Let’s jump right into the final parts of the formal structure of the Sacrament taken from The Rites, Vol. 1.
1. Prayer of the Penitent and Absolution
a. Penitent prays some form of contrition and asks for God’s aid in refraining from future sin.
b. Priest extends hand over penitent and says, “God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give 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,” to which the penitent answers, “Amen.”
2. Proclamation of Praise of God and Dismissal
a. Following absolution, Priest gives praise to God, prays for God’s aid to penitent in his future endeavors to be free from sin, and invites penitent to go forth in peace.
Praying some form of contrition usually means saying the “Act of Contrition.” The version I grew up saying goes like this:
O my God, I am heartly sorry for having offended thee, and I detest of all my sins because of thy just punishment, but most of all because they have offended thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.
More recently, to get away from the thees, thous, and thys, and of course, that super-confusing art, a more recent formal version goes like this:
My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. In His Name, my God, have mercy. Amen.
Now, it’s vitally important to learn at least ONE of these prayers, because unless you use one of these forms of the Act of Contrition, your sins will NEVER be forgiven, and you’ll be doomed to live eternity burning in the miserable fires of blackest hell, right? Well, no…just in case you couldn’t tell by the incredibly sarcastic “right?” I threw in at the end, there. These prayers were written not in a “you must say these prayers or be doomed” sort of way, but in an “in case you are at a loss for words, here is an example of how your Act of Contrition should go” sort of way. As long as you prayerfully express your sorrow for what you’ve done wrong, recognize WHY what you did was wrong, and make a promise between you and God that, you’ll try your absolute hardest to do better in the future…with his help, of course.
Then comes the awesome part…actually being forgiven. Again, you can re-read the last few posts to see where in the Bible Jesus actually gave the power to forgive sins to his apostles, who then ordained successors to carry that ministry on. Think about it: would Jesus have started this Gospel message only to have it die off with that generation? Absolutely not! Although Jesus doesn’t specifically tell the apostles to, they had enough common sense to realize that Christianity needed to continue until Jesus came back. Since he hadn’t by the time they started expanding the Church and dying off, themselves, they realized some select people would need to take over to keep the Church going. That’s why we have priests today. That’s why priests can forgive sins in the name of Jesus, because Jesus told the apostles: “And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven and whose sins you retain are retained.’” (John 20:22-23)
So the priest extends his hands and says one of the coolest prayers a priest gets to say. Because I’m just crazy like that, let’s take it concept-by-concept:
God, the Father of mercies
--Starting off the prayer by calling on the power of God. “The Father of Mercies” is just a reference to the awesome forgiveness of God.
through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself
--Go re-read It’s a Nice Day for a White Wedding for a thorough explanation of this, but this part mentions how God made the forgiveness of our sins possible.
and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins
--This part references that line from John 20:22-23 I mentioned above.
through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace,
--Let’s not forget that we’re all in this together. The Church prays for its members so that we can all realize we are forgiven and fully accept that forgiveness.
and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit
--Finally, this is where the priest exercises that gift that Jesus bestowed on the priestly ministry in John 20: 22-23
In true Catholic fashion, we respond Amen after this. Then the priest encourages us to go in peace and look to God for guidance in turning away from sin so that we can keep our relationship with him as solid as possible.
Next post we’ll wrap up the Sacrament of Reconciliation by talking about the poor excuses we give for not receiving it, and why they’re just that—excuses.
“With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.”
--Psalm 130:7bc
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