Rite of Penance / Sacrament of Reconciliation
Q: How does the media portray penance/confession/reconciliation?
Q: What is penance?
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Healing Sacrament, Eucharist shares some properties of forgiveness of sins with
penance.
Sacraments are the traditional seven rites that were instituted by Jesus and
recorded in the New Testament and that confer sanctifying grace.
Sanctifying grace is a supernatural gift from God that leads to holiness and sonship
of God. – New advent
Commentary
Modernity pictures confession as a punishment, similar to a trial for a crime. The
perpetrator knows what they have done, has confessed, and awaits their sentencing. In
reality, confession heals. A sin has been committed, our relationship with God is
weakened, and the soul is hurting. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a hospital where we
can go to be fixed, make amends to God and our community, and become spiritually
strengthened.
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Since Confession is a Sacrament, one cannot possibly be receiving punishment
from God but rather receive Sanctifying Grace. Its main effect is healing and
restoration, and as such, should be flocked to.
People do not think twice before going to a hospital for fleshly ailments, but today’s society
and most of the church do not flock to confession for healing.
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A priest described confession as giving a bunch of books to a small kid. Each book is
a sin committed, like cheating on a test or lying to a parent. As the stack of books
got taller, the kid was uneasy. The priest then took a book off of the stack the kid was
holding, each time it was confessed. At the end, the kid sighed a sigh of relief. A lot
of people walk around with a library holding them down spiritually.
Our personal sins are not removed from the community, even if the community has no idea
of their existence. We are not islands.
Also, we do not need to have sinned to go to confession, St JPII and St Theresa of Calcutta
are examples of people going to weekly confession and were not sinning every week.
Everyone should strive to make confession a habit, and schedule to do it about once a
month, or as needed.
Conscience
Try to avoid having a lax conscience (I don’t do anything wrong) or a concupiscent
conscience (I can’t do anything right). Someone who is lax will be unlikely to change
themselves for the better or go to confession. Someone who is too concupiscent will not
believe in the forgiving power of confession and will rarely take eucharist because they
believe they are always in sin.
A spiritual director or examination of conscience will help here.
Some specifics
Only an ordained priest can celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
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In Persona Christi (in the person of Christ)
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We cannot do sacraments virtually. We have to be present in the flesh, as our faith is
an incarnational faith. It’s a supernatural interaction in a human way.
The beginning of mass will have the Penitential Act, or Confiteor, for the forgiveness
of venial sins.
Confessional rooms traditionally are the small booths you may see in an older
church or in a movie. The modern ones are in a normal room with a screen. You can
either sit behind the screen or sit in front of the priest.
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Structure of Penance
Before a confession, one should do an examination of conscience. Many versions
exist, but the main premise is to call to mind the things we have done or failed to do.
Many go through the beatitudes, ten commandments and 7 deadly sins to facilitate
self-reflection.
A reflection journal is good for this, to help remember how we have stumbled. You
can also look back to earlier stumblings and see how much God has been working
in your spiritual life.
Four main aspects of Penance:
a. Contrition, heartfelt sorrow and aversion to the sin committed along with the
intention of sinning no more.
b. Confession, confessing with an open heart to the priest (in Persona Christi) the
sins you have committed (refer to examination of conscience). The priest will
offer some counsel.
c. Act of Penance, given by the priest in accordance to the sins, is a means of
restoration and a remedy to cure the sickness of which they suffered.
d. Absolution, God grants pardon to the repentant sinners.
General order of Penance
** If it is your first confession, let the priest know and he will walk you through it.
- Make the sign of the cross
- Bless me father for I have sinned. It has been 2 weeks, a month, 3 years since my
last confession.
- You describe your sins with enough detail, so the priest understands the
circumstance, but not enough details to make him blush. You can end with “For all
my sins, and those I have failed to remember, I am truly sorry.”
- The priest will prescribe penance to you and make sure he adapts his counsel to the
penitent’s needs.
- Prayer of the penitent and absolution - “My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my
heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you
whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance,
sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior Jesus Christ died for
us. In his name, my God, have mercy.”
- The priest will then say the words of absolution: “God, the Father of mercies,
through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself
and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of
the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I ABSOLVE YOU FROM YOUR
SINS IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.