Topic: What is the nature of the sacrament of reconciliation?
Date originally posted: 11-11-2002
Source of this posting: Moderator response to emailed question
Moderator who originally posted this source: Father Phillip
Question: Why
do Catholics go to a priest to have our sins forgiven through the sacrament
of reconciliation? Why are we called to go through an intermediary (the priest)
if we can confess our sins directly to God through personal prayer? The bible
says that 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive
us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness' (1 John 1:9; NIV). So, if
we can obtain forgiveness through direct communication with our Father (who
knows us and our thoughts better than we know ourselves!), then why does the
Catholic Church require us to go to confession and confess to a priest?Doesn't
this contradict the fact that the Lord is omniscient and all-powerful? Confessing
through a priest just seems so 'cookie-cutter'-like and impersonal, sometimes
with group penances that seem almost trivial (like: say one 'Our Father' and
one 'Hail Mary'). Why do we go to a priest instead of just asking forgiveness
through our daily prayer?Thank you.Russ Altenburg
Answer:
Thanks, Russ,
for your question. It is one that comes up again and again -- which probably
means that (1) it's a really great question and (2) those of us who are "church
leaders" haven't done as good a job at explaining our position as we need
to. So, I am grateful that you help us to focus on the topic again.
Here in the CatholicQandA website in the "FAQ Library" you will find
some questions-and-answers that address many of the issues you raise under the
following:
Confession...
Topics
Why do Catholics confess their sins to a
priest?
When sin is not mortal sin, do you still
confess? If so, to whom do you confess?
Do I have
to tell the world about a sin I confessed?
What are some
ways I can learn to forgive?
The link to those questions is: http://64.246.202.66/FAQ_Library/faq_library.htm
So, I would encourage you to read through these questions and their answers.
However, you make some other points which are really excellent, and so I would
like to respond to them. But, please, make you sure you read the QandA's I mentioned
above because what I say in the following presupposes that you know the stuff
included there; ok?
One of the greatest "spiritual guides" in the history of Christianity
was Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. He strongly encourages
all people to examine their consciousness every single day. That goes to your
last question about "just asking forgiveness through our daily prayer."
How wonderful that you, Russ, have a daily prayer life; that is evidence of
your real faithfulness! Please work hard to keep up that practice throughout
your life.
As part of that daily prayer, you (and all of us) should look through the period
of time since our last prayer -- usually 24 hours is a reasonable 'block' to
examine. In our daily prayer, we should examine those places for which we need
to offer God grateful thanks as well as those places in which we need God's
help, grace, and forgiveness for that which led us away from the Lord. And surely,
surely God will 'happily' grant us those graces of forgiveness and compassion
for which we ask...as the verse you quoted from I John 1:9 promises.
A website which I have found to be really helpful in this topic of daily prayer
and examining my consciousness is the following: http://www.jesuit.ie/prayer/
I would urge you to look at it and see if, perhaps, it might help you as well.
A second comment I would make about your question is that I notice you quote
from the NIV. I'm impressed that you know the Bible and use it; that's fantastic!
While the NIV is certainly a good Bible, if you are a Catholic, I would recommend
that you get and use a translation that includes the entire Catholic Bible (our
Bible has what are called the Deutero-canonical books in the Old Testament while
the NIV does not have these important and fully inspired works) as well as footnotes
and helps that make understanding the Sacred Scripture from a Catholic perspective
somewhat easier.
Please be sure to see the information in the CatholicQandA FAQ Library regarding
when the Catholic Church "requires" us to celebrate the Sacrament
of Penance/Reconciliation. Imbedded within your question about this important
topic is the absolutely TRUE assertion that "our Father...knows us and
our thoughts better than we know ourselves!...." That is so true and so
important!
The Church's offer of Sacramental grace through Reconciliation/Penance is just
another way of Our Father giving us divine Love, Compassion, and Grace. It's
not "an either-or" situation. It's "a both-and" situation.
Let me try to explain:
What you say about God knowing us and our thoughts better than we know ourselves
is absolutely true; if you're interested in a beautiful evocation of that fact,
read Saint Augustine's "Confessions." Reconciliation/Penance is but
another venue for our omniscient Father to reveal the intimacy and immediacy
of the Divine Love.
Let me put it another way: God uses every conceivable means to get us to believe
that He loves us deeply, completely, passionately, truly. God is even willing
to offer that omniscient and divine Love through finite, limited, sinful human
beings -- priests...and, of course, others as well, but in the Sacrament, it's
a priest.
So, rather than contradicting, "the fact that the Lord is omniscient and
all-powerful", God's willingness to use the flawed but still-effective
means of "human agency" in the priest, the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation
is, I believe, AN EVIDENCE precisely of God's omniscience, omnipotence, and
omnibeneficience (all-goodness).
That is to say, Who but God -- Who can do all things and bring good out of everything
-- would deign to bring us grace and forgiveness in such an unusual way?!?!
Of course, God COULD offer us only one way to receive divine forgiveness, but
since God seems to revel in the diversity of the created order, God seems, also,
to revel in providing a range of ways for us to receive the divine grace which
we need to co-operate with Him in this created world.
Finally, then, I'd like to respond to your comment about the "cookie-cutter"-likeness
of "Confessing through a priest." Your observation does, indeed, strike
home. I'd make two comments in response.
On the one hand, I believe that priests need to spend time with individual persons,
listening to their stories, helping them -- in ways that are appropriate --
to discern the movement of the Spirit of God in their lives. While this ministry
can occur in the Sacrament of Reconciliation/Penance, it is, generally speaking,
more appropriate to the ministry of spiritual direction. If, however, both the
priest and the penitent, for whatever reasons, feel that this process is best
undertaken within the context of the Sacrament of Reconciliation/Penance, then
the priest should try to fashion, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, a penance
that will help the penitent to grow to a deeper awareness of God's love for
him or her. God forgive us for those instances when we may have "trivialized"
any aspect of our confessing or the granting of absolution and forgiveness!
On the other hand, while most of us "rugged American individualists"
don't really like to hear it, the following is true and very much part of Catholic
Tradition: every sin is communal in it's implications and we human beings are
more alike than we are different. Therefore, the Church is very much on the
mark when we are encouraged to celebrate this wonderful Sacrament of Confession
and Reconciliation in the context of the community.
(You adverted to "group penances." Allow me to make this distinction,
please: As Catholics we're not too much into "groups." A group is
a collection of persons who gather out of a common interest or occupation; as
such, a group disperses when that common interest or occupation is finished
and the participants have no further obligation to one another.
(Catholics, however, are very much committed to "community." A community
is an organic whole in which the individual members recognize -- to varying
degrees dependent upon their 'state' and ability -- that they are connected
to one other and to the Transcendent One Who calls them together in the first
place. So, even after any particular gathering of the community is concluded,
members of the community continue to have an intrinsic responsibility both to
other members of the community and to the One Who is the Source of their unity.)
So, in our common humanity and similar experiences, in our "alike-ness"
we can, most legitimately, I think, experience a certain 'sameness' in the penances
which are meted out. Relatedly, my own experience is such that I am convinced
that that "sameness" can easily be found in our confessions. Our sins
are remarkably similar!
Finally, praying an Our Father or a Hail Mary is always a good thing! Prayer
is something we should all do! So, while the penances could be seen as "almost
trivial", if they are approached with contrition and devotion, even that
one Our Father can be the occasion of God transforming us! Remember: ALL THINGS
are possible with God!
So, there you go, Russ. I long answer to an excellent question. Be sure to read
the other responses in the FAQ section of this website.
Blessings,
Father Phillip