Sacrament of Confession Not Easy for Priests or People, But Valuable for All
People often ask why there seems to be a reluctance on the part of priests to hear confessions today, even though it is the right of people to have confessors available at reasonable times. There seems to be a diminution in the amount of time devoted in each parish for confession. Part of the reason for this is that we have Saturday evening Masses which require other services of the priest during the time which used to be devoted to confession. But I think one of the reasons is that there is a general falling off of priestly piety. I do not think this is particularly true of our priests, but rather of priests generally across the country.
That said, hearing confessions is not always an easy experience for priests because it is almost always a humbling experience. The great secret — the great surprise — that confronts well-meaning newly ordained priests when they hear confessions for the first few times is not how bad people are, but how good our people try to be.
Always, or nearly so, a priest leaves the confessional thinking to himself, “My people are much better than I am.” This is not a good feeling, particularly if one does not intend to amend one’s life. That is why I think there is a widespread reluctance on the part of my fellow priests to devote time to the hearing of confessions. It makes us too aware of our shortcomings. That, at least, is my own personal analysis, although it is drawn from what I hear from other priests and bishops throughout the country.
Confession is the sacrament of the great mercy of God. That is why it is so misunderstood. Recently I heard a commentator on TV, a public figure that I know to be a good practicing Catholic, say: “Well, you go to confession and then you have permission to sin again.” Of course, that is not it at all. When I was in Catholic school the Dominican Sisters made sure we understood that confession involved, as the Act of Contrition says, “I firmly resolve with the help of Your grace to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life.” Those are the three things necessary in order to make a good confession.
One must confess one’s grave sins according to their kind and number. Some scrupulous souls are troubled by the issue of number, especially if they are not exactly certain of the number. That is not the point. The point is you have to indicate to the priest how much of an effect this sin has in your life. To make a clear and unambiguous confession, we confess our serious sins according to their kind and number, so far as we can determine frequency.
We also should confess our venial sins according to our best recollection, mindful that God is not counting up every jot and tittle. It suffices that we tell the priest in general in what areas our failings lie. Then we have to do the penance that the Church assigns to us, and we also have to be dedicated in a general way to penance as part of our Catholic lives. It comes as a surprise to some people that penance should be a part of daily life.
But it is a fact that when we foreswear something that appeals to us or do some act of charity when it is really not convenient or congenial, such an act of penance is pleasing to God.
Finally, for a valid confession, for an effective confession, we have to make a firm purpose of amendment. We have to leave the confessional with the resolve that we will do our best to avoid sin again. Confession is not a license to sin or permission to sin. It is rather to suggest that we are going to try to avoid this sin in the future.
All three things are necessary for a good confession, and with those three simple things done, God — through the merits of Jesus Christ — forgives us absolutely everything so that we are restored to that state we were in after baptism. We are free from sin. We no longer are bound by it.
The clearest case of how people become bound by sin is evident in the unfortunate people who are addicts of substance abuse. Many of them say, ‘I cannot give it up. Its grip on me is beyond my power to resist.” True enough: it requires others — medical personnel, sponsors and, indeed, reliance on God — to break the bonds of addiction. All sins are like that even if they are not all so apparently so. God frees us from that. But we have to invite Him into the process.
We confess to the priest because of what Jesus said to the apostles: “For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained” (John 20:23). That indicates that the apostles have to know, at least in general, the sins that are committed and who did them. Over time the apostles and the successors to the apostles, the bishops, have shared this power with priests who act in the name of the apostles.
Obviously, the practice of the Church varies according to circumstances. In a time of great calamity, we can resort to general absolution. But as a general practice, individual auricular confession has been the tradition of the Church for hundreds of years — not because it is particularly pleasant, which it is not, but because it is a way for us to keep track of our sins. Sometimes our sins are like chronic diseases. They creep up on us and all of a sudden we are at a grip of something we had no notion was controlling our lives.
Priests and bishops have to have their own confessors. We are allowed to choose, but we must choose someone. The pope has a confessor and his name is well-known. Every Catholic should make frequent use of confession.
Two things that Christ commands priests to do: to pray and offer sacrifice for the living and the dead. Thus, celebrating Mass, administering the sacraments and preaching the Gospel are our principal obligations. One of the things that most people do not see is the ordination of a priest. It is a shame really, but I do not know what you do about it because the cathedral is always filled with invited guests.
Nevertheless, in that ritual the Church describes very well the office to which the person is being ordained, and many who do attend priestly ordinations tell me it does much to clarify for them what the role of a priest is supposed to be.
God has given us the sacraments as gifts to assist us on the path to salvation. And our priests are the designated custodians and dispensers of the sacraments — or, as some say, the mysteries of God. It is my prayer as we move through Lent that all of us — laity, religious and clergy — will take advantage of the great salvific gift that God has given us in the sacrament of confession.
This item 7477 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org
