hoping that Bachelor John could reveal the name of the lover, but was rejected by Bachelor John.
King Vazlaf, enraged, ordered that Maester John be tortured, but Maester John had always kept the secret for the princess who was a confessor.
Finally, Bachelor Giovanni was drowned in the Fultava River in Blago.
The Holy Light Society was shocked and saddened by this, but the priests regarded John the Baptist's death as a sacrifice to defend the dignity and autonomy of the Holy Light Society, so they canonized him as a saint.
At the same time, the design of the confessional was changed from an open face-to-face design to two independent single rooms separated by black screens; this can keep the identities of both parties confidential.
The full name of confession is the Sacrament of Confession, which can also be called the Sacrament of Penance. It is one of the seven sacraments of the Holy Light Society.
Believers need to confess their sins to legitimate clergy, repent for their sins, vow to improve, and obtain inner redemption and pardon of holy light after the clergy forgive their sins.
People have seven emotions and six desires, and they will inevitably commit crimes after indulging their desires. Some people may commit sins unintentionally, and some may do so intentionally, but only those who can repent can do good deeds in the future. This is the admonition from the Son of God Yesu.
The sacrament of confession should be a sacrament of peace, joy and comfort, it is baptism in another way.
Ordinary baptism is just a simple initiation ceremony for infants or believers, but the baptism of the sacrament of confession is for the baptism of the believers' hearts.
This baptism symbolizes overwhelming mercy and forgiveness, which can forgive sins in a person's heart and soul.
For Eisen, although he is an atheist, he is also aware that he is not an upright person.
Coming to the church is not only for the dream, but also to use the priest's words of comfort to eliminate some of the guilt in my heart.
Sometimes Eisen thought of himself as a wild beast dominated by his lower body, who would seduce those empty-hearted ladies; sometimes Eisen thought of himself as a cunning businessman, who would water the livestock in order to sell his meat products at a higher price.
All kinds of emotions and negative thoughts had actually been suppressed in Eisen's heart, so at this moment he actually had an expectation for confession.
Hearing the door of the compartment opposite him closed, Eisen saw through the dim black screen window that a priest had sat down.
He couldn't wait to communicate with the priest opposite him about his dream, but the priest opposite him spoke first.
"Sir, do you believe in the Holy Light?"
The priest's sudden question stunned Eisen for a moment. When the priest saw that Eisen did not answer immediately, he realized that Eisen was not a believer of Holy Light.
Eisen smiled awkwardly. He was too embarrassed to tell the priest that he was an atheist.
After a brief silence, the priest opposite said,
"As long as you come here, it means that you have the Holy Light in your heart. I hope that after I relieve your worries today, you can often come to sing hymns and hold mass with us in the future to praise the Holy Light and the Son of God."
After hearing this, Aisen was somewhat tempted, but he remembered the original reason why he came here, so he spoke,
"Father, if I have a chance, I will come back to see you. But I have a question that I hope you can answer for me. I had a very terrible dream last night, and I still shudder when I think about it now. I wonder if you have heard of such a situation?"
The priest listened quietly, then responded, "Dreams are the interpretation of the heart. Are you guilty?"
Aisen sighed and said, "Father, I am a butcher. I need to slaughter lives every day to make a profit. But in order to sell them at a higher price, I used some tricks and the animals died miserably. In addition, for my own selfish desires, I interfered with other people's families. Perhaps this is my sin."
The priest waited for Eisen to finish and responded,
"Does sir take blood products?"
Eisen, who was not familiar with the Holy Light Sutra, showed a blank expression. He did not think that his dream had anything to do with diet, so he responded briefly,
“Occasionally.”
"Leviticus 17:11-12: For the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for the blood makes atonement for the soul, for it is the blood that makes atonement for you."
The priest paused and continued,
"The Holy Son Yesu brought salvation to the world, and his blood cleansed the sins of the world. Therefore, you should not eat blood."③
Eisen seemed to understand what he heard, so he asked, "What does this have to do with dreams?"
"Because you eat blood, your sins cannot be washed away, so they appear in the form of nightmares."
The priest explained.
But this explanation did not satisfy Eisen. He thought that he did not explain the dream clearly, so he told the priest everything that happened in the dream without reservation.
The priest did not respond immediately after listening to him. He seemed to be thinking about how to answer Eisen. This situation was rare. After thinking for a while, the priest said to Eisen, "Sir, please wait a moment. I will be back soon."
Eisen had never heard of such a situation before. How could someone leave in the middle of confession
At this time, the priest who was responsible for the conversation with Eisen walked into the main hall. An elderly priest was preaching to the believers in the main hall on the pulpit.
He was an old man with a kind face. Although he had white hair, his face was still ruddy and he looked quite energetic.
The old priest saw the confessor standing by the side of the main hall waiting with an anxious look on his face, so he raised his voice and said to the believers present,
"Let's stop here for today. I will ask Pastor Paul to continue his talk. May the Holy Light bless you all."