Forgiveness

Issue 2

God's Ready Forgiveness Through Reconciliation
by Father Frederick L. Miller

You are able to be at peace with God, to call Him "Father," and to live with Him forever in heaven because of Jesus Christ Who "loved you and gave Himself for you" (Galatians 2:20). Jesus, offering Himself as a sacrifice on the cross, "paid the price" for your sins and reconciled you to His Father "in His blood." Saint Paul says: "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross" (Colossians 1: 19-20).

Catholics believe that Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance on Easter night. Appearing to His apostles, He gave them the power to forgive all sins in His name. In that first meeting of the risen Christ with the apostles, the Lord said to them, and in fact to all priests of every time and place: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyoneÍs sins, they are forgiven. If you retain anyoneÍs sins, they are retained" (John 20: 22-23).

In giving His Church the sacrament of Reconciliation in this way, Christ revealed that He wants all sins committed after Baptism to be confessed to one of His priests. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains why Christ established this sacrament:

Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of His Church; above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as "the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace" (CCC #1446).

Christ, risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, continues to exercise His ministry of reconciliation through His priests. In confession, you open your heart to Christ in the person of the priest and through the absolution, you are reconciled to God and His Church. In fact, Catholics believe that the priest not only receives the power to forgive all human sins in the sacrament of Holy Orders, but also acts as doctor, teacher, father, and judge whenever he administers the sacrament of Penance.

As doctor, the priest comforts and heals. He "prescribes medicine" (penances) to cure the wounds inflicted by sin and to strike at the deep roots of sin. He teaches his penitent how to avoid sin and the occasions of sin in the future, how to grow in all of the virtues of Christ. Never showing anything but love, mercy, and gentleness to the person who has sinned, the confessor helps the penitent experience the tender love of God the Father. When the priest is confident that the penitent is sincerely sorry for the sins confessed and firm in the resolution to turn away from them, his judgment is forgiveness and mercy. Consider this consoling fact: the sins that you bring to the tribunal of penance will not be held against us when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ at the moment of death. This explains how thoroughly sins are "destroyed" in this sacrament of ChristÍs mercy. All are forgiven and "forgotten" by God.

On your part, what must you do to experience the forgiveness of your Savior? First of all, it is important to examine your conscience before you approach the priest. Spend some time thinking about your life since your last worthy confession to see how you have offended God. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you know your sins and humbly confess them.

In the examination of conscience you seek to know the truth about yourself. You try to see yourself as God sees you. The simplest way to do this is to meditate on your observance of each of the Ten Commandments. (The accompanying list of commandments and sins related to each may help you in this examination.)

After you admit your sins to yourself, ask the Holy Spirit for deep sorrow for your sins. Catholics call sorrow for sin "contrition." It is helpful in preparing for confession to meditate on the sufferings of the crucified Christ and to recall that He bore the guilt of your personal sins as He hung upon the cross. This prayer will convince you that sins wound Christ and the Church.

"Perfect contrition" is sorrow for sins motivated by the love of God. "Imperfect contrition" is sorrow for sin motivated by the fear of punishment in hell. Whenever you fall into sin, you should approach God with perfect contrition. Because we are such complicated people, we never know with certitude that our contrition is perfect. However, the Church assures us that God will forgive all of our sins in the sacrament of penance even if our contrition is "imperfect." This is another indication of the goodness and mercy of God.

If your contrition (perfect or imperfect) is real, it will include a desire to confess your sins to a priest, abandon sin and all the circumstances that lead to sin (purpose of amendment), and make satisfaction for the sins committed through acts of penance.

Mortal sin is a direct, conscious, and free violation of one or another of the Ten Commandments in a serious matter. (See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1854-1864). Mortal sin, also known as grave or deadly sin, destroys the life of grace in our souls.

All mortal sins must be confessed to a priest. You must "name" the sin. For example, "I committed adultery." "I had an abortion." "I gambled away a weekÍs salary." You must also tell the number of times you committed the mortal sin. For example, "I used a contraceptive device three times since my last confession."

Our confessions must always be integral, that is, complete. If you deliberately refuse to confess a mortal sin, none of your sins are forgiven and you commit a new mortal sin. By resisting the grace of the Holy Spirit and lying to Christ in the person of His priest, you commit the sin of sacrilege. The necessity of the confession of mortal sins by name and number is not the invention of the Church or any member or members of the Church. Rather it is a law established by the Lord Himself (cf. John 20:22-23). It is for our benefit!

If you are guilty of mortal sin, you must go to confession before you receive the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion. Saint Paul says, "anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of desecrating the body and blood of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 11: 27). We should often consider the following: If I die with an unrepented mortal sin on my conscience, I will forfeit the eternal enjoyment of God in heaven and find myself in the fires of hell.

The Church suggests that you go to confession frequently, even if you are not guilty of mortal sin. (Not all sin is mortal, that is, deadly. See John 5: 16) The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines venial sin this way: "One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or complete consent" (#1862).

Many priests are convinced that monthly confession of venial sin is helpful for every Christian. These "devotional confessions" will help you to grow in humility and charity. They help you, above all, to root out all sins and attachment to sin in your life. The grace of confession always increases and strengthens the love of God and neighbor. If there is mortal sin, especially habitual mortal sin, more frequent confession is necessary.

If you are having difficulty understanding the difference between mortal and venial sin or struggling with whether a particular sin is mortal or venial, do not hesitate to ask the priest to help you resolve these problems when you go to confession. Remember, he is your doctor, your teacher, your father.

In order to be forgiven you must sincerely desire to make reparation to God for your sins through acts of prayer, penance, and charity. The priest, in giving you a penance, has as his goal the healing of the wounds caused by the sins you committed. In performing the penance, you begin to make reparation for the harm your sins have caused you, others, and the Church. The penance imposed by the confessor reminds you that you need to be one with Christ in His sufferings so as to share in the glory of His risen life.

Once you have expressed sorrow for your sins by humbly confessing them to the priest and resolved to make amends for them by accepting the penance the priest gives you, you pray the act of contrition and receive sacramental absolution. As the priest prays the words of absolution over you, be certain that Christ exalted at the right hand of the Father in heaven is forgiving all of your sins. It is worthwhile to meditate on the words of absolution which are spoken to us by the Lord Himself in the person of His ordained priest:

God the Father of mercies through the death and resurrection of His Son has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us 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.

The introduction to the New Rite of Penance (#6) beautifully explains the effect of the absolution of the priest:

In the sacrament of penance the Father receives the repentant son who comes back to Him, Christ places the lost sheep on His shoulders and brings it back to the sheepfold, and the Holy Spirit sanctifies this temple of God again or loves more fully within it. This is finally expressed in a renewed and more fervent sharing of the LordÍs table, and there is great joy at the banquet of GodÍs Church over the son who has returned from afar.

You may have been away from the sacrament for a long time, even for years. Reading through the following examination of conscience, you may realize that you have offended God in many different ways. You may feel embarrassed to open your heart in such a personal way to a priest. (Remember you may always go to any priest for confession. It does not have to be your parish priest. Also, you always have the right to go anonymously, that is, behind a screen.) You may be deeply troubled by some sin from the past that you never adequately confessed or even deliberately refused to confess. Or, it may be that your life is basically in order with God but you have abandoned the practice of regular confession. Did someone possibly tell you that the confession of venial sins is without value? Or was a priest rough with you on some occasion in the past? Perhaps youÍve just become lax regarding this sacrament. Reading this article may be an important moment of grace for you! Make the resolution now to go to confession as soon as possible.

Satan loves sin and hates the grace of confession that comes to us through the power of the cross of Christ. The devil will try to stop you from going to confession. He will make you feel frightened, embarrassed, proud, filled with despair or anger. The holy bishop, Saint Antoninus, said, "The devil takes our shame away so that we sin with ease and then gives it back when we think about going to confession." In other words, the suppression of shame that makes sin possible flares up again to make confession impossible.

If the idea of confession makes you feel uneasy, turn for help to the Mother of God. Ask her to fill your heart with confidence in ChristÍs love for you, His desire to take you by the hand, and bring you Jesus in the sacrament of reconciliation. Through her motherly help you will feel the freedom to open your heart to the mercy that flows from the wounded Heart of Jesus Christ.

What inner peace you will feel when you hear the priest say to you at the end of your meeting with him, "The Lord Jesus has freed you from your sins. Go in peace."

Father Miller teaches Religious Studies at the Saint Charles Borromeo seminary in Pennsylvania. 

Sample Examination of Conscience

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