October 29, 2023 - Pastor Message
04/30/2024THE YEAR OF MISSION
PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION
“On the evening of the first day of the week, when the doors were locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained’” (John 20:19-23).
Continuing our reflection on the canonical basics of the sacraments, today we will look at the sacrament of penance and reconciliation, also known as sacramental confession. This sacrament is a development of the Church’s understanding of the authority Christ entrusted to his disciples to forgive sins. It’s canonical basics can be a little tricky, though. What is the sensible material, or matter, of the sacrament? It is the sins that we confess orally to the minister. While we cannot see or touch our sins in confession, we do voice them and hear them, which are sensible activities.
What is the form of the sacrament? It is the confession of sins by the penitent followed by the laying on of hands and prayer of absolution by the minister: “God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son, has reconciled the world to himself and poured out the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins. Through the ministry of the Church, may God grant you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Who can receive the sacrament? Any contrite, baptized Catholic with sins to confess. This presumes that the person has the use of reason, since only people with the use of reason can commit sins. This is presumed at the age of seven. And who is the minister of the sacrament? Only priests or bishops can validly minister the sacrament due to its connection to the specifically apostolic ministry.
Finally, what are the effects of the sacrament? The grace of the sacrament washes away all actual sins, including sins we may forget to confess, restoring us to the state of grace we knew at the time of our baptism and reuniting us with Christ and his Body, the Church, from whom our sins alienate us. This is the only ordinary means of forgiving serious, or mortal, sins, but it also includes the forgiveness of all lesser, or venial, sins. It does not fully heal the spiritual damage done by our sins, however, which requires additional works of penance assigned by the minister.
Fr. Marc Stockton
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