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THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION
A Theological and Pastoral
Reflection for the Ministers of the Sacrament
Pope Benedict
XVI has commended the Bishops of Canada in their promotion of the
Sacrament of Reconciliation.1
The Holy Father went on to note that sin is “ultimately a weakening of
our relationship with God”, and thus involves a loss of human dignity,
moral confusion and social disintegration, as well as division and
fragmentation. The Episcopal Commission for Theology of the Canadian
Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued the following theological and
pastoral reflection on the Sacrament of Reconciliation to assist the
ministers of the sacrament. At the same time, it is also a timely
catechesis for all the faithful.
Introduction
1.
The following theological reflection is intended to assist pastors as
they accompany the faithful on their journey of faith and to help them
rediscover and deepen their appreciation for the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. In his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation
Reconciliatio et Poenitentia, Pope John Paul II invited the Church
to show special attention and care toward this sacrament, recognizing it
as a celebration of God’s covenant and an expression of “the
certainty that, by the will of Christ, forgiveness is offered to each
individual by means of sacramental absolution given by the ministers of
penance.”2
2.
Over the centuries, the penitential discipline of the Church has
undergone a remarkable evolution. There has been considerable variation
in the modalities of penitential legislation and practice, given the
differing historical situations in which the Church found itself.
Generally there are considered to be three great periods in this
evolution: the elaboration and codification of a public penitential
system, from the 1st to 6th centuries; the “tariff” penance and the
Carolingian reform, from the 6th to 12th centuries; and individual
confession, from the 13th century on.
3.
Each of these three historical periods has been marked by a different
pastoral approach and preoccupation. In the first, when there was no
private sacramental penance as we know it, the emphasis was on public
exclusion from the Eucharist and the requirement of a prolonged public
penance. In the second, when the monastic form of penance was extended
to the laity, greater importance was placed on the penitential action
and the reception of individual absolution. It was during this period
that the role of the minister of reconciliation changed from the
patristic notion of medicus (doctor/healer) to that of judex
(judge). Thirdly, in the Middle Ages and with the formalization of
penance as one of the seven sacraments, its theology was more
systematically developed and articulated, including a new emphasis on
the distinction of matter and form. Following the Second Vatican
Council, with the Ordo Poenitentiae, then the Apostolic
Exhortation that came after the Synod of Bishops on penance and
reconciliation, and more recently the Motu Proprio Misericordia Dei,
this sacrament is now more clearly situated within its liturgical,
theological and pastoral context.
4.
Despite these differences in the way the Sacrament of Reconciliation has
been celebrated over the centuries, the underlying faith-conviction of
the Church in the necessity of the sacrament has remained constant. The
Church has always regarded the Sacrament of Reconciliation as “grounded”
in Christ’s Paschal Mystery. The redemptive force of this mystery is
what renews the Church, restoring to its communion those who have become
alienated from it and making them once again full members of the
Eucharistic assembly. The Sacrament of Reconciliation has always been
regarded as an indispensable support for the continuing transformation
into Christ, which is the essence of Christian life.
5. In
our present-day context – when fewer faithful are availing themselves of
the Sacrament of Reconciliation – the Episcopal Commission for Theology
would like to assist the ministers of the sacrament. The present
reflection, primarily for pastors, is intended to set out its
theological foundations and pastoral implications. The hope is to foster
a renewed appreciation of both its value and beauty. Such an
appreciation is all the more timely since ours is a deeply troubled
world, in which the need for reconciliation in so many areas is all too
apparent and real. “Reconciliation” is the name used most often today
for this sacrament, although the terms “Penance” and “Confession” are
still also used. In this document, we give preference to the first
designation. Our concern is primarily with the first liturgical form of
the Sacrament of Reconciliation, with its profoundly personal character
of individual confession. However, our theological reflections apply
equally to the other two forms, although it should be pointed out that
the third form – collective absolution – is for use in exceptional
circumstances and is governed by special norms.
Why the Sacrament of
Reconciliation?
6.
Initially, reconciliation takes place in a most radical way at Baptism.
Baptism is the sacramental sign of our full forgiveness in Jesus Christ
and our incorporation into the Christian community. “This first
sacrament pardons all our sins, rescues us from the power of darkness,
and brings us to the dignity of adopted children” (Rite of Christian
Initiation of Adults, praenotanda, 2). Any and all subsequent
movements of repentance and conversion on the part of the faithful are
firmly grounded in and derive their meaning from the Sacrament of
Baptism.
7.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation, as with Baptism, is the pre-eminent
work and sacrament of the Holy Spirit. Just as the Spirit initiates the
process of our incorporation into the Christian community at Baptism and
strengthens this in Confirmation, the same Spirit sustains and renews it
in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The new rite explicitly mentions the
Holy Spirit no fewer than 20 times. According to the rite, the priest is
to extend his hands over the penitent when giving absolution, as a sign
that the Holy Spirit is being called down upon the penitent. As the work
of the Holy Spirit, this sacrament is not only the remission of sins; it
is also an outpouring of the life-giving Spirit which induces in the
penitent a deep change of mind and heart, the biblical notion of
metanoia. It is the Sacrament of Reconciliation that restores and
renews an individual’s life in the community of believers and the
priesthood of the faithful.
8.
Contrition – or repentance – and conversion are essential to the process
that leads to reconciliation. They are not isolated acts, but part of an
ongoing call that must be heeded throughout one’s entire faith journey.
Seen in this perspective, the Sacrament of Reconciliation bears the
authentic seal of growth in Christ. This is because the Reign of God is
forever “at hand” and even now is being realized in the person of Jesus
Christ. “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near;
repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1.15; Matthew 4.17).
9.
The very heralding of the coming of the Reign of God contains the call
to conversion. Answering Jesus’ call, the faithful are constantly
growing in the grace of Baptism and so into the death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. The central core of Jesus’ teaching, with its stringent
demands regarding the Reign of God, is a call to metanoia, even
though the word “conversion” is not always explicitly used. This summons
to repent, to be converted, is addressed to everyone, without
distinction but with a sense of urgency. Pope Paul VI, whose definition
of conversion was incorporated into the Ordo Poenitentiae of
1973, described it this way: “We can only approach the Kingdom of
Christ by metanoia. This is a profound change of the whole person by
which one begins to consider, judge, and arrange one’s life according to
the holiness and love of God” (Ordo Poenitentiae, no. 6).
10. From
a Christian point of view, any talk of sin or of a sense of sin must be
seen in the context of the new covenant that was wrought and sealed in
the blood of Christ (Luke 22.20). This is the irrevocable alliance in
which God proclaims: “They will be my people and I will be their God”
(Revelation 21.3). Talk of sin can never be divorced from God’s infinite
and merciful love. We see this time and time again in Scripture and
especially in the way Jesus approached the sinners of his day. He always
offered them hope and the opportunity to be healed and saved; he was
never one to “break a crushed reed, or quench a smouldering wick”
(Matthew 12.20). Sin not only darkens minds, hearts and lives in ways
far beyond our human reckoning; it reveals its insidious face and nature
especially when viewed in the light of God’s unconditional love and
divine forgiveness. It is when we become keenly aware of God’s love as
pardon and mercy that the real nature of sin is revealed to us.
Pastoral implications
11.
If the individual
confession of one’s sins is seen and understood in the broader context
of an ongoing, life-long process of conversion, and as liberation from
sin, then the faithful will be less inclined to view individual
confession as a formality. In confessing their serious sins in number
and kind, they are to view this as stemming directly from the inner
dynamism of their Baptism and from their Christian vocation. When
celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation, pastors would do well to
highlight those aspects and elements that allow the penitents to
experience more explicitly the inherent connection between the Sacrament
of Reconciliation and their Baptism.
12.
Penitents should also be
made to understand that the Person encountered in the penitential rite
is Jesus Christ, signified in the encounter with the minister of the
sacrament. Christ accomplishes for the penitent today the same
liberation, purification and transformation that he so often offered the
sick and the sinners in the Gospel. The foundation of the sacrament is
precisely in those gestures through which the living Christ calls
sinners to conversion and restores their friendship with God.
13.
All three forms in the
Ordo Poenitentiae follow the same basic structure: (a) a moment of
welcome; (b) a time to reflect on a reading of the Word of God; (c) the
confession of sins; (d) a moment of penitential prayer; (e) absolution;
and (f) a concluding prayer of thanksgiving. The minister should spend
sufficient time with each individual penitent so that the sacrament is
experienced as a true celebration – not as a hasty, perfunctory
exercise. It should be noted that even in the first form of the rite,
the reading of Scripture is never to be omitted. What is new in the rite
is the place of Scripture, by which we are called to recognize our
sinfulness. This element particularly needs to be put into practice. The
pastoral renewal of the first form of the Sacrament of Reconciliation
depends on the rediscovery of the importance of the Word of God in the
celebration.
Why
is confession a “personal” affair?
14.
There are sound theological reasons why the Church insists on the
individual confession of one’s sins. God calls each one of us by name.
Among all the possible types of human words, there is none more
strikingly personal and evocative than our name. When someone calls out
our name, our attention is immediately alerted to that person’s
presence. We are thereby summoned to engage in a dialogue with the
other. My name is what manifests me, expresses me to others, and gives
them access to my being. I truly exist only for those who know my name.
Nothing is more personal than an individual’s name.
15. In
the Sacrament of Reconciliation, God calls us by name, that is, to a
personal and intimate encounter. It is as though God wants to take us
aside for a moment – as good friends do – in order to give us his full,
undivided attention and forgiving love. In such privileged moments of
intimacy, we are summoned to stand before God in our vulnerability, and
with all the transparency of our being. It is then, when we come before
him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation with our sins, our repentance and
our trust, that God can let his face shine on us and grant us grace and
peace – the peace that only God can give.
16. The
reason we are asked to say or name our sins in confession is twofold. On
the one hand, the very fact of naming our sins is a clear indication
that we own them, that they are our sins and not those of someone
else. It is when we are able to name them that we truly take personal
responsibility for them. At the same time, the requirement to put a name
on our sins carries with it a liberating grace. When we can put a finger
on our trespasses and call them by name, they lose something of their
hold on us. Confessing one’s sins is not intended to be a punishment or
an exercise in humiliation, although it certainly demands humility. To
the contrary, it is an exercise in transparency and one in which, with
our cooperation, the Holy Spirit helps us to follow Christ more closely
and to bear witness to him who took upon himself our sinful state,
although he was without sin (2 Corinthians 5.21).
17. It
is important to recall, too, that God offers us pardon even before we
ask for it. When we step out of our everyday lives to receive the Lord’s
mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, he is the one who takes the
initiative in our reconciliation. This divine initiative of which we are
the beneficiaries, and not the artisans, comes from our heavenly Father
through Christ and the Holy Spirit. As Pope John Paul II so beautifully
put it: “We would not budge from our sin if God had not already
offered his forgiveness…. We would not decide to open ourselves to
forgiveness if God, through the Holy Spirit, whom Christ gave us, had
not already brought about in us sinners the beginning of a change in
life which is precisely the desire for and the intention of conversion.”3
In his Letter to Priests on Holy Thursday 2002, in which he compares
confession to Jesus’ surprise encounter with Zacchaeus (Luke 19.5), the
Holy Father said: “Before being a person’s journey to God, confession
is God’s arrival at a person’s house.”
Pastoral implications
18.
One of the first
implications of God’s gratuitous initiative is that penitents should not
come to the Sacrament of Reconciliation with undue apprehension. They
should be encouraged to approach it with a sense of joy and gratitude.
It has been said that gratitude is the most infallible sign of the
presence of God. Quite rightly did Pope John Paul II associate the
celebration of reconciliation with a heart full of gratitude: “Gratitude
must fill our heart, even before being freed from our sins through the
absolution of the Church.”4 Pastors do well to
encourage the faithful to regard this sacrament as a genuine act of
thanksgiving, a celebration of gladness and immense hope, as an
expression of our belief in the “forgiveness of sins,” and as a
profession of faith in the living and forgiving God which we proclaim in
the Creed.
19.
A second important pastoral
implication should be the question of accountability. The Sacrament of
Reconciliation is a call to accountability. Whenever we examine our
conscience prior to receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we are
calling ourselves to accountability. We are taking stock of our life and
our responsibilities, as did the Prodigal Son when he stopped long
enough to realize the condition to which he had reduced himself after
leaving his father’s house (cf. Luke 15.17-21). Viewed in this way, the
purpose of examining our conscience is not simply intended to help us
answer the question “What have I done wrong?” or “What good have I left
undone?” More basically, examining our conscience – taking account of
our lives – is to remind us, as Saint Paul does, that we do not live or
die to ourselves, but to the Lord (cf. Romans 14.7), and that as good
stewards of the Lord, each of us is charged with “the good purpose of
building up the neighbour” (Romans 15.2).5
20.
Thirdly, as ministers of
mercy, pastors should be aware that “in the celebration of this
sacrament, perhaps even more than the others, it is important that the
faithful have an intense experience of the face of Christ the Good
Shepherd.”6 One of the oldest and most cherished
models of a priest is unquestionably that of the Good Shepherd. As Pope
John II so movingly described in his 2002 Holy Thursday Letter to
Priests, “The minister of pardon, who exemplifies for penitents the
face of the Good Shepherd, must express in equal measure the mercy
already present and at work and the pardon which brings healing and
peace.”7
If the
confessor is to do this effectively, if he is to let the face of the
Good Shepherd truly shine upon the penitent, he too must avail himself
of this sacrament. Only by personally experiencing God’s pardon and
mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation can the minister realistically
hope to convey a true image of the Good Shepherd to others.
21.
Catholic tradition also
recognizes that a desensitized conscience is one of the dangers that
threatens and assails the Christian believer. The loss of a sense of sin
is one of the insidious ways in which the evil sway of sin can overtake
an individual and even a community. We lose a sense of sin, for example,
when we refuse to take the blame for the wrongs we have done. We all too
readily excuse ourselves by thinking that our sinful actions are the
results of sins committed by others against us and, therefore,
not our fault. “We prefer to think of ourselves as ‘wounded’ – as
victims of sin – rather than as sinners.”8
22.
The gradual evolution or
shift in the way Catholics have come to perceive and construe sin is
also noteworthy. Many regard sin today less as a list of specific
nameable acts and more as an entrenched basic attitude that lies at the
core of one’s being. This means that special attention is given to those
deep attitudinal stances that define our basic relationships with God
and with others (for example, in terms of estrangement, alienation and
isolation). While sin is viewed as the disruption or breakdown of an
original harmony in an existing relationship, it nevertheless reveals
its depraved face in concrete particular actions and gestures. These can
completely sever the relationship (grave sin) or can injure and thus
impoverish the relationship (venial sin). As the Catechism of the
Catholic Church states: “Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart
of a person by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns a person away
from God, who is the person’s ultimate end and beatitude, by preferring
an inferior good to him. Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even
though it offends and wounds it.”9
Why
does reconciliation have an ecclesial dimension?
23.
“Embracing sinners in her bosom, the Church is at the same time holy
and always in need of being purified, and incessantly pursues the path
of penance and renewal” (Second Vatican Council Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, no. 8). Catholic
tradition has always understood sin not only as an offence against God
but also against the Christian community. This explains why the
Sacrament of Reconciliation does two things simultaneously: it
reconciles us with the People of God, the Church, and with God.
Reconciliation with God occurs in and through our
reconciliation with the Church. On this point, the report of the
International Theological Commission entitled “Penance and
Reconciliation” was clear: “Thus in sacramental penance the
readmission to full sacramental communion with the Church is the
sacramental sign of the renewed communion with God.”10
We find here, although in different words, the constant firm
teaching of the Fathers of the Church: what validates reconciliation
with God is our reconciliation with the People of God.
24. In
the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the priest represents both God and the
community and, through him, the penitent seeks forgiveness from both.
The absolution of the priest, which is also given in the name of the
Church, reveals its full meaning when perceived as being an ecclesial
act, that is, an action performed by and on behalf of Christ and
the Church. This is why the sacrament should be celebrated, as much as
possible, in a communal setting. For example, even when the first form
of the rite is used, it is preferable to designate a special time when
several penitents can come together to celebrate this sacrament. Another
way to indicate this communal reality is for the whole community to be
present, or at least a number of faithful, as customary also at Baptism.
In its decree promulgating the new Ordo Poenitentiae, the
Congregation for Divine Worship had this to say: “Communal
celebration shows more clearly the ecclesial nature of penance” (no.
22; see also the Second Vatican Council Constitution on the Sacred
Liturgy, Sacrosantum Concilium, no 27).
25. It
should moreover be emphasized that the personal confession of one’s sins
is never a purely private act. Though sin is an individual human act
saying no to God and his will, its effects go far beyond the person who
sins. It engages the whole Church and every member of the Church. As
Pope John Paul II emphasized, the social nature of this sacrament is
such that “the whole Church – militant, suffering and glorious in
heaven – comes to the aid of the penitent and welcomes him again into
her bosom, especially as it was the whole Church which had been offended
and wounded by his sin.”11
Pastoral
implications
26.
The faithful must be made
aware that sin is never simply a private affair, affecting only the
sinner, but has harmful repercussions both throughout and beyond the
Church. The great saints and mystics were mindful of the far-reaching
consequences of sin. Pope Paul VI expressed it well: “All wrongdoing
involves a disturbance of the universal order which God established; it
destroys the wrongdoer’s own values, as well as those of the human
community.”12 Were the notion of sin exposed in
all its tragic depth and magnitude – as an unfathomable mystery and not
simply a fact to be itemized – then perhaps this sacrament would
take on new meaning in the eyes of the faithful.
27.
It follows too that,
whenever possible, greater use should be made of the second form of the
rite (communal celebration with individual confession and individual
absolution). This form of the rite has all the elements necessary to
foster among the faithful an individual as well as a communal sense of
sin. Even more clearly than the first form (individual confession), the
second emphasizes the ecclesial dimension of sacramental reconciliation.
It is conceivable that this second form, if utilized more frequently,
would resonate more deeply with the religious sensibilities of the
faithful.
28.
Another important dimension
that should be emphasized is the vital connection between
penance, on the one hand, and works of peace and justice, on the other.
Properly understood, sacramental penance is a summons to engage oneself
in works of peace and justice in the world. The evil involved in forms
of injustice and forces of oppression, in wars that seem interminable,
cries out for the healing and forgiving word of Jesus Christ. The
faithful must be made to understand the social implications of the
Sacrament of Reconciliation. By gaining a greater awareness of these
implications, the faithful will be more readily encouraged to
personalize their sense of sin, as individuals and as a community. In
short, it would help them assume greater social responsibility for their
actions in daily life. This would not only signal a triumph over
individualism, but the faithful themselves would come to be seen as
living witnesses of reconciliation in today’s troubled world.
Why
must penance and reconciliation be “ritualized”?
29.
Properly carried out, ritual can be powerful. Its capacity to sustain
the life of individuals and communities can hardly be exaggerated.
Ritual exists in every culture and in every religion. It is an effective
and necessary medium for expressing the deepest meanings and values that
make a people who they are. Without ritual participation and the
appropriation of the values mediated by ritual, a people soon loses its
community coherence and stability, and individuals lose their sense of
belonging, meaning and identity. Ritual, by its nature, enables a
community to achieve and maintain contact with its origins, its
foundational meaning or, as it is sometimes called, its “charter event”.
For Christians, this founding event is the life, death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ – the Paschal Mystery. In the Sacrament of
Reconciliation, the ritual action places the penitent in touch with the
founding event which is the saving action of Christ who calls the Church
into existence and sustains its life.
30. The
sacraments of the Church are not arbitrarily imposed on human nature;
they correspond, as Saint Thomas pointed out, to the basic needs and
stages of the human condition.13 Similarly, rites and rituals
are expressions of a fundamental dimension of human existence. Moreover,
in the sacramental order the Rite of Penance marks an important passage
in the life of the penitent, a conversion experience, a “turning around”
or metanoia. Everything that is done in the rite should be made
to highlight, celebrate and sacralize this important transitional moment
in the penitent’s faith journey.
Pastoral implications
31.
In our modern age, people
have a diminished sense of ritual and sacramentality, even with regards
to the Church’s rites and religious symbols. One of the reasons why the
faithful have become estranged from the Sacrament of Reconciliation is
because celebrations of the penitential rites have too often been
mechanical and superficial. The challenge for pastors today is to convey
the deep significance of the liturgy. This means exploiting the rich,
liturgical potential that is offered in the rite. Liturgical gestures
must be simple yet meaningful. Symbolic actions within the Rite of
Penance should be clearly perceived by the faithful as evoking mystery
and expressing something beyond the mere external action itself. A
symbol has the power to evoke mystery precisely because it addresses
itself to the whole person – to the imagination, the will, and the
emotions, as well as to the intellect.
32.
The faithful must be made
to understand that the Rite of Penance is, strictly speaking, a ritual
imitation of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who makes the
penitent’s “imitation” real, efficacious and salvific. It is an
imitation of death and resurrection, but one that is effectively
realized and brought about for the penitent through Christ’s own
“passage” (Passover) from death to life. As such, like all the
sacramental rites of the Church, the Rite of Penance is a ritual
re-enactment of and participation in the Paschal Mystery of Christ.
33.
Thought should also be
given to the actual place or space assigned for the celebration of the
Sacrament of Reconciliation with an individual penitent. While it is
important to respect those who prefer the traditional confessional,
other options are available, such as the reconciliation room or a more
open space. The place chosen for the celebration of the sacrament must
be a designated area for this purpose, with all the proper dignity that
becomes a sacred liturgical space. Ministers of the Sacrament of
Reconciliation are to respect whatever option the penitent chooses,
whether the confessional, the reconciliation room, or a more open space.
We do well to remember that Jesus forgave those who approached him in
full public view. Who can forget the moving sight of those numerous
young people during World Youth Day who went to confession in the open
air of a city park? Are we not always edified by the good example of
others?
Conclusion
The
most important conclusion that can be drawn from these theological and
pastoral reflections is the immense hope that Jesus Christ creates for
every sinner. For some, the Sacrament of Reconciliation can be a
profound life-changing experience, the occasion of a major conversion.
For others, it can mark a steady striving to follow Christ more
intimately. Whether as reconciliation or purification, the sacrament is
a fountain of hope and grace for everyone in the Church.
Episcopal Commission for
Theology
Canadian
Conference of Catholic Bishops
19
October 2006 |