Confessing Sins to A Priest—How Biblical is It?
Apologetics—What they are not? They are not an apology for our faith, on the contrary, it is a defense of our faith. But that is argumentative isn’t it? No, we must remember the words of St. Peter in 1 Peter 3: 15: “Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence.” In other words, remember the Cross, the vertical bar represents Truth (Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life), but the horizontal bar represents Love (St. John says "God is love"). Speak the Truth in Love.
Let's speak the truth in love about the presence of confessing sins in the Bible, in Jewish faith and in the early Christian Church. This sacrament is a great gift from our Lord. Pope Benedict XVI quoting the ancient Christian sage Aphrates saying, "God comes close to the person who loves, and it is right to love humility and stay in a condition of humility." This is a message the Saints repeat over and over and as we will see below, it is very Biblical. The Catholic Encyclopedia online asserts:
It is therefore Catholic doctrine that the Church from the earliest times believed in the power to forgive sins as granted by Christ to the Apostles. Such a belief in fact was clearly inculcated by the words with which Christ granted the power, and it would have been inexplicable to the early Christians if any one who professed faith in Christ had questioned the existence of that power in the Church. But if, contrariwise, we suppose that no such belief existed from the beginning, we encounter a still greater difficulty: the first mention of that power would have been regarded as an innovation both needless and intolerable; it would have shown little practical wisdom on the part of those who were endeavouring to draw men to Christ; and it would have raised a protest or led to a schism which would certainly have gone on record as plainly at least as did early divisions on matters of less importance. But no such record is found; even those who sought to limit the power itself presupposed its existence, and their very attempt at limitation put them in opposition to the prevalent Catholic belief.
(Click here to read about the sacrament of Penance if you are unfamiliar with what a sacrament is).
Question: A question that is often asked by non-Catholics or even some Catholics who do not appreciate the idea of humbling themselves by confessing their sins to a priest, is "why not confess your sins directly to Jesus"! After all they say, He is the one mediator between God and man, isn’t He? Besides, they complain, confession to a priest is not Biblical.
Response: Of course, one can confess one’s sins directly to God, but if a priest is available than one should confess their sins to him because Christ so ordained it and the Church he founded has been hearing confessions for 2000 years. Did Jesus, who is the one Mediator between God and man, direct us to confess our sins to another person? Since we know that the Old Testament prepared the way for the New Testament, do we find confession of sins there? We do. For example:
Leviticus 19: 20-22: A man who committed adultery had to bring a guilt offering for himself to the door of the tent of meeting (holy place where the ark of the covenant, which contained God’s true presence was kept). But then it adds “And the priest shall make atonement for him …before the Lord for his sin…and the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven.” (see also Leviticus 5: 5-6) The priest could not make atonement if he were not aware of the man's sin. He is acting as a mediator for the repentant sinner.
Jewish Practice: On the eve of the Day of Atonement or of Passover, it was forbidden to eat and drink, to wash, anoint, lace shoes, or have sexual intercourse. Breaking of these laws led to excommunication. The people who came to confess their sins at the Temple annually brought offerings and animal victims to be sacrificed when it got dark on eve of feast of atonement or Passover. They actually, confessed their sins before the meal, afterwards and the next morning in a threefold confession. Priests prayed for their forgiveness.(p. 323, How Christ Said the First Mass by Fr. James L. Meagher, D.D.). The Apostles would have conformed to these religious practices when they came to celebrate the seder meal of the Passover with Jesus in the Upper Room before His crucifixion.
The complaint might be, well that is the Old Testament, but now we have Jesus, who suffered for our sins. What does the New Testament have to say?
Matthew 3: 6 (and Mk 1: 5): “. . . they were baptized by him [John the Baptist] in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” So he who prepared the way for Christ, listened to confessions of sin.
John the Baptist, whom Jesus called him the greatest "among them that are born of woman," preached a baptism of repentance. Mark tells us that ". . . there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. We learn in Luke's account of the Baptist that he answered many questions for the people concerning the behavior they should follow, but freely confessed that he was not the Christ (Luke 3: 16-17). He doubtless heard countless confessions of sin, but he knew where forgiveness of sin came from for when Jesus approached he declared, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1: 29). Jesus than sent his disciples to baptize throughout Judea (John 3: 22) and they too, doubtless heard the confessions of many sinners as they traveled from village to village. So Jesus used his disciples and John the precursor to hear confessions of sins, but this is not the sacrament of confession, anymore than the baptism of John was the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which came after John the Baptist's time. Let's see if the New Testament shows men receiving the authority to forgive sins in God's name.
Matthew 9: 6-8: Jesus tells us that He was given authority on earth to forgive sins (a power reserved to God alone) and proves it with miraculous healings and then Scripture notes this same authority was given to “men” (plural). Is this merely a figure of speech? No, John's Gospel makes it clear Jesus intended to give this sacrament to men:
John 20: 21-23: In his very first Resurrection appearance our Lord gives this awesome power to his Apostles with the words:
“Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” How could they forgive sins if they were not confessed? They could not. This authority comes through the gift of the Holy Spirit which precedes it.
Does this remind of you what He told Peter (Mt. 16: 19) and then the other apostles (Mt. 18:18)? “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” This includes sins. Jesus allowed for us to receive spiritual consolation and counsel in this beautiful sacrament of the Church. We see this awesome power in other sacraments as well. What today we call the sacrament of the sick. Again, we look to Scripture:
James 5: 14-17: "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another …”
Notice the command does not say confess your sins straight to God. Notice also who they are to go to the “elders” (bishops or priests—see the Acts 14: 23; 15: 2 for example).
1 John 1: 9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The word confess has an oral/verbal or proclamation meaning. St. Paul describes his ministry as one of reconciliation of sinners:
2 Corinthians 5: 18: “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation . . .”
Conclusion: The Bible clearly shows that while God alone can forgive sins and Christ is the one Mediator between God and man, and that God uses men to bring about his reconciliation. Clearly he gave that authority to his Apostles and they in turn "layed hands" (1 Timothy 4: 14 and 5:22 show laying on of hands as an ordination to God's service) on other good men (this is the sacrament of holy orders) and hence ordained men are used by God to give assurance of forgiveness of sins (absolution) to one who is sincerely repentant, has a firm purpose of amendment (confession of sins must not be a mere ritual but rather part of a process of conversion of heart and mind) and confesses their sins (honestly). This requires great humility but then as Scripture says, "Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his commands; seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the wrath of the Lord" (Zephaniah 2: 3 ); or from the New Testament Book of James:
But he gives more grace; therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts you men of double mind. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to dejection. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you" (James 4: 6-8).
Nor is the Bible the only witness. We also have the Early Fathers of the Church, who were defenders of the faith in the early Church, often giving their blood in martyrdom for the faith they defended and serving Christ faithfully despite persecution and dangers. We see the evidence of confession of sins in one of the oldest documents from the early Church, the so-called Didache (title in Greek is Didache kyriou dia ton dodeka apostolon ethesin) which is the teaching of the Lord to the twelve Apostles, mentioned by Bishop Eusebius, the father of Church history, in Ecclesiastical History, his history of early Christianity. The Didache was divided into three parts, first the "Two Ways" (the Way of Life and Death); second, the rituals dealing with Baptism, Communion and fasting; third, a concluding chapter dealing with Ministry. Doctrinal teaching is presupposed in this document which was used to train new converts to the faith. To see the whole document, Click Here.
"Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure" (Didache 4:14, 14:1 [A.D. 70-90]). Protestant scholar J. B. Lightfoot translates it similarly (click here)
You shall confess your sins. You shall not go to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of light" (Letter of Barnabas 19 [A.D. 74]).
"For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ" (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Philadelphians 3 [A.D. 110]). Ignatius was a bishop who was martyred by the Romans about 107 A.D.
"[Regarding confession, some] flee from this work as being an exposure of themselves, or they put it off from day to day. I presume they are more mindful of modesty than of salvation, like those who contract a disease in the more shameful parts of the body and shun making themselves known to the physicians; and thus they perish along with their own bashfulness" (Tertullian, Repentance 10:1 [A.D. 203]).
"[The bishop conducting the ordination of the new bishop shall pray:] God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Pour forth now that power which comes from you, from your royal Spirit, which you gave to your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and which he bestowed upon his holy apostles . . . and grant this your servant, whom you have chosen for the episcopate, [the power] to feed your holy flock and to serve without blame as your high priest, ministering night and day to propitiate unceasingly before your face and to offer to you the gifts of your holy Church, and by the Spirit of the high priesthood to have the authority to forgive sins, in accord with your command" (Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition 3 [A.D. 215]). Click on the underlined text to read about the life and work of Hippolytus of Rome (170-236 A.D.)
"[A final method of forgiveness], albeit hard and laborious [is] the remission of sins through penance, when the sinner . . . does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord and from seeking medicine, after the manner of him who say, ‘I said, "To the Lord I will accuse myself of my iniquity"’" (Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 2:4 [A.D. 248]).
Holy Scripture contains instances when sins are not forgiven. For example, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this world nor the next (Matthew 12: 31-32). It also distinguishes what is calls "mortal sins." The Evangelist and Apostle John writes, "All wrongdoing is sin, but there is a sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that" (1 John 5:16). St. Paul notes in his epistle to the Hebrews that "it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again through repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame" (Hebrews 6:4-6). These examples describe those with a sinful heart who are cynical or do not sincerely want to repent and change their lives, giving up great sins.
Thus, confession of sins is a ministry of reconciliation given by Jesus to his disciples for all time. We can and should confess sins directly to Jesus, but we must confess serious or mortal sin to a priest in the sacrament of Confession. This forces us to train our conscience to recognize these sins. To examine our conscience is necessary if we are to advance in holiness and become more faithful to Christ. Scripture calls us to holiness. St. Peter puts it this way, "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'" As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:
The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, who forgave the sins of the paralytic and restored him to bodily health, has willed that his Church continue, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation, even among her own members. This is the purpose of the two sacraments of healing: the sacrament of Penance and the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. (para. 1421) It is called the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus' call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father from whom one has strayed by sin.
It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner's personal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction. (CCC 1423)
It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a "confession"—acknowledgment and praise—of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man.
It is called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution God grants the penitent "pardon and peace."
It is called the sacrament of Reconciliation, because it imparts to the sinner the love of God who reconciles: "Be reconciled to God." He who lives by God's merciful love is ready to respond to the Lord's call: "Go; first be reconciled to your brother." (CCC 1424)
To read more about the sacrament of Confession, explore the web sites listed below:
www.newadvent.org/cathen/11618c.htm
http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt2.shtml
Let's speak the truth in love about the presence of confessing sins in the Bible, in Jewish faith and in the early Christian Church. This sacrament is a great gift from our Lord. Pope Benedict XVI quoting the ancient Christian sage Aphrates saying, "God comes close to the person who loves, and it is right to love humility and stay in a condition of humility." This is a message the Saints repeat over and over and as we will see below, it is very Biblical. The Catholic Encyclopedia online asserts:
It is therefore Catholic doctrine that the Church from the earliest times believed in the power to forgive sins as granted by Christ to the Apostles. Such a belief in fact was clearly inculcated by the words with which Christ granted the power, and it would have been inexplicable to the early Christians if any one who professed faith in Christ had questioned the existence of that power in the Church. But if, contrariwise, we suppose that no such belief existed from the beginning, we encounter a still greater difficulty: the first mention of that power would have been regarded as an innovation both needless and intolerable; it would have shown little practical wisdom on the part of those who were endeavouring to draw men to Christ; and it would have raised a protest or led to a schism which would certainly have gone on record as plainly at least as did early divisions on matters of less importance. But no such record is found; even those who sought to limit the power itself presupposed its existence, and their very attempt at limitation put them in opposition to the prevalent Catholic belief.
(Click here to read about the sacrament of Penance if you are unfamiliar with what a sacrament is).
Question: A question that is often asked by non-Catholics or even some Catholics who do not appreciate the idea of humbling themselves by confessing their sins to a priest, is "why not confess your sins directly to Jesus"! After all they say, He is the one mediator between God and man, isn’t He? Besides, they complain, confession to a priest is not Biblical.
Response: Of course, one can confess one’s sins directly to God, but if a priest is available than one should confess their sins to him because Christ so ordained it and the Church he founded has been hearing confessions for 2000 years. Did Jesus, who is the one Mediator between God and man, direct us to confess our sins to another person? Since we know that the Old Testament prepared the way for the New Testament, do we find confession of sins there? We do. For example:
Leviticus 19: 20-22: A man who committed adultery had to bring a guilt offering for himself to the door of the tent of meeting (holy place where the ark of the covenant, which contained God’s true presence was kept). But then it adds “And the priest shall make atonement for him …before the Lord for his sin…and the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven.” (see also Leviticus 5: 5-6) The priest could not make atonement if he were not aware of the man's sin. He is acting as a mediator for the repentant sinner.
Jewish Practice: On the eve of the Day of Atonement or of Passover, it was forbidden to eat and drink, to wash, anoint, lace shoes, or have sexual intercourse. Breaking of these laws led to excommunication. The people who came to confess their sins at the Temple annually brought offerings and animal victims to be sacrificed when it got dark on eve of feast of atonement or Passover. They actually, confessed their sins before the meal, afterwards and the next morning in a threefold confession. Priests prayed for their forgiveness.(p. 323, How Christ Said the First Mass by Fr. James L. Meagher, D.D.). The Apostles would have conformed to these religious practices when they came to celebrate the seder meal of the Passover with Jesus in the Upper Room before His crucifixion.
The complaint might be, well that is the Old Testament, but now we have Jesus, who suffered for our sins. What does the New Testament have to say?
Matthew 3: 6 (and Mk 1: 5): “. . . they were baptized by him [John the Baptist] in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” So he who prepared the way for Christ, listened to confessions of sin.
John the Baptist, whom Jesus called him the greatest "among them that are born of woman," preached a baptism of repentance. Mark tells us that ". . . there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. We learn in Luke's account of the Baptist that he answered many questions for the people concerning the behavior they should follow, but freely confessed that he was not the Christ (Luke 3: 16-17). He doubtless heard countless confessions of sin, but he knew where forgiveness of sin came from for when Jesus approached he declared, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1: 29). Jesus than sent his disciples to baptize throughout Judea (John 3: 22) and they too, doubtless heard the confessions of many sinners as they traveled from village to village. So Jesus used his disciples and John the precursor to hear confessions of sins, but this is not the sacrament of confession, anymore than the baptism of John was the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which came after John the Baptist's time. Let's see if the New Testament shows men receiving the authority to forgive sins in God's name.
Matthew 9: 6-8: Jesus tells us that He was given authority on earth to forgive sins (a power reserved to God alone) and proves it with miraculous healings and then Scripture notes this same authority was given to “men” (plural). Is this merely a figure of speech? No, John's Gospel makes it clear Jesus intended to give this sacrament to men:
John 20: 21-23: In his very first Resurrection appearance our Lord gives this awesome power to his Apostles with the words:
“Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” How could they forgive sins if they were not confessed? They could not. This authority comes through the gift of the Holy Spirit which precedes it.
Does this remind of you what He told Peter (Mt. 16: 19) and then the other apostles (Mt. 18:18)? “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” This includes sins. Jesus allowed for us to receive spiritual consolation and counsel in this beautiful sacrament of the Church. We see this awesome power in other sacraments as well. What today we call the sacrament of the sick. Again, we look to Scripture:
James 5: 14-17: "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another …”
Notice the command does not say confess your sins straight to God. Notice also who they are to go to the “elders” (bishops or priests—see the Acts 14: 23; 15: 2 for example).
1 John 1: 9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The word confess has an oral/verbal or proclamation meaning. St. Paul describes his ministry as one of reconciliation of sinners:
2 Corinthians 5: 18: “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation . . .”
Conclusion: The Bible clearly shows that while God alone can forgive sins and Christ is the one Mediator between God and man, and that God uses men to bring about his reconciliation. Clearly he gave that authority to his Apostles and they in turn "layed hands" (1 Timothy 4: 14 and 5:22 show laying on of hands as an ordination to God's service) on other good men (this is the sacrament of holy orders) and hence ordained men are used by God to give assurance of forgiveness of sins (absolution) to one who is sincerely repentant, has a firm purpose of amendment (confession of sins must not be a mere ritual but rather part of a process of conversion of heart and mind) and confesses their sins (honestly). This requires great humility but then as Scripture says, "Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his commands; seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the wrath of the Lord" (Zephaniah 2: 3 ); or from the New Testament Book of James:
But he gives more grace; therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts you men of double mind. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to dejection. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you" (James 4: 6-8).
Nor is the Bible the only witness. We also have the Early Fathers of the Church, who were defenders of the faith in the early Church, often giving their blood in martyrdom for the faith they defended and serving Christ faithfully despite persecution and dangers. We see the evidence of confession of sins in one of the oldest documents from the early Church, the so-called Didache (title in Greek is Didache kyriou dia ton dodeka apostolon ethesin) which is the teaching of the Lord to the twelve Apostles, mentioned by Bishop Eusebius, the father of Church history, in Ecclesiastical History, his history of early Christianity. The Didache was divided into three parts, first the "Two Ways" (the Way of Life and Death); second, the rituals dealing with Baptism, Communion and fasting; third, a concluding chapter dealing with Ministry. Doctrinal teaching is presupposed in this document which was used to train new converts to the faith. To see the whole document, Click Here.
"Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure" (Didache 4:14, 14:1 [A.D. 70-90]). Protestant scholar J. B. Lightfoot translates it similarly (click here)
You shall confess your sins. You shall not go to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of light" (Letter of Barnabas 19 [A.D. 74]).
"For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ" (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Philadelphians 3 [A.D. 110]). Ignatius was a bishop who was martyred by the Romans about 107 A.D.
"[Regarding confession, some] flee from this work as being an exposure of themselves, or they put it off from day to day. I presume they are more mindful of modesty than of salvation, like those who contract a disease in the more shameful parts of the body and shun making themselves known to the physicians; and thus they perish along with their own bashfulness" (Tertullian, Repentance 10:1 [A.D. 203]).
"[The bishop conducting the ordination of the new bishop shall pray:] God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Pour forth now that power which comes from you, from your royal Spirit, which you gave to your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and which he bestowed upon his holy apostles . . . and grant this your servant, whom you have chosen for the episcopate, [the power] to feed your holy flock and to serve without blame as your high priest, ministering night and day to propitiate unceasingly before your face and to offer to you the gifts of your holy Church, and by the Spirit of the high priesthood to have the authority to forgive sins, in accord with your command" (Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition 3 [A.D. 215]). Click on the underlined text to read about the life and work of Hippolytus of Rome (170-236 A.D.)
"[A final method of forgiveness], albeit hard and laborious [is] the remission of sins through penance, when the sinner . . . does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord and from seeking medicine, after the manner of him who say, ‘I said, "To the Lord I will accuse myself of my iniquity"’" (Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 2:4 [A.D. 248]).
Holy Scripture contains instances when sins are not forgiven. For example, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this world nor the next (Matthew 12: 31-32). It also distinguishes what is calls "mortal sins." The Evangelist and Apostle John writes, "All wrongdoing is sin, but there is a sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that" (1 John 5:16). St. Paul notes in his epistle to the Hebrews that "it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again through repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame" (Hebrews 6:4-6). These examples describe those with a sinful heart who are cynical or do not sincerely want to repent and change their lives, giving up great sins.
Thus, confession of sins is a ministry of reconciliation given by Jesus to his disciples for all time. We can and should confess sins directly to Jesus, but we must confess serious or mortal sin to a priest in the sacrament of Confession. This forces us to train our conscience to recognize these sins. To examine our conscience is necessary if we are to advance in holiness and become more faithful to Christ. Scripture calls us to holiness. St. Peter puts it this way, "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'" As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:
The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, who forgave the sins of the paralytic and restored him to bodily health, has willed that his Church continue, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation, even among her own members. This is the purpose of the two sacraments of healing: the sacrament of Penance and the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. (para. 1421) It is called the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus' call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father from whom one has strayed by sin.
It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner's personal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction. (CCC 1423)
It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a "confession"—acknowledgment and praise—of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man.
It is called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution God grants the penitent "pardon and peace."
It is called the sacrament of Reconciliation, because it imparts to the sinner the love of God who reconciles: "Be reconciled to God." He who lives by God's merciful love is ready to respond to the Lord's call: "Go; first be reconciled to your brother." (CCC 1424)
To read more about the sacrament of Confession, explore the web sites listed below:
www.newadvent.org/cathen/11618c.htm
http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt2.shtml
