Contrary to what some may believe, the Catholic Church does not believe that God can only forgive sins through the Sacrament of Confession. Indeed, that would be limiting God. But God’s Mercy is infinite, and thus cannot be limited to one form of reaching us sinners. However, Confession is the surest and safest way of knowing that we are forgiven. Feelings are fickle. What we feel does not always correspond with reality. A murderer may “feel” great about murdering, even though every sane person would rightfully assert that the murderer is acting sadistically and/or has severe mental issues. Someone might confess their sins to God while by themselves, and they might be forgiven. They may even feel great. But if they go to the Sacrament of Confession, and confess their sins to God through the priest, with real sorrow, then they know that they are forgiven. God has given us the means of Confession to realize our salvation. If we refuse to take advantage of it, we are being ungrateful.
The matter of the Sacrament of Confession is the “acts of the penitent.” These are true contrition, the verbal confession, and the “satisfaction” (fulfilling the penance the priest gives you). The form is the words of absolution. The minister is a priest. In the Latin Rite, the words of absolution are: “God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of His Son has reconciled the world to Himself and poured out the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God grant you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.“ Even if the priest forgets to day the unbolded part, the absolution is valid (assuming the penitent has contritely confessed his sins), but he must say the bolded part.
While the penitent is optimally contrite, attrition will suffice for the Sacrament of Confession. Contrition is sorrow for one’s sins primarily out of love of God. Attrition is sorrow for one’s sins primarily out of fear of Hell. Even though both types of sorrow for one’s sins suffice to receive the sacramental grace of Confession, contrition is perfect, while attrition is imperfect. Moreover, being contrite, instead of attrite, will enable the penitent to better resist sin in the future, for love is stronger than fear.
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But how do we know Confession isn’t just a sham?
There are many ways. As always, we look to Christ Himself. He instituted the Sacrament of Confession the first time He saw the apostles again after His Resurrection. He breathed God the Holy Spirit on them, saying: “‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” (Jn 20:22-23). By doing this, Jesus Christ Himself gave His apostles the power to forgive sins or withhold absolution from penitents. However, as with the Eucharist, this power did not end with the apostles. Their successors whom they ordained and those whom their successors ordained to the priesthood, and so on, received (and still receive) this same power. But as this power did not end with the apostles, Christ does not stop working in the world. Therefore, in Confession, Christ is the principal actor, not the priest. The priest serves as the mediator. The power to forgive sins does not come from him.
But why did Christ not just enable us to confess our sins directly to Him and be forgiven? The simple and complete answer is: because He didn’t want to. We cannot question Him. We just surrender with loving trust to His Plan.
However, we can postulate some reasons why He might have desired to forgive our sins primarily through Confession. Firstly, it takes guts to confess our sins to another visible, fleshly human being. It’s not easy, especially if those sins we confess are particularly embarrassing. Therefore, if we are willing to confess our sins to one of our brothers, we show that we are truly sorry for having committed them, and promise never to commit them again. Secondly, since Confession is a definite act, we can rest knowing that we are forgiven once we have received absolution. If we only apologize to the Lord for our sins in private, there is rarely a definite moment where we know we are forgiven. Indeed, such knowledge is essentially impossible for us to have. Thirdly, there is a sense of communal reparation that is accomplished through this sacrament. Another name for the sacrament is “Penance.” When we receive absolution for our sins, we are almost always assigned a penance to do. In a real way, by completing this penance, we heal wounds in society that we have caused by our sins. Sin is not a private matter. Whether it is by the act of sinning itself or by its example, we can easily encourage others to sin as well.
Remember, Christ said to His disciples that it would be better for one “if a millstone were hung round his neck and he were cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin” (Lk 17:2). Why does Jesus Christ seem so harsh? Because sin is far harsher. The punishment of drowning is brief pain and a corporeal death. The punishment of unrepented mortal sin is eternal separation from God, the terror of which no human mind can comprehend. Now, while we are still alive, is the time to confess our sins and immerse ourselves in God’s Mercy, through the healing power of the Sacrament of Confession.
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Why confess so frequently?
You also may have heard that we must confess our sins frequently in the Sacrament of Confession. This is true. “But,” one might object, “once our sins are forgiven for sure, why do we need to confess our sins again? We believe in Christ and try to follow His will. We are saved.” Here is where we see an error of Protestantism. Yes, those sins you confessed are forgiven forever, but that does not mean you are now perfect. You may believe in Jesus Christ and try to do His will (all things necessary for our salvation), but you will inevitably commit sin time and time again, even if it is only in little things. Is this a cause for discouragement? Certainly not! In fact, by the fact that we fall time and time again, we realize our total dependence on God’s Mercy and not on our own power. St. John says that “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 Jn 1:8). Therefore, by acknowledging our sin, we come to love the Lord, Who “gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” evermore (Jn 3:16). If we truly believe that Jesus Christ loves us beyond all telling, gave Himself over to immense spiritual and physical pain to save us, and still remains with us in the sacraments (in the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist in a special way), then our belief naturally turns into action.
Now, even though the Lord wants us to do good actions to show our love for Him and for our neighbor, the ultimate Mercy by which we are forgiven does not come from any actions of our own, but from Christ’s once-for-all redemptive sacrifice on the Cross. God is our Father. We make little hand turkeys and pieces of macaroni art, and even though they mean nothing in themselves, the Lord is satisfied with them; and like the loving parent, He rewards us for doing them. He rewards us with His Mercy.
In the end, we are not justified by faith or by works, but by grace through our faith and works. But, purely and simply, we are justified by Jesus Christ.
And Christ wishes to justify us through His sacraments, especially in the Sacrament of Confession.
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But wasn’t Confession invented at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215?
No, it was not. This is a common objection to the sacrament, but can easily be disproven. The council merely confirmed the fact that Catholics must confess all mortal sins at least once a year. The council also affirmed the Seal of Confession, meaning that a priest can by no means reveal the sins of anyone who confesses his sins to him. Otherwise, the priest will essentially be excommunicated and excluded from public ministry in the Church. The reason for the Seal of Confession originates from Christ Himself. Christ is the Good Shepherd. Therefore, because the priest acts as Christ’s representative, he would, by revealing someone’s sins, commit such a grave sin against Christ, that he would be banned from public ministry and excommunicated immediately. We should pray for priests that they do not break the Seal. However, we as penitents should not fear our confessor breaking the Seal because it almost never happens. However, even in affirming these truths, the council did not teach new doctrine on Confession.
In fact, the early Church understood the necessity of Confession well. In the Didache, a first century Christian manuscript, the anonymous authors say: “confess your sins in church, and do not go up to prayer with an evil conscience” (Didache, 4:14 [A.D. 70]). Likewise, in 215 A.D., St. Hippolytus says that a bishop ordains a new bishop by giving him “the authority to forgive sins” (Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition 3). Origen says that a penitent “does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord” (Homilies on Leviticus 2:4 [A.D. 248]). St. John Chrysostom says that priests “can bind with a bond which pertains to the soul itself and transcends the very heavens. Did [God] not give them all the powers of heaven? ‘Whose sins you shall forgive,’ he says, ‘they are forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.’” (John Chrysostom, The Priesthood 3:5 [A.D. 387]).
Finally, confessing our sins directly to God is good, in fact, it is necessary; and we should always approach the Lord, even in private prayer, with a “humble and contrite heart,” as we read in Psalm 51. In fact, this contrition is necessary to have in our preparation for the sacrament of Confession. But we also have to confess our sins to the priest, the mediator through whom Christ primarily forgives our sins, because this is the way God wanted it to be.
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Here are a few do’s and don’t’s on how to approach the sacrament:
DO…
- Confess all your mortal sins (serious, grave sins – consult a priest or trusted website, such as Catholic Answers, to learn what constitutes a mortal sin) in number and type. If you do not remember exactly how many times you committed a particular mortal sin, just approximate and that is sufficient. Do not withhold any mortal sins on purpose; otherwise, you will commit another mortal sin. Mortal sin breaks one’s relationship with God and excludes him or her from Heaven. They are extremely serious, not to be brushed over.
- Confess any venial (less serious) sins that you wish to confess. This is a great practice (hopefully we will not commit any mortal sins after returning to the Sacrament of Confession), even though confessing venial sins in Confession, while strongly recommended, is not necessary. It strengthens our will and our ability to resist other sins, both mortal and venial, in the future.
- Go to Confession frequently, probably about once per week to once per month, depending on circumstances. Staying close to this sacrament will reap great fruits. It keeps us humble.
DON’T…
- Think that God does not want to show you His Mercy anymore. He wants that more than anything else, seriously.
- Become obsessed with remembering every single detail about a sin. In fact, refrain from talking excessively about your sins in Confession. Get to the point.
- Become discouraged if you keep confessing the same sin time and time again. God’s Mercy is Infinite, and He wants to help you get through your struggle.
- Think that you do not need Confession. We are all sinners, in need of God’s never-failing Mercy.