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Why
Confession?
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by Collen Mayer
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PART ONE: Why we confess our sins
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“Turn away from sin and be faithful to
the Gospel.”
During Ash Wednesday this was the call for
all Christians as ashes were distributed as
a sign of sorrow for our sins and our
sincere desire for repentance. During Lent
we are called to turn away from any sin that
plagues our lives and nail that sin to the
cross of Christ; only after doing this can
we rise up with Him as new creations, free
from our sin and able to live our lives for
Him with nothing holding us back.
Since this is our Lenten calling, it becomes
important that we gain a solid understanding
of the idea of sin in the Christian faith
and also learn the true meaning of
conversion and repentance. Through this
article we’ll look at the notions of sin and
repentance and answer some of the tough
questions that come along with these
issues.
I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me
and I in him will bear much fruit, because
without me you can do nothing. Anyone who
does not remain in me will be thrown out
like a branch and wither; people will gather
them and throw them into a fire and they
will be burned. If you remain in me and my
words remain in you, ask for whatever you
want and it will be done for you. By this is
my Father glorified, that you bear much
fruit and become my disciples. - John 15:
5-7
The first thing we need to realize as we
look at the notion of sin is that as
baptized members of the Christian faith we
are part of Christ’s body and Christ’s very
life flows through us – we call this
sanctifying grace. I like to use Jesus’
analogy of the vine and the branches to
explain this:
Christ calls himself a vine and all of the
members of his body branches. In order for
these branches to continue to live and grow
they have to be firmly attached to the vine
so the necessary water and nutrients can
flow through them. In the same way, as
Christians we have to stay firmly attached
to Christ to live and grow and one day
receive the eternal life that we are
promised. By staying committed to Him we
ensure that his grace can have real power in
our lives.
So how does sin fit into this?
When we choose to sin we literally attempt
to sever ourselves from the body of Christ –
it’s as if the branches are trying to break
free from the vine which gives them life.
Briefly we’ll look at two kinds of sin,
venial sin and mortal sin.
Venial sins are those little sins which
damage our relationship with God. Though a
single venial sin may not have a major
impact on our lives, as we continue to
commit these “little” sins, we are brought
farther and farther from God. Take for
instance someone who develops a serious
problem with telling lies. It may start
with a single white lie that seems harmless
enough, but as we probably know from our own
experience, that first “little” sin makes
the second one a lot easier. Eventually
after committing enough of these venial
sins, the person develops a habit of
lying where they soon don’t even notice they
are doing it. A single little lie has then
developed into a vicious habit of lying
which continually leads to more and more sin
and which ultimately leads to a complete
loss of honesty and integrity. The one
“harmless” sin has led to a destructive
pattern of sin from which it is very
difficult to break free.
Perhaps the most dangerous consequence of
venial sin is that it sometimes leads us to
commit a much more serious kind of sin
called mortal sin. For a precise definition
of mortal sin I would refer you to the
Catechism, but in general mortal sin is the
complete and total rejection of God. And I
don’t just mean an explicit rejection such
as refusing to be a Christian anymore;
mortal sin includes rejecting God through
our sinful actions as well. Committing a
mortal sin is telling God, either by our
words or by our actions, that we do not want
to be part of his family anymore – that we
want to live for ourselves and not for Him.
To continue with our vine/branches analogy,
venial sin is the branches slowly but surely
chipping away at the vine that gives them
life. Mortal sin is the branches attempting
to completely rip themselves free from the
vine; mortal sin is attempting to remove
ourselves from Christ, the One that gives us
life.
You’ll notice I say that mortal sin is
attempting to remove ourselves from the
body of Christ. You see, when we were
baptized our souls were stamped with an
indelible mark setting us apart as members
of the body of Christ; so no matter how hard
we try, we can never completely break free
from Christ. But when we commit mortal sin
our relationship with God is hurt so
severely that life no longer flows from the
vine to the branches – the sanctifying grace
by which we live no longer flows through our
souls and we are spiritually dead.
But luckily for us there is good news to all
of this. Though we often struggle with sin,
our God is merciful and loving, and He is
always waiting to take us back to Him, even
after we commit the most serious of sins.
Even when we are spiritually dead, God can
forgive us and bring us back to life so that
grace once again flows through our souls.
Such is our privilege as members of the body
of Christ! Throughout Scripture Jesus
constantly calls sinners to ask for
forgiveness and to changes their lives. He
never once turns away a heart that is
sorrowful and that longs for Him. And this
is the messages of Lent!
As we journey through Lent we are called to
turn from whatever sin is holding us back
from God and to once again give our lives
over to Him in total surrender. It doesn’t
matter what we’ve done, who we’ve hurt, or
how long we may have been turning our back
on our faith. Christ is standing with open
arms waiting to take us back.
And still there’s more good news. Christ
left us a special gift to help us turn from
our sin and turn our lives back to Him.
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with
you. As the Father has sent me, so I send
you." And when he had said this, he breathed
on them and said to them, "Receive the holy
Spirit. Whose sins you
forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins
you retain are retained." - John 20:21-23
We see in this Scripture passages that
Christ gives the authority to forgive sins
to Peter and the apostles, the leaders of
His Church. We as Catholics follow Christ’s
command by participating in the sacrament of
Confession where we go before a priest,
confess our sins, and ask God for
forgiveness.
Now most Christians would be okay with
everything I’ve said about sin, repentance,
and conversion so far, but as soon as I
mention having to confess one’s sins to
another person many non-Catholics, as well
as some Catholics, have a problem:
“Why should I have to go tell my sins to a
priest when I can go straight to God?”
This is an important question for Catholics
and all Christians to consider. Let’s take
a brief look at the sacrament of Confession
and see why it is important that we do go to
Confession and confess our sins, just as
Scripture commands us to do.
Accountability
First, by confessing our sins to another
person we have someone holding us
accountable for our actions. Think about
it: it’s a lot easier to get away with sin
when nobody is there to hold you responsible
for what you do. The sacrament of
Confession is the way that we as a Church
can hold each other accountable for our
sins. By regularly confessing our sins to
one another, we are forcing ourselves to
come to grips with our sins and admit that
we aren’t perfect and that we need God’s
help and the help of our brothers and
sisters in Christ to live the Christian
life. The reality is that temptation is
everywhere and only with the help of our
Church holding us accountable for our
actions are we going to be able to overcome
it.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another
and pray for one another, that you may be
healed. - James 5:16
Healing
Second, Confession is a sacrament of
healing. No matter how hard we try, we
simply cannot turn from sin on our own.
Only with an abundance of grace can we
break free from the clutches of sin and turn
our hearts and lives back to God.
The horrible thing about sin is that it
tears us down us spiritually. When we
indulge in a particular sin the first time
it becomes much easier to sin the second
time. After we commit this same sin over
and over again we eventually become so
broken down and so hurt that we simply
aren’t able to change on our own strength.
This is exactly why God left us the
sacrament of Reconciliation – not only does
the sacrament make us realize the pattern of
sin that has developed in our lives, but it
gives us the strength and grace to free
ourselves from this habit of sin.
To go back to our vine and branches analogy,
the sacrament of Confession heals the
branches and puts life back into them so
they once again receive their nourishment
from their vine. The sacrament restores us
to our rightful place in the body of Christ
and restores us to a state of grace where
Christ is once again able to live in us and
through us.
Not a private matter
Third, sin is not a private matter. I
explain it to my teens at youth group like
this: When we commit a sin we are not only
sinning against the person who we have hurt
by our sin, say whoever we stole from or
lied to. Sin does indeed hurt the person
whom the sin was committed against and
because of this we should ask for their
forgiveness. But there’s much more. Sin
also hurts ourselves. As we
mentioned above, sin tears us from Christ,
our very source of life. Each time we sin
our spiritual life suffers, and when we
commit serious sin our spiritual life
actually dies. No matter what satisfaction
seems to come from the sin we commit, in the
end the pain and hurt caused to ourselves as
a result of this sin far outweighs whatever
pleasure we may seem to gain from the sinful
action.
Sin of course is also an offense against
God. When we sin we are turning to God and
saying “I don’t want to live for you anymore
– I can live for myself.” It’s important to
grasp that sin is very personal. Think
about it; in Christianity we enter into a
relationship with Christ – a relationship
that is very personal just like our other
friendships. And just as we hurt our other
friends when we don’t treat them how they
deserve to be treated, so we hurt our
relationship with Christ when we don’t treat
Him how He deserves to be treated.
I once heard a priest explain it like this:
each time we cheat on a test, do impure
things with a girl/boy friend, or do
anything which we know is wrong but we
choose to do anyway, it’s as if we are
turning to Jesus hanging on the cross,
spitting in his face, and continuing on in
our selfish sin as he is hanging there
watching us and crying. Isn’t that a
horrible image that that priest gave? But
what he was getting at is that sin is a
personal offense committed directly against
Christ, our closest friend! Christ gave
everything he could, His very life, so we
could have eternal life, and when we sin we
repay Him by adding yet another nail to His
cross.
A family affair
But there is one more part to all of this:
our sin also affects the entire Christian
community. This is the part of sin that
many people often miss. You see, we are all
members of the body of Christ, and so when
we sin and turn away from God, the whole
community suffers. When I lie or steal, all
my brothers and sisters in Christ are hurt
by my actions. Sin is never committed in
isolation. So, though I may ask for
forgiveness from the person I sinned
against, though I may ask God directly for
forgiveness, and though I may forgive myself
for the sin I have committed, I still need
to receive forgiveness from the Christian
community, the Church, whom my sin has
negatively effected.
Many Christians miss this important part of
the forgiveness process. Think about it: if
I really sin against the entire body of
Christ each time I sin, then I need God’s
entire Church family to grant me
forgiveness. And this is exactly what
happens in Confession – the priest, speaking
on behalf of the entire Christian community,
offers forgiveness from the Church.
PART TWO: Practical Ways to Make a Good
Confession
Finally let’s look at how we can use the
gift of Confession to become better
Christians and to grow stronger in our
relationship with God. I will offer a few
brief suggestions to making the sacrament of
Reconciliation an important part of our
lives as Catholics.
Make Confession a regular practice
First, try to make receiving the sacrament a
regular part of your life. I know many
people reading this have likely not been to
Confession in many years; I would suggest
you begin by making a commitment to go to
the sacrament sometime this Lent. Don’t
worry about that fact that you haven’t been
in a while. Tell the priest upfront how
long it has been since your last Confession,
and he will help you make a good
Confession. If you already go to Confession
a couple of times a year during Lent and
Advent, consider increasing this to once
every couple of months. The Christian
journey is one of continual conversion and
repentance, and it is important for us as
Catholics that the Sacrament of
Reconciliation is a part of this continual
conversion process.
Come with an honest heart
Second, don’t feel like you have to list
every sin you’ve ever committed when you are
talking to the priest. The important thing
is that you mention any serious sins which
you are aware of that you have committed and
those sins with which you are struggling the
most. This not only forces you to come to
grips with your hardest struggles, but it
also gives the priest the opportunity to
give you advice and guidance on how to
overcome your struggle with sin. The Church
teaches us that all our sins are forgiven at
Confession whether they are explicitly
stated or not, as long as we are not
intentionally holding back any serious,
“mortal” sins, which must always be
explicitly confessed.
It’s a gift, not a burden
Third, don’t look at Confession as an
obligation or a burden. God did not give us
the gift of Confession so we would have to
dread telling our sins to someone else or so
we would have to spend our Saturday
afternoon feeling guilty about our sins as
we go to confess them. No, God gave us
Confession as a very special gift to help us
overcome our sin and to give us the strength
to be the disciples that we all want to be.
Give it your best effort
Fourth, let Confession be a time when you
make an honest and sincere attempt to turn
from the sin that is holding you back from
God. It does little good to go to
Confession and confess something that you
have no intention of trying to quit. When
you make an act of contrition you are making
a sincere promise to God that you are going
to try your best to not commit the sins that
you confessed. BUT at the same time do not
refrain from Confession just because you
know you are likely going to commit the same
sin again.
All God asks is that you try. It’s okay if
you slip up over and over again as long as
you continually seek God’s help in trying to
free yourself from sin. If you confess a
particular sin and then find yourself doing
it a day later, don’t worry! If you make a
sincere effort and hand that sin over to God
in Confession, He will, over time, give you
the strength you need to conquer that sin.
But He will never be able to help you until
you give it all over to Him and ask for His
mercy and grace.
A time for conversion and penance
So what should you take away from reading
this article? Well, the message of this
article is the message of Lent. Lent is a
time for conversion and for repentance. Let
Lent be a time when you strengthen your
relationship with Christ, not damage it by
continued sin.
Change and conversion can be a painful
process. Whether it’s getting out of a bad
relationship, giving up a harmful habit, or
any of the many other things that young
people struggle with in today’s world, be
assured that God knows how hard it can be to
change. The good news is that God gives us
all the strength we need to turn from our
sin and come back to Him. And he has left
us the wonderful gift of Confession where we
can receive the very grace we need to change
our lives and restore our relationship with
Him back to where it needs to be.
During Lent let’s all take a hard look at
our lives and destroy whatever may be
holding us back from God; then as Easter
approaches we will truly be able to rejoice
at Christ’s victory over death and also
rejoice at our own victory over sin that is
made possible through the power of Christ’s
cross.
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