LITURGY CORNER

The Sacrament of Reconciliation, Part I

Indeed the Sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about

a true "spiritual resurrection," restoration of the dignity and

blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the most

precious is friendship with God. (Catechism, #1468)

As we celebrate the holy season of Lent it is a good idea to review our approach to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, so let's take a moment and examine the Sacrament. The traditional form for the beginning of the celebration of the Sacrament is useful because it gives the priest an indication of both when your last Confession was, and some idea of the frequency with which you use the Sacrament, so beginning with the Sign of the Cross the penitent says: "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. It has been (fill in a time interval, e.g. 2 weeks, 3 months, 10 years, etc.) since my last confession."

At that point, the penitent recounts his or her sins, perhaps introducing them by simply stating: "I have committed the following sins" or words to that effect. The traditional emphasis in the Church is to specify the sins, and some idea of how often you have committed them, for example: "I used the Name of the Lord inappropriately 5 times." The practice of the Roman Catholic Church requires the penitent to specify all mortal sins that he or she is aware of. It is very important to bear in mind that the purpose of this part of the Confession is to focus on repenting for sins. During this repentance, we take personal responsibility for our sins. Therefore, it is not helpful to go into great detail about the circumstances surrounding the sin. That tends to blur the focus, which is our taking responsibility for our sin and repenting for it. For example, it is not necessary to build a whole story behind the action, e.g. "Yesterday I was talking with a friend and she said something that made me so angry that I spoke harshly to her" should simply be stated as: "I spoke harshly to a friend." It is so easy for us to fall into including justifications and rationalizations in the description of our sins and this should be avoided. Focus simply on the sin. If the confessor feels like he needs more information about a particular event, he will ask for it. This is not a counseling session, a session for pastoral care, or a time for spiritual direction. This is a time when we, in an honest, simple, and straightforward fashion, repent of our sins and bring them to God for His forgiveness and the grace to change. The Father loves to share with us His mercy, but the more directly we repent, the more directly we open ourselves to that mercy. For example, note the difference between saying: "I committed the sin of masturbation" and "I am having trouble with masturbation." One, the first, is a straightforward acknowledgment of sin. The other is an ambiguous comment that stops short of actually acknowledging our sin. One of the Devil's delights is to try to obscure our sin and minimize our repentance. Let's be honest and straightforward as we bring our sin to God for His forgiveness, that He may lavish on us His mercy, as He delights to do!