Penance, aka confession, is the sacrament of the forgiveness of sin. You can’t beat it for convenience. It’s available practically whenever. Tell a priest you want to go to confession and you’ll get his attention. One bishop I know was cornered on an airplane. Another passenger figured out what was going on and asked if he could confess too. It must have been an interesting game of musical seats. An interesting question for priests might be: Where was the strangest place you ever administered the sacrament of penance? The answers I’ve gathered include “in a sports bar, at a graduation party” and “on the golf course, walking up the fairway.”
Confession has benefits. Here are ten:
1. Confidentiality guaranteed. There’s nothing like confessing your sins to someone guaranteed not to tell anyone else. Sometimes you need to talk in absolute confidence. Even under subpoena, a priest can’t tell anyone what’s said to him in confession. He can’t even hint at it. Now that’s confidentiality.
2. Housekeeping for the soul. It feels good to be able to start a clean life all over again. Like going into a sparkling living room in your home, it’s nice when clutter is removed – even if it’s your own.
3. A balm for the desire for revenge. When you have been forgiven you can forgive others. If the perfect Jesus forgives me, who am I to want to avenge the slights in my life. Think: “Why did they promote him over me?’ or “Mom played favorites!”
4. Low cost therapy. It’s free, which makes it cheaper than a psychiatrist for dealing with guilt.
5. Forced time to think. Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. To examine our lives and acknowledge failings marks the first step of making things right with God, others and ourselves. Life can be more worth living when you ponder the meaning of your own life.
6. Contribution toward world peace. Gaudium et Spes, the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, said that the imbalances in the world that lead to war and tensions “are linked with that more basic imbalance which is rooted in the heart of man.” Peace of soul leads to peace of heart leads to peace beyond oneself.
7. A better neighborhood. Confession leaves you feling good about yourself, thereby cutting back the inclination to road rage and aggressive shopping cart driving. With the grace of the sacrament you’re energized to, as Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, “go and sin no more.”
8. Realistic self-perception. Confession helps overcome arrogance when you have to admit you’re as much of a sinner as anyone else. It helps build tolerance for others’ perceived shortcomings.
9. One more benefit of being Catholic. There are lots of benefits, including a sense of community, liturgical rites to help us encounter God in prayer, and the wonderful sense of humanity exemplified in the saints, from Mary, the loving Mother of God, to Augustine, the exasperating son of Monica. The sacrament that leads us to inner peace is among the greatest boons.
10. Closeness to God. Confession helps you realize that you have a close connection to God and receive his grace through the sacraments. What can be better than knowing God’s on your team, or, to be less arrogant about it, that you are on God’s.
11. Satisfies a condition for receiving a plenary indulgence.
ReplyDelete11. Satisfies a condition for receiving a plenary indulgence.
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful post! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAn aspect of the Sacrament of Reconciliation which may need reinserting in context is that we who need forgiveness every day are called to live a forgiven life each day, and this forgiveness is much wider that the Rite of Reconciliation. Many people have grown up with the impression that sin committed after Baptism cannot be forgiven except through sacramental Confession.
ReplyDeleteApart from the sacrament of Reconciliation, there are the other sacramental ways of living forgiven Baptism, Eucharist, Anointing of the Sick there are the following traditional ways, which I would suggest are also “ordinary means”.
1. We can know God's forgiveness as we confess our sins to God (Ps. 51),
2. by confessing our sins to one another (James 5:16);
3. by correcting a sinner (James5:20);
4. in loving one another (1 Peter4:8);
5. by forgiving one another (Luke 6:37);
6. by almsgiving (Luke 11:41);
7. by reading Scripture (2 Tim 3:15 ("By the words of the Gospel may my sins be blotted out");
8. respect for parents (Sirach 3:3);
9. fasting (Jonah!),
10. almsgiving (Acts 10:4),
11. and the baptism of martyrdom!
Are we ordained perhaps a little jealous of our own "judicial" function? We could more clearly assure those we serve that sins they forget to mention in Confession really are forgiven; that a priest may advise a penitent at times that it is better not to list certain offences which are the subject of scruples; that a person may have more to confess than he or she can be expected to detail; that it is not unknown for a person to have an emotional blockage, due to a previous hurtful experience of confession or for some other reason, which makes integral confession of the full matter morally impossible. Are we hindering the spiritual maturity of our people if we do not put our celebrations of mercy in this context?
To broaden the picture does not devalue the Sacrament of Penance; rather, it can help us see how special a gift we have in the sacramental celebration. At the same time it can spread the load with which the sacrament, the priest, and the penitent may be unnecessarily burdened. The Sacrament of Penance is not a single peak of forgiveness in a vast quagmire of sin, but a pinnacle in the range of the Father's open hearted welcome for his wandering children. If we need to recover a sense of sin, it must be with hope rather than hopelessness. It must be an awareness of sin committed, but even more of sin vanquished.
The "act of confessing" is only a part of the Sacrament. Reconciliation is a process of conversion. "Confession" without conversion does little. We need to first prayerfully realize our sinfullness, then have a desire for metanoia (a change of heart), then confess and do penance. If we could really grasp the rich beauty of this process, there would be less "laundry list" confessions and more conversion through the Sacrament.
ReplyDelete