A Sunday Thought to Start the Week Off Right
Happy Sunday!
We're going to spend some of that "respite" time that Sunday brings to discuss the Sacrament of Confession. I learned some things lately that have sharpened, even to some degree, changed my "traditional" understanding or this venerable Sacrament. Let's start with an overview to provide some context.
Of the seven Sacraments, the two that serious Catholics experience most often are, in order, Holy Communion and Confession. As opposed to Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders (in the case of clergy and religious), which we can only receive once in our lives, most of us receive Holy Communion and go to Confession many times over the course of a lifetime.
Of course, these days, Holy Communion gets the prize for "most received Sacrament," while Confession typically lags far behind in second place. This wasn't always the case. Setting aside customary practice, which has varied at different times over the centuries, it wasn't so long ago that Catholics wouldn't think of receiving Holy Communion without having made a good Confession within some reasonable time prior. The reasoning behind this practice was sound.
If you had committed mortal sin, you're not in the state of grace. Your soul is, in a real sense, dead. Dead souls can't receive Communion. It would be a sacrilege to do so. You're required to be in a state of grace to receive Communion. Confessing your mortal sin sincerely, with the determination not to sin again will revive the soul and get it back into a state of grace. As a result of this knowledge and understanding, any Catholic who had committed a mortal sin would make Confession a sine qua non prior to the reception of Holy Communion.
What about if you "only" had committed venial sins? Well, you could receive Communion with venial sins on your soul without committing a sacrilege. But for many years, it was considered good practice, even though you're in a state of grace, to confess your venial sins on a regular basis if you were going to receive Communion on a regular basis.
Note that this was a practice or custom, not a requirement. Again, the Church requires us to go to Confession if we've committed a grave or mortal sin.
What about our so-called "Easter Duty"? When I learned my faith growing up, we were told we should confess our sins at least once a year; and that should be during Lent, in preparation for Easter. Legally, though (i.e., according to Canon Law), the requirement is that you must confess mortal sins before receiving Communion. Thus there's really no legal requirement to go to Confession ever, unless you have mortal sin on your soul. Despite this, in the past parishes would emphasize this "Easter Duty" every year and thus corral many, if not most, of their parishioners into the Confessional at least once a year.
Frankly, I never knew that the Easter Duty wasn't technically a requirement. I'dalways thought that once-a-year Confession was a sine qua non of being a Catholic. Live and learn.
Besides the fact that it's Sunday, and therefore a good time to bone up on the tenets of our Holy Faith, why are we particularly focused on Confession? Two reasons, really.
First, as we all know, many, if not most, Catholics don't bother with Confession anymore. We won't dwell on this beyond simply acknowledging it. It's an unfortunate development of our post-Vatican II Church. Those of us who have tried to stick closer to the traditional practices of our Faith do our best to forge ahead and get to Confession on a regular basis, even when some our local bishops and clergy give the impression that it's no big deal. In my own case, over the years I've "reverted" to the practice of regular Confession that I remember was so common growing up. And that's a good thing. Even if I've only got venial sins to confess, I try to get myself into the box at least once a month.
The second reason we're focusing on Confession has to do with something I recently learned: There are other ways to obtain forgiveness for our sins. For example, we can, immediately upon committing a sin - even a mortal sin - say a sincere Act of Contrition. If we do this with a "firm purpose of amendment," i.e., the serious intention not to sin again, we are forgiven. There are other means of obtaining forgiveness as well: almsgiving, works of mercy, charitable acts, etc. This doesn't imply that we don't need to go to Confession. The reason we can seek and obtain more immediate forgiveness, even before we can get to Confession, is that God is merciful. He is always willing to forgive us when we are sincerely sorry for our sins. If we can't get to Confession for some reason, or even if we're simply distraught over our sin, He's willing to forgive us right away. However, if we choose this route, especially in the case of mortal sin, we should, at our first opportunity, confess our sin to a priest in the Sacrament of Confession.
This applies in the case of venial sins as well. This past week, we briefly discussed this in the context of addressing problems at work in a swift and thorough fashion as they occur. We drew a comparison with seeking forgiveness for our sins in the same swift and thorough fashion by developing the habit of sincerely seeking forgiveness right away rather than waiting until we can get to Confession. In our post, we quoted Father Alfred Wilson, C.P. Pardon and Peace is a contemporary work, written in the last century. While I had been familiar with the idea that we can seek and obtain God's forgiveness before we're able to get to Confession, Father has much more to say about the Sacrament of Confession, some of which was unfamiliar, much of which I found extremely helpful. I'd like to share more of what I learned.
With that in mind, we'll circle back to the Sacrament of Confession in coming Sundays. I think even those of us who've made up our minds to oppose the current fashion of "rare if ever" Confession will gain a deeper, more satisfying understanding and relationship with this most precious Sacrament.
Until then, enjoy your Sunday. Keep it holy. It's the Lord's Day. And do check in with us during the week for our regular suggestions and meditations about how to more effectively work for the greater glory of God, the welfare of your family, the benefit of others, and the common good.
We're going to spend some of that "respite" time that Sunday brings to discuss the Sacrament of Confession. I learned some things lately that have sharpened, even to some degree, changed my "traditional" understanding or this venerable Sacrament. Let's start with an overview to provide some context.
Of the seven Sacraments, the two that serious Catholics experience most often are, in order, Holy Communion and Confession. As opposed to Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders (in the case of clergy and religious), which we can only receive once in our lives, most of us receive Holy Communion and go to Confession many times over the course of a lifetime.
Of course, these days, Holy Communion gets the prize for "most received Sacrament," while Confession typically lags far behind in second place. This wasn't always the case. Setting aside customary practice, which has varied at different times over the centuries, it wasn't so long ago that Catholics wouldn't think of receiving Holy Communion without having made a good Confession within some reasonable time prior. The reasoning behind this practice was sound.
If you had committed mortal sin, you're not in the state of grace. Your soul is, in a real sense, dead. Dead souls can't receive Communion. It would be a sacrilege to do so. You're required to be in a state of grace to receive Communion. Confessing your mortal sin sincerely, with the determination not to sin again will revive the soul and get it back into a state of grace. As a result of this knowledge and understanding, any Catholic who had committed a mortal sin would make Confession a sine qua non prior to the reception of Holy Communion.
What about if you "only" had committed venial sins? Well, you could receive Communion with venial sins on your soul without committing a sacrilege. But for many years, it was considered good practice, even though you're in a state of grace, to confess your venial sins on a regular basis if you were going to receive Communion on a regular basis.
Note that this was a practice or custom, not a requirement. Again, the Church requires us to go to Confession if we've committed a grave or mortal sin.
What about our so-called "Easter Duty"? When I learned my faith growing up, we were told we should confess our sins at least once a year; and that should be during Lent, in preparation for Easter. Legally, though (i.e., according to Canon Law), the requirement is that you must confess mortal sins before receiving Communion. Thus there's really no legal requirement to go to Confession ever, unless you have mortal sin on your soul. Despite this, in the past parishes would emphasize this "Easter Duty" every year and thus corral many, if not most, of their parishioners into the Confessional at least once a year.
Frankly, I never knew that the Easter Duty wasn't technically a requirement. I'dalways thought that once-a-year Confession was a sine qua non of being a Catholic. Live and learn.
Besides the fact that it's Sunday, and therefore a good time to bone up on the tenets of our Holy Faith, why are we particularly focused on Confession? Two reasons, really.
First, as we all know, many, if not most, Catholics don't bother with Confession anymore. We won't dwell on this beyond simply acknowledging it. It's an unfortunate development of our post-Vatican II Church. Those of us who have tried to stick closer to the traditional practices of our Faith do our best to forge ahead and get to Confession on a regular basis, even when some our local bishops and clergy give the impression that it's no big deal. In my own case, over the years I've "reverted" to the practice of regular Confession that I remember was so common growing up. And that's a good thing. Even if I've only got venial sins to confess, I try to get myself into the box at least once a month.
The second reason we're focusing on Confession has to do with something I recently learned: There are other ways to obtain forgiveness for our sins. For example, we can, immediately upon committing a sin - even a mortal sin - say a sincere Act of Contrition. If we do this with a "firm purpose of amendment," i.e., the serious intention not to sin again, we are forgiven. There are other means of obtaining forgiveness as well: almsgiving, works of mercy, charitable acts, etc. This doesn't imply that we don't need to go to Confession. The reason we can seek and obtain more immediate forgiveness, even before we can get to Confession, is that God is merciful. He is always willing to forgive us when we are sincerely sorry for our sins. If we can't get to Confession for some reason, or even if we're simply distraught over our sin, He's willing to forgive us right away. However, if we choose this route, especially in the case of mortal sin, we should, at our first opportunity, confess our sin to a priest in the Sacrament of Confession.
This applies in the case of venial sins as well. This past week, we briefly discussed this in the context of addressing problems at work in a swift and thorough fashion as they occur. We drew a comparison with seeking forgiveness for our sins in the same swift and thorough fashion by developing the habit of sincerely seeking forgiveness right away rather than waiting until we can get to Confession. In our post, we quoted Father Alfred Wilson, C.P. Pardon and Peace is a contemporary work, written in the last century. While I had been familiar with the idea that we can seek and obtain God's forgiveness before we're able to get to Confession, Father has much more to say about the Sacrament of Confession, some of which was unfamiliar, much of which I found extremely helpful. I'd like to share more of what I learned.
With that in mind, we'll circle back to the Sacrament of Confession in coming Sundays. I think even those of us who've made up our minds to oppose the current fashion of "rare if ever" Confession will gain a deeper, more satisfying understanding and relationship with this most precious Sacrament.
Until then, enjoy your Sunday. Keep it holy. It's the Lord's Day. And do check in with us during the week for our regular suggestions and meditations about how to more effectively work for the greater glory of God, the welfare of your family, the benefit of others, and the common good.
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