God loves us and wants us to love Him. He has made His love for us known throughout Salvation History. We, however, continue to sin and turn away from His love. Jesus forgave sins during His public ministry. He gave the power to forgive sins to His Apostles, who passed this power on to the bishops and priests who came after them. We are able to be forgiven of our sins in the Church today through the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.
Jesus’ Ministry of Healing and Forgiveness
God deeply desires a relationship with each one of us. From Abraham to Moses to David to the prophets and finally to the sending of His Son to die for us, Salvation History clearly shows that God loves us and wants us to be with Him. Jesus’ entire mission is based on reconciling us with the Father. So that we could be reconciled with the Father, Jesus, during His public ministry, healed the sick and the infirm and forgave sins. He came to heal not just our bodies but also, and more importantly, our souls. The forgiveness of sins is a power reserved to God. But Jesus instituted ways to access His mercy whenever we are in need of it. He entrusted His ministry of the forgiveness of sins to His Apostles. In the Gospel of John, we read that the Risen Christ breathed on His Apostles and said to them, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you. …Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (John 20:21-23). The Apostles wouldn’t be on earth forever.
So they passed on the same power to forgive sins to their successors and to priests, so that all people from that day to ours can experience God’s forgiveness. More than 2,000 years have gone by, and the Apostles’ successors and priests continue to exercise the ministry of Reconciliation. Every week in our parishes, Christ continues His work through priests, as they hear Confessions and forgive sins in the Person of Christ.
The Reality of Sin
Sin is a reality for all of us. Because of Original Sin, we are all left with concupiscence, the tendency to sin. Therefore, when we are weak and we sin, we need God’s forgiveness. Sin is any thought, word, or deed that is contrary to the Law of God. Sin offends God and hurts our relationship with Him. But, because God loves us so much, He wants to lift the burden of sin from us and give us the gift of His mercy and forgiveness. We possess an intellect and free will and are able to choose right from wrong. The more we become like Christ in our lives, the more we are able to choose what is good and avoid what is evil. But even when we fail, God still loves us and will always welcome us back if we are truly sorry for sins and seek His forgiveness.
The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation
The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation restores our souls to a state of grace. Confession is necessary because we need to be brought back to God when we sin. Turning away from sin and toward God and the holiness to which He calls us is a lifelong struggle of conversion. Confession first involves feeling contrition – sorrow for sins and the resolve not to sin again. Although it may sound contrary to common sense, “bad” feelings such as sorrow and shame about bad things we have done are signs of God’s grace. Those feelings of contrition, or even attrition (fear of punishment), inspire us to seek out God’s mercy in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. When we confess our sins to a priest, we are making a choice to turn back to God and ask for His forgiveness. In the person of the priest, Christ forgives our sins. Going frequently to Confession helps form a stronger conscience. When we have experienced forgiveness, it becomes easier for us to forgive others. Experiencing mercy helps us show mercy. This truth helps us to live up to the ideals of Christian life in the Beatitudes. Jesus calls us to be forgiving, as He is: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
