The gift of reconciliation

by Editor · July 29, 2009

The sacrament of reconciliation, or confession, is one of Church�s great gifts to the faithful. Properly conducted, by confessor and penitent, it is a grace-giving ritual.

Over time, confession has been invested with an equivocal reputation. Often it is regarded as an anachronistic imposition by the Church, rather than a means by which to restore and deepen one�s relationship with God. Outside the Church, confession and penitence is sometimes derided on grounds that entirely misunderstand its purpose. As a consequence it has come to be seen by many as an optional extra in living the Catholic faith.

This is a shame, because� �� the doctrinal requirements aside� �� confessing one�s sins can have therapeutic benefits. The burden of feelings of shame or guilt over sinful actions can, sometimes borne over years, be psychologically and even socially damaging.

The sacrament of reconciliation is a restorative mechanism: reconciling one�s relationship with God broken by sin, healing one�s conscience, and providing the foundation for repairing one�s relationship with others. The sacrament can also facilitate conversion, a means of repudiating a sinful life to make a new start. It can help us to forgive ourselves for our trespasses, and others for theirs.
Pope Benedict�s decision to link the Year of the Priest to St John Vianney, the famous confessor of the small French town of Ars, is therefore welcome as a way to put into focus the practice of confession.
Many Catholics continue to misunderstand the purpose of confession. The sacrament of reconciliation should not be seen as an obligation to over-scrupulously enumerate a list of venial sins, or acts they think might be sins.
It may well be, of course, that a penitent feels that a minor sin has created a breach with God or otherwise weighs on his or her conscience. In this case, such a sin should be brought before God through the mediation of a confessor so that healing can take place. It is not necessary, however, to bring before God minor transgressions only so as to have something to say. Indeed, a good confession need not involve a list of sins at all. It can take the form of a conversation.

It does not help that in catechism, children are often encouraged to take the �shopping list� approach, being given catalogues of lapses in good behaviour that are supposed to assist them in examining their conscience (sometimes such lists include acts that aren�t even intrinsically sinful).

Surely it would be more fruitful to teach children, from the point of preparing for their first confession, how to appreciate the sacrament not as a punitive measure designed to palliate an angry deity, but as a way of achieving grace from our loving God. They should be encouraged to discuss with their confessor the state of their conscience, rather than to rattle off an inventory of minor mischiefs. It is a lesson even some adults may benefit from.
When lay Catholics benefit from the sacrament of reconciliation, they should keep in their prayers the confessor. Of all the sacraments, even the anointing of the sick, that of reconciliation must place the heaviest burden on the priest. The unbreakable seal of the confessional locks these secrets between confessor, penitent and God. The shocking confessions which many priests inevitably hear, and in some cases their inability to act on unjust situations, must be most difficult to live with.

In the Year of the Priest especially, we must ask: who heals the priest from sharing in frightful secrets?