Sacrament of Reconciliation

Catholics believe in the sacrament of reconciliation whereby a person confesses his sins to a priest and, through the priest, receives absolution for his sins from Jesus Christ. According to church teachings, the priest represents Christ and thus has been anointed to grant forgiveness on behalf of Jesus. Most Catholics profess a belief in the sacrament of reconciliation. However, based upon the relatively few Catholics who participate in this sacrament, many do not really believe in it, or are too intimidated to confess to a priest. Like our protestant brothers and sisters, many Catholics confess their sins directly to God and believe their sins are forgiven. I wish it were that easy. It is, after all, somewhat inconvenient not to say humbling, to take the time to go to confession, considering, confession is available in most Catholic churches for only a short time each Saturday or Sunday before mass.

Many people do not believe priests have the authority to absolve one of his or her sins. They argue that only God can forgive sins. That sounds much like the Pharisees in the New Testament who questioned Jesus when he forgave sins. “How can man forgive sins. Only God can,” they claimed. Too often, critics of the Catholic sacrament of confession don’t consider John 20, versus 21 – 23, in which Jesus anoints the apostles with the Holy Spirit and commands them to go forth and do as he did. Further, he tells them that “Whose ever sins you forgive are forgiven and whose ever sins you hold bound are held bound.” I don’t know what other explanation there is for these versus other than that Jesus gave man, via the apostle and their successors, the authority to forgive sins.

A CEO is the top authority for a company or corporation. He is accountable for the success or failure of a business. However, few, if any CEOs, assume responsibility for establishing every work rule, job description, specific performance levels for their employees. Nor do they evaluate each employee’s performance. Most of these responsibilities are delegated to those who report to the CEO through the chain of command. A supervisor or foreman will generally be accountable for his employees’ performance. A manager will be responsible for the supervisors, and so on up the line. This is analogous to Jesus delegating the sacrament of reconciliation, along with ministering the other sacraments, to the cardinals, bishops and priests. Jesus, the CEO of His church, has established a line of succession and accountability through the clergy to do the things He did and more. It’s as simple as that.

Employees are usually rewarded for doing a good job. Similarly, Catholics who take advantage of confession are rewarded with forgiveness, absolution and peace of mind, heart and soul.

 © January 2017

William Charles