Frequently, we Catholics have been asked from those outside the Church,
"Why confess your sins to a priest when you can go directly to God yourself?"
Our only answer must be:
"Because Jesus gave His apostles the power to forgive sins when He said, 'If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained'" (Jn. 20:23, RSV). [1]
It is true that it is the Priest, in persona Christi, [2] who forgives us our sins in the Sacrament of Confession. [3] Christ definitively conferred this salvific gift, this gratuitous action of Divine Mercy, on the Catholic priests in order that they distribute it often. [4] In fact, the Sacrament of Confession is one of the most important ministries proper to the duly ordained Catholic priest. [5]
The faithful not only have a 'right' to Holy Confession [6] but they have an obligation to confess. [7]
Sometimes, however, pastors do not make the Sacrament of Confession sufficiently available to their congregation for frequent Confession. Forty-five minutes of Confession once a week for a parish of 1,000 families is grossly inadequate.
Because of the short time allowed for Confession, the laity is discouraged from approaching the Sacrament of Mercy or Confession.
Moreover, if the priests' homilies do not often remind the people of their sinfulness, their consciences become desensitized, unable to recognize the need to be pardoned and converted.
In this regard, the Church stresses the obligation of the bishops and priests thusly:
"...To see to it that the number of confessors does not become too small by reason of the fact that some priests neglect this outstanding ministry [of penance] while involving themselves in temporal matters of spending their time on other less necessary ministries." [8]
In the 'Codex iuris canonici' or Code of Canon Law, revised and promulgated in 1983 by Pope John Paul II, canons 959 – 997 pertain specifically to the Sacrament of Penance [Confession]. Canon 986 §1 specifically directs the clergy's obligation to the faithful:
"All to whom by virtue of office the care of souls is committed are bound to provide for the hearing of the confessions of the faithful entrusted to them, who reasonably request confession, and they are to provide these faithful with an opportunity to make individual confession on days and at times arranged to suit them [the faithful]."
Furthermore, Pope Paul VI, in l978, instructed all bishops and priests:
"Other works, for lack of time, may have to be postponed or even abandoned, but not the confessional." [9]
The often asked question, 'Are priests able to hear Confessions during Holy Mass?' comes from a misunderstanding of a statement in the Sacred Congregation of Rites' Instruction of 1967 entitled, 'Eucharisticum mysterium' which states the faithful should be encouraged to go to confession outside Holy Mass.
In October 2001 the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW), in an Official Latin text in Notitiæ, nos. 419-420, explained that this 1967 Instruction's statement is not conflicting and does not in any way prohibit priests from hearing Confessions during Holy Mass. The Notitiæ goes on to teach:
"Consequently, it is clearly lawful, even during the celebration of Mass, to hear confessions when one foresees that the faithful are going to ask for this ministry. In the case of concelebrations, it is earnestly to be desired that some priests would abstain from concelebrating so as to be available to attend to the faithful who wish to receive the Sacrament of Penance [Confession]."
Pope John Paul II recently instructed all bishops, priests, rectors of churches and shrines to:
"...Periodically verify that the greatest possible provision is in fact being made for the faithful to confess their sins. It is particularly recommended that in places of worship confessors be visibly present at the advertised times, that these times be adapted to the real circumstances of penitents, and that confessions be especially available before Masses, and even during Mass if there are other priests available, in order to meet the needs of the faithful." [10]
In other words, there should be no reason why we, the faithful, cannot make use of 'Frequent Holy Confession.'
If your soul is as black as tar, if it has been a long time since your last Confession, know that the Mercy of God is far more than enough to heal your soul. If you do not believe Christ's Mercy is enough to forgive the worst sins, then you commit an unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit — final impenitence or dying in a state of unrepentance. [11]
"Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool" (Is. 1:18 RSV).
St. John Chrysostom taught:
"It is not enough to remove the arrow from the body. We also have to heal the wound caused by the arrow. It is the same with the soul; after we have received forgiveness for our sins, we have to heal the wound that remains through penance." [12]
Cor contritum et humilitatum, Deus, non despicies! [13]
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, in one of his popular commentaries below, makes a similar analogy as regards the holes left in our soul after the pain of sin.
(Read Part One of 'Frequent Confession' here)
By Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
J.M.J.
I am going to talk on Confession today. And you are all innocent, you do not need it. [Laughter]
Sometimes, now not always, but sometimes we can cover up our want of individual justice by a great love of social justice. Let me explain.
Remember when Judas was at the banquet room of Simon? The woman came in and poured ointment on the feet of our Blessed Lord. Judas said:
"Why this waste? Why not give this money to the poor?"
Well, you can imagine Judas going on making an attack against our Blessed Lord, saying, for example,
"I heard you on the mountain of the beatitudes, saying blessed are the poor; where's your love of the poor now? Have you forgotten all those people that are living on hanging shacks in the road between Jericho and Jerusalem? Remember the days when we walked through the inner city of Jerusalem; have you no interest in those poor? Look at these humble fishermen shacks here at Capernaum. Where is your love of the Poor?"
Our Lord said,
"Judas, you have the poor with you always, me not always."
Was Judas interested in the poor? No, he was robbing the apostolic purse and that is the way he covered it up.
So, when we suppress our guilt, it is there for eternity, unless it is forgiven. When it is forgiven, it is completely blasted out.
Well, how do we now, through the mercy of God and the fullness of faith in Christ, how are our sins forgiven? By Confession.
What is Confession? Nudity. It is nudity of the soul. It is stripping ourselves of all false excuses and shams and pretenses and revealing ourselves as we really are.
Do you know, my good people, as we have given up the Examination of Conscience and the Sacrament of Confession, nudity increases in the world? Physical nudity? Let us study it for a moment.
When Adam and Eve were in the garden, they were naked but not ashamed. Why? Because they were covered with the aura of God's grace. It, as it were, shone around about them, robed in glory. And, yes, there was no sense at all of nakedness. After Adam and Eve fell, they perceived themselves to be naked. Why? They lost the grace of God. And they then had to be clothed.
Do you know how their nakedness was covered? Yes, fig leaves, I know, but they wilted and their shame was revealed. So, how was their nakedness covered up? God made for them the skins of animals. God did something. It was done vicariously. An animal was killed, not Adam and Eve. And it involved the shedding of blood.
I could take you all through the Old Testament in unfolding that story. But the point is that they were naked and ashamed because they had lost the grace of God.
In our modern world, we are bringing back nudity, trying to get back into the Garden of Eden without walking up the hill of Calvary. It cannot be done.
So, what is Confession? It is another kind of nudity. Not epidermic nudity, but ethical nudity in which we just say to the dear Lord, this is how I am, a miserable sinner. And when we make that Confession, then what happens is what might be called the recycling of human garbage.
We hear a great deal today about the recycling of garbage, but I am speaking about the recycling of human garb age. When you go to Confession to have your sins forgiven by the blood of Christ, incidentally, applied through the priest, there is always an effect of that sin that remains.
Suppose that I told one of these little children that every time they did anything wrong they were to put a nail into a board. Can you imagine that? Every time you did wrong, disobeyed your mother, for example, you were to drive a nail into the board. Then every time your mother forgave you, and you said you were sorry, the mother would tell you to pull the nail out. Is there anything left? What is left? A hole is left. That is the effect of sin.
Even though the sin is forgiven, we have to make some reparation for it and that is the reason you are given a penance in Confession, to fill up the holes. And to help us make adequate reparation for sin, we have the intercession of the Saints and the mercy of our Blessed Lord.
When we go to confession, our lives are completely changed by submitting to the Mercy of God.
Thank you, and God love you! [14]
(Read Part One of 'Frequent Confession' here)
NOTES:
- CCC §1461 — Since Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation, Cf. Jn 20:23; 2 Cor 5:18 bishops who are their successors, and priests, the bishops' collaborators, continue to exercise this ministry. Indeed bishops and priests, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, have the power to forgive all sins "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
- In English, "In the person of Christ."
- CCC §1461- "Since Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation [Cf. Jn 20:23; 2 Cor 5:18], bishops who are their successors, and priests, the bishops' collaborators, continue to exercise this ministry. Indeed bishops and priests, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, have the power to forgive all sins "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
- "The Lord then especially instituted the sacrament of Penance when, after being risen from the dead, he breathed upon his disciples and said: 'Receive the Holy Spirit...' The consensus of all the Fathers has always acknowledged that by this action so sublime and words so clear the power of forgiving and retaining sins was given to the Apostles and their lawful successors for reconciling the faithful who have fallen after Baptism," Council of Trent, 'De Paenitentia,' Chap.1.
- CIC, c.986.
- CIC, c. 213.
- CIC, c. 989.
- The Pastoral Norms 'Sacramentum pænitentiæ' 1972 (Acta Apostolicæ Sedis 64, [1972] 510-514; CLD 7 [1963-1972] 667-673.
- Allocution of March 4, 1978, AAS 70 [1978] 328-332; Or 7 [1977-1978] 721, 723-724.
- Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter (in the form of Motu Proprio), "Misericordia Dei — On Certain Aspects of the Celebration of Penance," (The Mercy of God), n.2, April 7, 2002; Cf. Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Responsa ad dubia proposita: Notitiæ, 37 (2001) 259-260
- The sins against the Holy Spirit are major offenses that carry a stubborn resistance to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit and a contempt of his gifts. They are despair of one's salvation; envy of another's spiritual good; opposing known truths of the faith; obstinacy in sin; presumption of God's mercy; and final impenitence. Because those who sin in this way, resisting grace, do not wish to repent, we say that their sins cannot be forgiven.
- St. John Chrysostom, 'Homily on the Gospel of St. Matthew,' n.3, 5.
- In English from Latin, "A humble and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise," cf. RSV, Psalm 51:17.
- Source: "Confession" video, produced by Sheen Productions, Inc., 23 E. Main St., Victor, N.Y., with permission.
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