October 11, 2006
(Part one of a three-part reflection)
Our Fr. Benedict was speaking to a well-renowned psychiatrist whilst studying psychology at Columbia University in New York. The man said, “In the confessional, you Catholic priests can find and root out a problem someone is dealing with in ten minutes that takes me ten years or more of therapy just to uncover.” What an interesting insight to sin and forgiveness from a non-believer. As a convert to the Catholic Church, one of the things I have come to love greatly is the sacrament of confession. It is an amazingly practical means to grow in the spiritual life, which is why Our Lord instituted it as a sacrament. Over the next few days we are going to look at where it comes from in scripture, the nature of it, and cover some practical angles on why and how to better use this wonderful spiritual weapon.
Let’s uncover the scriptural roots of confession. First, we know that “the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins.” (Mt 9:2-8) Every Christian accepts this. But many will say “if Jesus forgives the sins, then why don’t I just go to Him directly? Why have a priest as an intermediary?” Firstly, because Jesus set it up that way. In John 20:22-23, we see Him give the authority to the apostles to forgive sins. This is His first act and command after He appeared to them. “He breathed on them, saying ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” He then immediately adds, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven. Whose sins you retain are retained.” Note well, breathing on them recalls Genesis 2:7 and being born anew.
Now, one can hardly imagine Jesus giving such an authority to reconcile men with God by forgiving sins without meaning it to be used and passed on through the generations; and that is what we see next. Thus, we see the authority He gave to the Apostles also reflected in 2 Cor 5:17-20 where Paul talks about being given the ministry of reconciliation. And we see that it has further been passed on to the ordained ministers or “presbyters” (a.k.a. priests) in James 5:13-15. There it says that it is the prayer of the presbyters that forgives sins. (It’s also worthy of note, that we see the seeds of the sacrament of anointing the sick in this last passage.) These passages demonstrate that the Apostles delegated the same authority they received to the presbyters. This only makes sense. Jesus wants the gift of reconciliation passed on through the ages, and He wants to use men in the administration of it. So, if we see that there are some that have been given the authority to forgive sins, then shouldn’t we also see some suggestion that the rest of us are to utilize this authority? In fact, we do have such an admonition from Saint James who tells us, “Confess your sins to one another.” ( James 5:16)
To recap, Jesus breathed on the apostles creating them anew, as it were, giving them the power of the Holy Spirit to forgive sins in a ministry of reconciliation. He therefore delegated His authority to forgive sins, as the apostles would delegate this authority to the presbyters. This is precisely how we understand the sacramental ordination of priests and bishops. Thus, it is an integral part of the nature of priestly ordination to be able to forgive sins in the name of Jesus.
But, “why?” I can say from personal experience in the Confessional, (now on both sides of the screen) that Jesus saw a real practical need for every Christian soul to hear those precious words, “Your sins are forgiven. Go in peace.” Also, we all need a place to get counsel on how to break out of sin patterns. If one thinks of going to confession like a visit to the doctor, then you have a pretty good analogy. The patient tells the doc what ails him. The doctor asks some questions to discern the type and profundity of the malady and then prescribes a treatment. If any healing takes place, one can’t really say the doctor did it. God does the healing. And yet the doctor is an integral part of the healing process. It is the same between the priest and penitent in the confessional. The penitent comes to confess his sins, or show the spiritual wounds he has, to the priest. The priest asks some questions to understand the type of sin, and the depth of it. This is so he can give advice and consciously know what he is forgiving.
This process is so practical. First, the penitent has a place to unload the garbage in his soul. If he is serious about the spiritual life, then he will really examine his behavior daily to see where he could have done better and where he failed. These daily examines are the fodder of regular or “devotional confession” where one confesses on a regular basis, say once a month, sins that are not necessarily mortal sins. Practically speaking, the spiritual life is just like tennis or any profession. To perfect my game I need to look at what mistakes I’m making to try and eradicate them. We do this in every other field of endeavor; how much more should we in the spiritual life.
Tomorrow we will talk about the ins and outs of mortal and venial sin.
Fr. John Anthony Boughton, CFR
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