More thoughts on the sacrament of reconcilliation (penance/confession), also culled from a post I made to a mailing list I belong to - the questions I'm replying to are in red . . .
1. Can an individual have his sins forgiven without going to a priest?
hmmm . . . easy/tricky question. The Church still affirms that confessing to God is needed and necessary, an integral part of a person's spiritual life. For example, many people devlop the habit of talking to God about the day's events, particularly asking for forgiveness for any transgressions made that day. However, in order for full reconciliation to take place, the Church does teach that sacramental forgiveness, celebrated with a priest, is still fundamentally important. That is the one way that the penitent (sinner) is reconciled with the community (remember the history lesson from my earlier email) and with God. God's forgiveness is a given, though - an attitude that God has towards us. That is why the language of the sacrament talks about "celebrating" - in the sacrament of confession we celebrate the forgiveness that God has already extended to his children. We just believe that an assurance of forgiveness is given with the celebration of the sacrament - it is a sacramental moment, a moment where God's presence is tangible in the celebration of the mystery.
2. Does the priest have the ability from God to grant forgiveness, or what exactly is "absolution"?
Prayer of Absolution
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 give 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.
Absolution is part of the ritual of the sacrament. It is part of the five movements of the sacrament: Confession, Prayer/Scripture/Counseling, Contrition, Absolution, Penance.
1. Confession: The colloquial terms used for the whole sacrament, it forms the first movement of the celebration of the sacrament. (Technically, though, there is a prior movement - examining our conscience - before we go to confession we spend time in prayer, silence, solitude, interior examination - we prepare ourselves to enter into the celebration of the mystery of forgiveness by preparing our mind, heart and soul to confess our sins.) We enter into the confessional and either sit with the priest or site behind a screen and tell the priest our sins, our failings, our faults, etc.
2. Prayer/Scripture/Counseling: After we have talked the priest may share a Scripture reading with us about God's mercy, healing, love and forgiveness. He may pray for us or with us (depending on the relationship between the priest and penitent, this may involve laying on of hands or anointing with oil, or it may be more formal). He may also talk to us about what we have confessed (one of the major boons of going to the same confessor is that a relationship is developed - they are able to make connections between current confessions and prior confessions - they are also able to more fully challenge to grow past bad habits that we have formed). The priest may also ask us questions about our confession, either for clarification or to probe areas where they feel we may not be fully honest.
3. Contrition: The penitent prays a prayer of contrition either spontaneously or through a memorized prayer (there are several versions of this prayer that school children learn). The prayer expresses sorrow for our sins, a firm amendment to avoid the sins we have confessed, a love of God, and a desire to enter heaven.
4. Absolution: The priest prays for the penitent using the prayer you have quoted above. The prayer is a prayer of Christ - the priest is speaking through their sacramental office - the forgiveness offered is offered in and through the church which is offered in and through Christ (remember another earlier post where I talked about the sacramental worldview of the Church - God-->Christ-->Church-->individual members of the body of Christ).
5. Penance: In order to outwardly show the inward conversion of heart, the penitent is given prayers or actions to say/do after the celebration of the sacrament. Most of the time it takes the form of prayers to say, Scripture passages to read, or a meeting with another person who we have offended and not reconciled with yet. Again, the form of the sacrament echoes and mirrors the form of the sacrament as it developed in the early church, with the modification that the priest is now standing in for the community to hear our confessions.
In other words, yes, we Catholics see the absolution given by the priest as being given by God, only transmitted through the office of the priest (not necessarily the priest himself). It is God himself who forgives the sins - however, as we are people of flesh and blood, we believe that sacrament ally (through the people and things of this world) we are offered the forgiveness in a tangible way so that we can appreciate the invisible reality that is happening (the cleansing of our souls, bodies, hearts and minds and their reorientation to God by his mercy and forgiveness).
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo
4 comments:
Hello again my separated brother. ;-) This may be one of the things that separate us but I appreciate your willingness to share the information. I really do like the idea of forming a close relationship with your minister. I have had several and I cherish each one. At one point I had decided not to get close to my next pastor because it hurts so much when they leave but my resolve melted within the first few weeks. I suppose there are no walls so strong that His love won’t tear them down.
KC: It's hard for Catholics, too, I think - most pastors don't stay more than 10-15 years at a single parish (unless they have a special reason to or have a good political relationship with their bishop), so for many Catholics we go through the same period of readjustment every time a parish priest is moved. Also glad you enjoy the honesty . . . I'll try and stop lying on my posts! :-)
Matt: Confession's the ordinary way of reconciling with God, self and others for Catholics, but in emergency or special situations it's not an absolute necessity - if I'm about to die and there's no priest around I'm pretty sure God won't hold it against me! :-)
And it does bear good fruit - too many Catholics are put off by it, never practice it, then smugly claim that it isn't relevant to their lives - or they had a few bad experiences with it growing up and don't take advantage of it in their older age . . . it's a shame, because it can bear such great spiritual fruit in our lives.
A also think your last comment is good - no denomination and no church will ever be humanly perfect - we need to look past the imperfections and worship God in them anyway.
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo
I don't mind a little "white" lie now and again, so long as you confess it! (grin) I honestly think the loss might be more difficult for you to cope with sometimes. We usually at least have an opportunity to give input and vote, that is if it's the decision of the church and not the pastor himself. I've been blessed to get to know several of the priest from the churches that my various family members attend. Those I've had the chance to talk with were really great caring individuals and always when they are sent away my family members feel almost betrayed. It will be great when there's no more parting. :-)
KC: Yeah - I've semi-envied, not semi-envied the Protestant way of choosing ministers . . . I'd like to have a say in it, but I also like not having a personal investment in something that may change so fast. :-) And speaking of ministers . . . see my next post! :-)
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo
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