Some Sunday Thoughts About Confession

Let's take some of our Sunday respite with some worthwhile teaching about Confession. 

As most of us likely know, Confession has been relegated to a kind of second thought ever since Vatican II. There's no good reason for this. But the fact is, the days when Confession was readily available in the Roman Rite have long passed. 

Sure, there are exceptions. Some parishes extend the availability of Confession beyond the cursory hour or so before the Saturday evening anticipated Sunday Mass. Note that the Byzantine Catholic Church we sometimes attend has retained the custom of having the confessional available before Mass begins. They take Confession - and all the Sacraments - seriously. Pope St. JP II described the Eastern and Western Rites as the two "lungs" or our Catholic Faith. A fine image. But the Eastern lung now takes in more air and nourishes the Body of Christ more vigorously. The point comes from experience.

In any case, Confession remains one of the Seven Sacraments. And its relegation to a kind of rare, second-class status must be remedied. The first step here might be to revive our knowledge and understanding of Confession, also known now as the "Sacrament of Reconciliation." And for that endeavor we'll turn to Fr. Alfred Wilson who penned a wonderful book, Pardon and Peace, published in 1946. When reading his remarks, we must take ourselves back to his time when Confession was taken quite seriously by if not most, then at least a solid chunk of Catholics. The thrust of his teaching is to provide a balanced view of this venerable Sacrament.

While many Catholics today totally ignore Confession, those who take it seriously may very well need this balance. Father's words will assuage the anxiety some of us have when examining our conscience in preparation for Confession. With such advice, we can relax and approach the Sacrament not as what he calls a "bugbear," but as a welcome, fundamental, and uplifting part of our spiritual life.

We'll post his remarks over several weeks. We begin with this reference to non-Catholics who don't understand, nay disapprove of, confession to "a man." At the end of the remarks, note the reference to Jansenism, a heresy that infected the Church going back several centuries. For those unfamiliar with this unfortunate teaching, be aware of it. We won't have time to get into details here, now, but you may want to do some research on your own. It infected large swaths of our Holy Church and in some ways remains with some - perhaps many - serious Catholics to this day. 

In any case, we begin:

    “Many non-Catholics cannot see any necessity for confession nor what good it would do God to ask a man to confess to his fellow-man. A question often on their lips is: ‘Why confess to a man?’ Confession, they think, slights the Divine Mercy and makes God appear exigent, hard to satisfy and slow to forgive. When this opinion does not spring from a spirit of arrogant insubordination, but from a sensitive concern about the attributes of God, it is worthy of respect. Non-Catholics are wrong in concluding that because they can see no need for confession, therefore there is no need. God, Who is infinitely more far-seeing than they, may see reasons where they see none. At the same time, we must admit that if Confession did actually reflect badly on God, it would be proved false. Any sacrament which obscured the Divine Mercy and made God appear an exacting tyrant, would have to be rejected. Our whole point is, however, that Confession proves the exact opposite. Confession is not necessary to appease God’s anger and win His pardon. An act of perfect contrition gains us instantaneous pardon and immediate restoration to grace. The truly contrite receive pardon as readily and as quickly as the Good Thief. We must not allow our faith in the readiness of God to forgive to be dimmed or obscured by Confession; otherwise, our attitude towards God will be far more misguided than that of non-Catholics. They endeavor to honor the Mercy of God; whereas, the Jansenistically-minded dishonor it.” -  Fr. Alfred Wilson, C.P. (Pardon and Peace, 1946)

Happy Sunday!