John 20:21–23 says "As the Father has sent me, so I send you…receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained"
Throughout his ministry on Earth, Jesus emphasized and reiterated the importance of forgiveness and repentance of sins. Take the case of the paralytic man in Mark 2:1-12 or the woman who was a sinner in Luke 7:36–50. Whether it was physical or emotional, the emphasis after the healing was always that their sins were forgiven and that they should sin no more. In religious parlance, confession is what we do to maintain and renew our relationship with God whenever it is damaged and so, in essence, confession serves to restore our communion with God.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
It is not easy to admit to doing something you regret and are ashamed of; an act you wanted to keep secret, something you probably denied doing or tried to blame on someone else. Perhaps you console yourself by thinking that it actually wasn’t a sin at all, that it isn’t nearly as bad as what others are doing. Secrets in general are hard to keep, but unconfessed sins only become heavier as time passes — the greater the sin, the heavier the burden. However, there is hope. Hope in the form of the beautiful Sacrament of Confession.
Our Lord instituted the Sacraments as channels through which His precious blood may be applied to souls, transforming them and sustaining them into renewed and holy lives.In Baptism, for instance, when the water flows over our heads and we are blessed by the Priest our soul is cleansed from sin. We are renewed into a new life, purified of original sin and made righteous as God’s precious children. Similarly, when we go to the Sacrament of Confession with truly repentant and contrite hearts as soon as the priest blesses us and pronounces the words of absolution our soul is cleansed and purified of all its sins, no matter how big or small they may be.
Every sacrament has "matter" and "form." The "matter" of the sacrament is an essential part of what is offered to God and what is transformed, so that we may receive God's grace. In baptism, water is the matter poured over us to transform us and make us clean; in the Eucharist, bread and wine are transformed into the body & blood of Christ. In Confession, the matter is the sins that we confess wherein God takes what is worthless and harmful to us (our sins) and transforms it into something awesome. This is what's amazing about this sacrament. In every other sacrament, we bring something good to be made better. But here, we bring something imperfect and flawed - and yet, He is eager to take it all the same.
So what is Confession?
A good confession is basically the acknowledgement of our sins and mistakes. It requires us to be truly sorry for our sins, to promise to never to do them again and in return, our sins are forgiven.
However, personally speaking, of all the sacraments I think Confession is the one that we feel most uncomfortable about as it involves us opening up to another person i.e. the priest concerning our innermost thoughts, weaknesses and motives which we believe are unknown to the world. This can be very embarrassing and even make us nervous, but the benefits of the freedom, forgiveness, peace, healing and strength derived from this sacrament outweigh any feelings of guilt and shame.
At times it is argued that we can go directly to God rather than through confession with a priest. However, we can’t afford to ignore the express command of Christ that was spoken to his apostles, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven, and whose sins you retain are retained."
This is the same as if, say for example, the President of a country were to delegate his powers to the Vice President and give him full power to act in his absence while saying to him "Whatsoever conditions you agree to, I agree to them too; whatsoever conditions you reject, I also do reject them." Wouldn’t such language be clear and explicit enough? Wouldn’t we all recognize that this Vice President was invested with the same power as the President himself? This was precisely the language of our divine redeemer to His apostles. Just as the Father had sent Jesus Christ to forgive sins and transmit this power to others Jesus, in a similar manner, sent His apostles with the power to forgive sins and to further transmit this power to their successors.
Having said that, for a good and fruitful confession we need to first examine our conscience, recall the sins that we have committed and with a contrite heart make a firm willingness to change our lives and never sin again so that we might always remain in our God’s mercy and grace. .
Our Lord is most desirous of showering us with His graces. He is the Good Shepherd who is anxiously seeking His poor lost sheep and sin is an enemy of our God. The very same sin that crucified our Redeemer is that same sin that blackens and defiles our soul, the temple of God. However, God has provided us with a way out, through the sacrament of Penance.
Confession is indeed the sacrament of pardon and a promise of new life wherein a soul might receive advice, encouragement, counsel and direction. And it is this very sacrament that accompanies a Christian on the way to perfection.
Pope John Paul II said "It would be an illusion to want to strive for holiness in accordance with the vocation that God has given to each one of us without frequently and fervently receiving this sacrament of conversion and sanctification".
So Confession isn’t just a sacrament; it cleanses our souls, helps us achieve Christian perfection and brings us one step closer to the Kingdom of God..
Sunith Dsouza
HSI Media
Sunith.hsimt@gmail.com
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