Christ shows the Father's mercy in the sacrament of penance
When you want to reconcile with someone, then you use the appropriate signs, to express your desire to make peace. Sometimes it happens, that you have offended someone, who you respect, you love, who you care about. You're looking for an opportunity, the right words. some gesture, to show your regret and willingness to apologize. How happy you are, when you also see a sign of forgiveness on his part. The sign of our human forgiveness is the word, handshake gesture, eating together. It is so between people. And how it works between man and God ? Sin breaks communion with God. How to re-establish it ? When a person wishes to be reconciled with God, is it enough to just regret it, what you did ? Does the reconciliation of man with God take place only in the depths of the human soul? ? Is there maybe something, which is the outward expression of this forgiveness ?
The Church reconciles people with God
When we get to know Jesus Christ and His human life, We find out, how good God is to people, how much love he has for them, kindness, forbearance and mercy towards those, who have sinned. This is clearly seen in Jesus' treatment of sinners. He said: "I have come to look for, what was lost ", and some other time : "The sick need a doctor". He showed his love for people in different ways. He was often among them, ate meals with them, he forgave their sins. In parables, he spoke of reconciliation and forgiveness. Finally, he gave his life on the cross for everyone. Just before his death, he prayed for sinners : "Father, forgive them, because they don't know, what they do ". All Jesus' Way, especially his passion and death on the cross, it is a revealed sign of God's mercy and forgiveness to all who seek reconciliation.
Jesus passes on his concern for the fate of sinful people to his Church. We read about this event every year on the Solemnity of Pentecost : “On the evening of that first day of the week, where the students were, when the door was closed for fear of Jews, Jesus has come, he stood in the center and spoke to them : " Peace to you ! »When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. So the disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. And Jesus spoke to them again : " Peace to you ! As the Father has sent me, so I send you ». After these words, he breathed on them and told them : «Receive the Holy Spirit ! Whose sins you will forgive, they are forgiven, and which you keep, are kept for them »" (J 20, 19-23).
The risen Christ is the conqueror of Satan and all evil. He gives his Church a share in this victory. From then on, the activity of the Church, who absolves us from our guilt through the priests, it is a visible sign of God's mercy.
Reconciliation with God through the Church is called the sacrament of penance. The first reconciliation and forgiveness of all sins took place in the sacrament of baptism. Who, however, then committed the mortal sin, not only broke up with God, but he wounded the Church and separated herself from the Eucharistic community. He must therefore turn to the Church, in order to return to union with Christ through him. To get it, the repentant sinner asks the priest for forgiveness of his sins and for reconciliation with the Church. The priest accepts his confession, he prays over him and in the name of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, unites him again with God. In this way, thanks to faith, the personal encounter of the repentant with the priest becomes the personal encounter of the sinner with the risen Jesus. For the penitent believes, that when the priest absolves, Christ absolves. There is therefore no reconciliation with God for these sinners, who would consciously want to ignore the mediation of Christ's Church in their quest to reconcile with God.
How the reconciliation of the sinner with God takes place in the Church ?
The saving God calls man to cooperate. Also in the sacrament of reconciliation. The basis of everything is good will : a voluntary decision to reveal to the priest his sins and his inner penitential attitude. You probably remember the parable of the prodigal son and his decision : I will get up and go to the Father ! - Before you go to confession, think first, what you have done to God and people. When you enter the sacrament of penance, you must be carefully aware of your wrong actions and thoughts, and even some circumstances, which increased your guilt. Not only memory is involved in the examination of conscience, but also the heart and the human will. When you remember your sins, you also evaluate them, you see evil in them, you are ashamed of them before God and want to turn your back on them. In short : you regret it all and decide to change it, better life.
With that disposition you kneel in front of the confessional. You speak honestly about everything, what did you remember. You confess your mortal sins, their number and circumstances. You can also confess venial sins. This sincere confession made before a priest is called a confession.
This external activity must be accompanied by an internal conversion, turning away from sin, change of heart, without which the confession would remain vain and fruitless. Your reconciliation with God and with the Church takes place then, when the priest, representative of the Church, utters words of absolution. The priest also imposes the so-called. "Penance", which may be some act or prayer. Through them, the penitent person joins the great and continuous act of reparation offered to God by the Church of Christ.. The penance imposed by a priest is therefore so important, because it draws its strength from prayer and the merits of the whole Church. You have to remember, that to the essence of repentance, conversion, there is also a desire to make amends for all moral and material wrongs. However, a Christian should remember, that even making amends for all wrongs to others and refusing or performing sacramental penance is not sufficient compensation for sins. We obtain the grace of forgiveness free of charge from God, who is infinitely good, who, through the sacrament of reconciliation, enables us to share in the atonement of Christ himself, accomplished in the paschal mystery. We are not able to earn anything from this grace. You can only ask her out. That is why there are so many different devotions and penitential ceremonies in our liturgy, especially during Lent, that we may have the opportunity to ask God for the grace of forgiveness for us and for our neighbors. After receiving the sacrament of Penance, the Christian can rejoice again with the entire Eucharistic community and receive the Body of Christ. For in this sacrament he became a living member of the Body of Christ again, which is the Church.
How will I answer God ?
Now think about it : How good is God, that he does not remember the insult and that he forgives our sin with such love. Or when he thought about it ? Did you thank God for the opportunity to confess ?… Do not forget to do this after each confession. Idea, wasn't your confessions just a mere confession of sins without a real one, inner conversion ? Did you make amends for the harm after the confession ? Are you enjoying the benefits of the sacrament of penance?, when your conscience does not cast out your mortal sins ?
■ Think :
1. How the Lord Jesus showed the mercy of the Father towards sinners ?
2. To whom he communicated his concern for sinners ?
3. What role does the community of the Church play in reconciling the sinner with God? ?
4. What the penitent should do, to be reconciled to God and the Church ?
5. What is the role of the priest in the sacrament of penance ?
6. Where does sacramental penance draw its redemptive power from? ?
7. Why the Church holds penitential services ?
■ Remember:
65. What Christ does in the sacrament of penance ?
In the sacrament of penance, through the Church, Christ restores to the penitent Christian the communion of life with himself and with the Church.
■ Task :
What do you think about the 7th grade student, who is preparing for confession of St.. from the booklet intended for children in class II ?