The thing is, I've heard stories of incidents 50 or more years ago where a priest in confession was truly nasty toward the person who was confessing his/her sins. But, as I say, It's never happened to me. More importantly, I think there has been a real change in the way priests approach their ministry in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. They see their role as one of extending God's mercy to the repentant and encouraging them in their resolve to live better and to leave the past, and their worries about it, behind — to realize that God has forgiven them. They realize that the person making the confession would not have mentioned something unless he/she already believed it was wrong. So it makes no sense for the priest to try to convince the penitent that what he/she did was wrong.
As a practical matter, therefore, if any of my Catholic readers feel excluded from Mass or Holy Communion because of anything wrong that they have done, I encourage you to take advantage of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The priest won't yell at you. He'll assure you of God's love and forgiveness.
3 comments:
I'm not Catholic, but I can't imagine a priest, or a Protestant minister for that matter, yelling at anyone seeking guidance and forgiveness.
Rick
I'm not Catholic either, although three of my siblings were/are. I cannot understand the concept of confession of sins to another person.
How could a priest know whether I am truly repentant, and if I am not, and he absolves me, what has that accomplished? If I fail to mention some sins because of embarrassment or just forget, the priest surely doesn't know.
Seems to me that the middleman doesn't serve any meaningful purpose. If there is a God I should be speaking directly to Him and He will know whether or not I am sincere.
Please believe me - I am not being a smartass. I think that a great deal of good can arise from counsel from a priest or minister where you openly discuss your transgressions. But I think it is quite presumptuous of any man to think that he has the power of God.
Thanks for the comments.
@ Rick — It is amazing, but it has happened at times. I think that years ago there might have been something of a "scared straight" idea — make the reaction a disincentive to commit the sin ever again — or something like that.
@ Mister Ed — Any sacrament requires proper dispositions on the part of the recipient to be effective. The priest has to take the penitent at his word, so there definitely is a possibility of someone trying to "game the system," but it doesn't work. Forgetting something isn't a problem, but deliberately concealing something big is.
I think the middleman serves the purpose of assuring the penitent that he has been forgiven. It also brings out the fact that sin harms the community, so there is an element of reconciliation with the community in being forgiven.
It would be presumptuous for anybody to think he had the authority if we did not have the scripture which tells us Jesus said on the evening of the first Easter, "Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven them." (John 20:23) Our take on this is that it is an authority that continues in the church.
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