Eat This Bread, Think of it as Me

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

--John 6:35

We’ve already covered two of the seven Sacraments of the Church in the typical order a person would receive them: Baptism, then Reconciliation.  In this post we’ll look at the next Sacrament a Catholic would typically receive:  The Eucharist.  Since we’ve spent a vast majority of this entire blog so far talking about the Mass, which is the prayerful service that continues to bring the Eucharist into being in the world, this won’t be an incredibly long series.  Hopefully you’ve read the series on the Mass, and if not, now might be a good time to go back to the beginning and start reading those.  For the rest of us, though, we’ll continue…

At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood.  He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his “bride,” the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet “in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.” (CCC 1322)

The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life.  The other sacraments, and indeed all Church ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it.  For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.  Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking. (CCC 1324, 1327)

Again, since we’ve devoted most of this blog, already, to the Mass, we’ll be more general in our discussion of the Eucharist, here.  The Greek word eucharistein means “to give thanks.”  It finds its roots in the Jewish Festival of Booths (Sukkot) celebrated four days after Yom Kippur.  To celebrate their hard work, the farmers and their families would go to the temple in Jerusalem to offer thanks (eucharistein).  The Greek word eulogein (Barrakah in Hebrew) means “to bless.” It finds its roots in the Jewish Festival of Wheat during which the Hebrews asked El (God) to bless their harvest.  By the time of Jesus, these two festivals had become intertwined, and in a single festival, God was given thanks and asked to bless the harvest/new wheat. 

The Jews also made sure to get rid of all wheat in the house before the feast of Passover (according to custom) as a sign of emptying themselves.  In the same way today, we empty ourselves prior to receiving the Eucharist through the sacrament of Reconciliation and through a fast of one hour prior to receiving the Eucharist.

The primitive Christian Eucharistic celebration consisted of a meal in common.  But already in the Jewish tradition this never lacked a religious dimension, which expressed itself especially in the Kiddush (the solemn prayer of thanksgiving completed with a glass of wine and in the breaking of bread by the father of the house).  The breaking of the bread began the meal, and a solemn prayer of thanksgiving formed the conclusion in which the father of the house spoke three prayers of blessing over a silver blessing cup:  1. thanksgiving for the shared meal, 2. praise for the Promised Land, and 3. a petition for Jerusalem. 

Whether Jesus’ Last Supper was a Passover meal or not is hard to know for sure, due to some incongruencies of chronology in the gospels.  Either way, it’s pretty much a definite that it stood in the tradition of the Jewish festive meals, which were dedicated to the covenant between the Jews and the God of Israel.  With the Last Supper, the new covenant is established in the Sacrificed Body and Blood of Christ.

As we’ve seen already, as early as the second century we have the witness of St. Justin Martyr for the basic lines of the order of the Eucharistic celebration.  They have stayed the same until our own day for all the great liturgical families.  The liturgy of the Eucharist unfolds according to a fundamental structure which has been preserved throughout the centuries down to our own day.  It displays two great parts that form a fundamental unity: 1. the gathering, the liturgy of the Word, with readings, homily, and general intercessions; 2. the liturgy of the Eucharist, with the presentation of the bread and wine, the consecratory thanksgiving, and communion.

If from the beginning Christians have celebrated the Eucharist and in a form whose substance has not changed despite the great diversity of times and liturgies, it is because we know ourselves to be bound by the command the Lord gave on the eve of his Passion:  “Do this in remembrance of me.”  Over time the individual actions of the celebration of the Liturgy of the Eucharist have been adapted to fit the times, but the basic theological foundations have (for the most part) remained in tact.

Again, this isn’t as in-depth of a review of the Sacrament of the Eucharist as we saw of Baptism and Reconciliation, but if you want more information on the Eucharist, go back and re-read (or just “read”) my posts on the Mass for the whole story.  Next post we’ll talk about Eucharistic Adoration and briefly touch on the ministry of bringing communion to the sick.

“This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.”

--Luke 22:19

But I Think It's About Forgiveness - Part V

Most protestant faiths do not believe in the concept of confessing sins to another person to receive forgiveness like we do in the Sacrament of Reconciliation as Catholics.  They completely ignore John 20:22-23 and confess their sins directly to God.  This might be fine in the eyes of God, but there’s a definite benefit that they miss out on of having that person-to-person interaction and having someone challenge you and hold you accountable in your life like the priest does in confession.  James 5:16 says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.  The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.”  Why ignore that??

There’s also the fact that Jesus probably wouldn’t have bestowed the power of forgiveness of sins on his apostles if he didn’t want them to actually forgive sins.  By not taking advantage of that ministry that Jesus, himself, instituted, you’re missing out on a gift from God.  Like St. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:18, “And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation.”    Why would anyone CHOOSE to ignore a free gift from God?  Don’t know…but that’s one reason I’m a Catholic.

Protestants have any number of reasons (a.k.a. “excuses”) for not receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Catholics, on the other hand, have hundreds of excuses for not receiving the sacrament.  Here are my top 3:

1.      I don’t think what I did was that bad.

Deciding whether a sin you committed is a mortal sin or a venial sin is sometimes really difficult to decide.  Please Forgive Me, If I Can’t Stop Lovin’ You can give you an overview of the two types of sin if you’re fuzzy on them.  Instead of making excuses and justifications, just go.  It’s better to confess them all than purposefully leave something out.

2.      I think what I did was too bad to be forgiven.

In Matthew 12:31-32, Jesus tells us that every sin will be forgiven except “blasphemy against the holy Spirit.”  The obvious question is, “What is blasphemy against the holy Spirit?”  The Catholic Encyclopedia references St. Augustine who explained (and I’m paraphrasing here) that blasphemy against the holy Spirit is refusing to accept God’s forgiveness for sins we’ve committed, essentially refusing to believe that God can forgive us.  God’s perfect and all-powerful.  God could even have forgiven Hitler, had he asked for that forgiveness and been willing to accept it.  Nothing we do is beyond the forgiveness of God, other than refusing to accept that forgiveness, but even then, it’s not God’s fault—it’s ours.

3.       I’m embarrassed that the priest will tell someone or treat me differently.

Three words: Seal. Of. Confession.  Canon 21 of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 says very bluntly:

“Let the priest absolutely beware that he does not by word or sign or by any manner whatever in any way betray the sinner: but if he should happen to need wiser counsel let him cautiously seek the same without any mention of person. For whoever shall dare to reveal a sin disclosed to him in the tribunal of penance we decree that he shall be not only deposed from the priestly office but that he shall also be sent into the confinement of a monastery to do perpetual penance.”

The priest won’t say anything.  If he does, he essentially won’t be a priest anymore.  Even if you’ve committed a crime, he can’t tell the police.  He’ll probably try to convince you to turn yourself in so that you can “do your time” and be “forgiven” by the general public in addition to your forgiveness from God, but he can’t rat you out.  What’s even better is that most priests will tell you that by the grace of God, they generally forget everything you told them by the time the next person comes in for confession.  They won’t judge you, they won’t criticize you, they won’t treat you differently.  Nothing you say can shock them…they’ve most likely heard MUCH worse.

Then of course, there’s the excuse of people who say that they don’t go to Confession because they don’t know how.  Well, luckily for you, these past few posts have totally gotten rid of THAT excuse!

Finally, I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t point out and answer one of the questions I get asked most often about the Sacrament of Reconciliation: What if I forget to confess something?  St. Thomas Aquinas tackles this question in the Summa Theologica.  I wish you the best of luck trying to read it, because this guy was so brilliant, he didn’t even realize that he was writing in a way that you need a PhD. and a PRAYER to understand.  Essentially, though it comes down to the fact that God recognizes our contrition—our apology for what we’ve done wrong and our sorrow for realizing the damage we’ve caused—and we accept his forgiveness because of the sincerity of our hearts…not because of the fact that we didn’t leave out a single thing that we did wrong.  This only applies, though, for sins that we TRUTHFULLY “forget” to confess.  If we consciously think of something that we did wrong, and purposefully leave it out of our confession, that sin is NOT forgiven.  You can’t be forgiven for something you purposefully don’t ask for forgiveness from.  God wants us to “own up” to what we’ve done.  Remember, God knows what we’ve done, and the priest doesn’t care what we’ve done.  Saying it in the sacrament is not going to surprise God, and not going to shock the priest.  They’re both there to make sure that we know we’re forgiven and ready to start over on our journey.

Next post we’ll quickly touch on the Eucharist.  We’ve spent a majority of this blog talking about the Eucharist, in the context of the Mass, that is, so we’ll also hit on concepts like Eucharistic Adoration and the really cool ministry that involves bringing the Eucharist to the sick who can’t attend Mass. 

But I Think It's About Forgiveness - Part IV

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

But I Think It's About Forgiveness - Part III

Let’s be honest.  If we took a poll of all the Catholics in the world and asked each person what their least favorite part of the Catholic Faith is, “going to confession” would probably be somewhere near, if not in, the top spot.  Very few people like going to confession.  Why?  Most people’s quick answer would be that they’re embarrassed of what the priest might think about them.  Unfortunately, the truer (more true?) answer is this:  People don’t recognize the gift of forgiveness that comes from the sacrament. What they’re REALLY scared of is their belief that they’ve done things that are too horrible for God to forgive. There, I said it.  One thing about me is I’m never lacking in harsh realities. But in all seriousness, the reason people don’t go isn’t one of pride.  Sure, that might play a small part in their rationalization, but the reality is that if we fully understood and accepted the forgiveness of sins that comes along with the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we wouldn’t think twice about the embarrassment factor.  (Ok, maybe twice, but definitely not three times.)  To help us better understand how we receive that forgiveness, let’s finally dive into what actually makes up the formal structure of the sacrament.

First of all, the question arises of who actually can/should receive the sacrament.  Simply/broadly put, any baptized Catholic with right heart and mind may receive the sacrament of his own will at any time, although it should not be abused/taken advantage of.  We shouldn’t just do whatever we feel like doing in our lives with full knowledge that what we’re doing is wrong while in the back of our minds saying, “Oh, it’s ok…I’ll just go to confession for what I’m about to do.”  Although it unfortunately might happen from time to time (hey, it’s even happened to me more often that I’d like to admit), we should make sure that before we go to confession, we are TRULY sorry for what we’ve done.  Just like apologizing to a friend you’ve treated badly, an apology to God needs to be sincere for you to be truly forgiven—and to RECOGNIZE that forgiveness.

The Rites, Vol. 1 of the Catholic Church outlines the form of the sacrament.  It’s noted as the “Rite for Reconciliation of Individual Penitents.”  Here’s the format (with my frequent interjections and explanations):

1.      Reception of the Penitent

a.       Priest welcomes penitent warmly and greets him with kindness

b.      Penitent makes sign of the cross with or without the priest

c.       Priest invites the penitent to have trust in God prescribedly by saying “May God, who has enlightened every heart, help you to know your sins and trust in his mercy” to which the penitent answers “Amen.”  Similar words may be used by the priest in place of the prescribed prayer.

When you first enter the confessional, whether sitting in a chair facing the priest or sitting or kneeling behind a privacy screen (which I’m pretty much in high opposition to, but hey, to each his own, right?), the priest should make some acknowledgement of your presence.  Granted, this is much easier on the priest if you “man up” (or “woman up”) and opt for the face-to-face confession.  After all, the beauty of the Sacrament of Reconciliation being ministered by a priest is the fact that you have a real, tangible, visible person who you can talk to and interact with forgiving your sins (as he was ordained by God to do as an assistant to the direct successors of the apostles who were commissioned by Jesus to do so…re-read the last post if you’re still fuzzy on the Scripture references for that concept).  Anyway, once you’ve said your hellos, it’s time to get started.  You, as the person going to confession, make the Sign of the Cross (don’t forget to go back and read I Saw the Sign for a refresher on why this is a super-prayerful action).  Traditionally, a formula that’s given to help guide people along in the sacrament tells you to say, “Bless me, father, for I have sinned; it has been _________ since my last confession.”  If this helps you along in your preparation for the sacrament, feel free.  If not, just continue along.

2.      Reading of the Word of God (Optional)

a.       Priest may read or recite from memory Scripture passage which shows God’s mercy and calls man to conversion.

3.      Confession of Sins and Acceptance of Satisfaction

a.       As an option of general confession, the Confiteor may be recited by the penitent.

b.      Confession of sins occurs.  Priest may aid in recalling of sins, and may give counsel; urges penitent to be truly sorry for his faults to experience fullness of forgiveness.

c.       Priest assigns a penance (fitting to the sin) for the penitent to perform as a sign of personal atonement before God in thanksgiving for his forgiveness.

If you’ve called a priest and scheduled a particular time to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the priest might take a little extra time with you and offer that #2 option of a Scripture Reading.  However, if you wait until the typical “10 minutes before Mass starts,” simply because it’s convenient, well, beggars can’t be choosers, can they?  Especially since there are probably 5 other people hoping to squeeze in a quick confession before Mass, too.  Now The Rites, Vol. 1 talks about saying the Confiteor as an option of general confession.  The Confiteor is the prayer that we recite as part of the Penitential Rite at Mass that begins “I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers & sisters…”  Typically, though, confession involves ACTUAL confession, which brings us to the real “meat & potatoes” of the Sacrament here: Confession. 

Don’t be scared…start with the big ones.  They’re the reason you came in the first place, aren’t they?  Don’t be afraid to turn this part into a conversation with the priest, either.  Like the outline says above, the priest can help you in recalling sins, usually by urging you to consider different angles of certain situations, and—as usually happens in my case—poking holes in your horribly sad attempts to logically justify your sins.  Get over yourself…they’re sins, and no amount of justification just to make yourself feel better is going to change that.  If something’s legitimately not a sin, the priest will probably point that out.  Also, the priest is encouraged to give you counsel.  If you really open yourself up to this guy, you might be surprised at the different perspective he can put on how you might go about avoiding these sins in the future.  Just like a psychiatrist or a psychologist can help you fix your mind, the priest can help you fix your soul.  That’s ultimately his day job, anyway.  Let him do it.  Let him give you some challenging things to think about. 

After your confession, the priest may help you realize why what you did wasn’t great.  Remember, if we aren’t truly sorry, it’s hard to truly recognize the forgiveness we need.  Then the priest will give you a penance.  Here’s where it gets tricky.  This all depends on the priest.  Some priests go for the tried and true “3 Hail Mary’s,” while others get a little more creative.  One priest I went to confession with while I was in the Seminary once gave me the penance of waking up a little early to watch the sunrise and recognize the glory of God’s creation.  The penance should “technically” be some sort of sacrifice that makes you appreciate the whole circumstance of Jesus’ suffering on the cross in atonement for our sins, but ultimately it all comes down to accepting God’s love, so a little interpretation in this way by the priest seems like a pretty ok concept.  In the end, it’s all helping foster reconciliation with God, so it’s all means to the same end.

In the interest of time—and of decreasing lengths of attention spans of modern readers—we’ll hang it up there for today.  In the next post we’ll finish unpacking the formal order of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and wrap up with some FAQs about the sacrament.

But I Think It's About Forgiveness - Part II

Now that we have a good overview of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, here we’ll start to dive into the history of the sacrament a little more. 

The first thing we need to understand is what the earliest Christians would have thought about the sacrament.  Even today, if you believe that Jesus’ death and resurrection was in order that our sins would be forgiven, you have to wonder why we need to worry about our sins at all.  Well, it’s true—Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins and so that we could have a chance at eternal life with God in heaven.  But that’s only half of it.  Since the “original sin” of Adam, man’s possibility of living with God in heaven was taken away when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden/Paradise/Heaven.  With Jesus’ death, descent to “the dead” and his resurrection, he broke open the gates of the underworld in order to win for us the POSSIBILITY of living in Heaven.  The rest is up to us.  We have to ACCEPT God’s love and forgiveness so that we can have clean souls worthy of being united in a state of Heaven with God for all eternity.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation is our way on earth of accepting God’s love and forgiveness. 

So why do we go to a priest for the Sacrament of Reconciliation rather than just confess our sins to God?  Well I hate to repeat what I said last post, but it’s all pretty important:

Matthew 18:18—“Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

John 20:22-23—“And when he had said (‘Peace be with you’), 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.’”

James 5:16—“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.  The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.”

2 Corinthians 5:18—“And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation…”

Hard to argue with Scripture.  At least I think so.  Anyway, if we know that there are direct scripture verses that at least point to the overall concept of reconciliation…including one from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians that mentions reconciliation by name…it’s not hard to realize that this concept was developed incredibly early in the history of the Church.  The early Christians dove into their greater understanding of the sacrament and the overall idea of the forgiveness of sins because of something that Jesus said in three of the Gospels:

Matthew 12:31-32: Therefore, I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Mark 3:28-29: Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them.  But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”

Luke 12:10: “Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

The early Christians realized that the idea of “unforgivable sins” gave light to the possibility of forgiveness of sins (a.k.a. “absolution”) after baptism.  This set of verses is also where the Catholic Faith gets the concept of Purgatory from.  No, Jesus didn’t use the word Purgatory, itself, but that doesn’t make it any less real of a concept for us to deduce from the Scriptures.  When Jesus says, “Whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come,” we can use a little common sense to realize a fuller truth that Jesus was talking about:  some sins are able to be forgiven in the age to come.  Since God is perfect, and nothing imperfect can be in full union with him in a state of eternal peace that we refer to as “heaven,” we can put two and two together to understand that there is some state of being after death where we can be sorry for what we’ve done, ask for forgiveness, and have our soul cleansed of its imperfections.  Over time, we just gave this concept—a concept which Jesus, himself pointed to—the name Purgatory.  Anyway, back on topic…

By the end of the 3^rd century, the idea that all sinners without exception could be reconciled once in their lifetime by undergoing some sort of spiritual penance was generally accepted in the whole church.  The procedure began with a private confession to the bishop, reception into the status of “penitent,” laying down of form of penance, and excommunication from Eucharistic celebration, or in certain cases, only from Eucharist.  From this practice, there were different “degrees” of Penitents:

·         Weepers—obliged to stand at the narthex and beg those going in for their intercession

·         Listeners—allowed to stand at the church door, but had to leave with the catechumens before the celebration of the Eucharist.

·         Kneelers—had their place inside the church door, but likewise had to leave with the catechumens

·         Standers—allowed to assist at the whole celebration with the faithful, but without receiving communion

After going through all these stages, a person was considered back “in full communion” with the Church.

The High Middle Ages recognized public penance.  One form of this was pilgrimage undertaken as penance, and then private confession of sins.  Confession, itself, largely has roots in monastic life (life of monks living in communities) when it took place as part of spiritual direction (a sort of one-on-one spiritual counseling with a wiser person), and did not necessarily have to be with a priest; however, if actual forgiveness/absolution was desired, a priest was necessary.  The 9^th century Irish Celtic Churches presented idea of Confession with absolution given only after fitting penance was assigned and carried out.  Because of “inconveniences” (it was time-constraining to give someone a penance, have them leave and actually DO the penance, then return for the rest of the sacrament), a penance was assigned, and absolution was given with the understood promise that the person going to confession would actually carry out the penance later. This became universal norm at end of millennium.  The 4^th Lateran Council (1215) decided that every believer must go to confession once a year.  Reconciliation was declared an official sacrament at the Council of Trent and took form as it exists today on December 2, 1973.

Sorry for putting on my mental tweed coat with leather elbow patches for this post, but with a Church that’s nearly 2,000 years old, history is bound to play a vital role from time to time.  Tomorrow we’ll dive into who can receive the sacrament and what the “formula” of the sacrament looks like today, and more importantly why you shouldn’t worry about following that formula “to the letter.”

But I Think It's About Forgiveness

In the last few posts we talked about the Sacrament of Baptism.  While original sin and its effects are washed away in baptism, most of us are able to realize that we are human and we all fall short of the glory of God—meaning, nobody’s perfect.  Because of this, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  When?  Did Jesus ever say, “I now institute the Sacrament of Reconciliation!”?  In short, no.  The labels of the sacraments are something we came up with a good time after Jesus’ death and resurrection to help us define and more easily discuss and experience concepts that Jesus spoke about during his life.  It was a very short time after his resurrection, though, when he commissioned his apostles to go out and forgive sins—as I pointed out in the quotation above from John’s Gospel.  So just because Jesus never used the term Sacrament of Reconciliation, doesn’t mean that he didn’t institute it.  We just gave it a label.  Just like the concept of Purgatory.  Jesus never said the word Purgatory, but he sure talked about it.  (See ‘Cause I Gotta Have Faith – Part XIII for more info on Purgatory.)

Want some specific Bible quotes that point to the Sacrament of Reconciliation?  Here you go:

Matthew 18:18—“Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 9:6—“’But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he then said to the paralytic, ‘Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.’”

John 20:22-23—“And when he had said (‘Peace be with you’), 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.’”

2 Corinthians 2:10—“Whomever you forgive anything, so do I.  For indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for you in the presence of Christ…”

2 Corinthians 5:18—“And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation…”

James 5:16—“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.  The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.”

The Sacrament of Reconciliation might be called different things by different people, like conversion, confession, and penance, but in the end, these are all different names for the same sacrament.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation reflects for us Jesus’ call to conversion, which is the first step in returning to the Father after we’ve strayed from Him by sinning.  Think of it as sort of a reflection of the parable of the Prodigal Son if that helps (Luke 15:11-32).  The sacrament is called the Sacrament of Confession, since the confession of sins to a priest is a very important element of receiving all the graces of the sacrament.  The other meaning of the word “confession” also pops up here: acknowledgement and praise of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man. It’s called the sacrament of forgiveness, because by the priest granting absolution of the sins of the person receiving the sacrament, God grants that person pardon and peace.  It’s called the sacrament of Reconciliation, because it gives the person the love of God who reconciles: “Be reconciled to God.” 

Remember back when we were talking about the Penitential Rite in the Mass, we talked about the two types of sin—mortal & venial—and the differences between them and what they each do to our relationship with God?  Let’s have a little refresher:

When things are going well, God loves us fully and we love him back (as best we can), and our relationship with God looks something like this:

Then sometimes we might sin in a way that involves a “grave” (serious) matter, and we have full knowledge that what we are about to do is wrong, and we commit the sin anyway, completely under our own free choice.  This is called Mortal Sin.  When we commit a mortal sin, our relationship with God changes to look something like this:

Take a good look at how the relationship changes with mortal sin: we sever our love of God by deeply offending Him.  BUT, notice that God doesn’t stop loving us.  In fact, he doesn’t love us ANY less when we sin.  God loves us the same no matter what we do.  So if we completely sever that relationship, it would take something substantial on our part to get things back on track.  This is where the Sacrament of Reconciliation comes in, and it brings our relationship with God back to looking like this:

Now, sometimes we commit sins that are less serious sins, or more serious sins that are committed either without fully thinking about their consequences, or done by force of habit.  For instance, if we gossip about someone and completely destroy their reputation after we thought about it, knew it would destroy their reputation, and did it anyway, that would be a mortal sin.  But we can take that same sin of gossip in a less serious way (say, if we whispered to our friend that the person sitting across the restaurant from you was wearing the most hideous shirt you’ve ever seen), and since it was a less serious matter, and you probably didn’t think about how you’d hurt this person’s reputation before you said it (especially if you’re in the habit of doing this kind of gossiping all the time), and you’ve just committed what’s called a Venial Sin.  When we commit a venial sin, our relationship with God is not broken, but strained, and it ends up looking something like this:

Again, notice that although our side of the relationship has changed, God loves us just the same: perfectly.  Now, we CAN confess our venial sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but we also have a way of reconciling ourselves to God after venial sin built right into the Mass!  By fully participating in the Penitential Rite and receiving the Eucharist, our relationship with God is restored back to:

So that’s the purpose of the Sacrament of Reconciliation—to fully restore our relationship with God after us doing something that really showed God that we stopped loving him…at least for a while.  When that relationship with God is restored through Reconciliation, we’re back on track and ready to receive him in the Eucharist.

In the next few posts, we’ll talk a little more about the Sacrament of Reconciliation and what to do when you actually go to confession.  We’ll also touch on a few big points like why we confess our sins to a priest, instead of going directly to God; and what happens if you either forget to mention something in confession, or if you purposefully leave out a sin or two during your confession.  ‘Til next time!

That's What the Water Gave Me - Part III

Ok, let’s try to wrap up this series on the Sacrament of Baptism.  We’ll continue where we left off with the Rite of Baptism, itself.

III. Celebration of the Sacrament:

1. Blessing and Invocation of God over Baptismal Water

·         This prayer is reminiscent of the scriptural signs of baptism and asks that the water be given the grace of Christ Jesus, so that in the sacrament of baptism all those whom God has created in His likeness may be cleansed from sin and rise to a new birth of innocence by water and the Holy Spirit.  The celebrant touches the water and asks God to send the Holy Spirit upon the waters of the font.  He asks for all who are buried with Christ in the death of baptism to rise also with Him to newness of life.

2. Renunciation of Sin and Profession of Faith

·         The celebrant questions the parents and godparents about their rejection of Satan, sin, and the glamour of evil.  Next he questions them about their faith in God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.  The celebrant offers an affirmation of the inquiry to which all respond: “Amen.”

3. Baptism

·         The celebrant invites the family to the font and asks if it is the will of the parents that their child be baptized.

·         He baptizes the child in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, immersing or pouring water upon the child after each person of the Trinity. 

·         The symbolism of water signifies the Holy Spirit’s action in Baptism, since after the invocation of the Holy Spirit it becomes the efficacious sacramental sign of new birth: just as the gestation of our first birth took place in water, so the water of Baptism truly signifies that our birth into the divine life is given to us in the Holy Spirit.  As “by one Spirit we were all baptized,” so we are also “made to drink of one Spirit.”  Thus the Spirit is also personally the living water welling up from Christ crucified as its source and welling up in us to eternal life. (CCC 694)

IV. Explanatory Rites:

1. Anointing after Baptism

·         The celebrant proclaims that God has freed the newly baptized from sin and brought him to new life through water and the Holy Spirit.  He then anoints the crown of the child’s head symbolic of Christ as Priest, Prophet, and King (positions which are installed through ceremonial anointing)

2. Clothing with White Garment

·         The celebrant explains that the newly baptized has become a new creation and has clothed himself in Christ.  The white garment is placed on the child as an outward sign of his Christian dignity.

3. Lighted Candle

·         A member of the family of the newly baptized lights the child’s candle from the Easter candle and is told by the celebrant to “Receive the light of Christ.”

·         The celebrant then instructs the parents and godparents to keep the light burning brightly that the child may keep the flame of faith alive in his heart.

4. Ephphetha (Prayer over Ears and Mouth)—OPTIONAL

·         Ephphetha is a Greek word meaning “be opened.”

·         The celebrant touches the ears and mouth of the child with his thumb asking that God touch the ears of the child to receive His word, and the mouth of the child to proclaim His faith.

V.    Conclusion of the Rite:

1. Procession to the altar (unless baptism was performed in the sanctuary)
2. Lord’s Prayer

·         Celebrant stands in front of the altar and addresses the assembly saying that the newly baptized are now called children of God.  He also foretells that in Confirmation they will receive the fullness of God’s Spirit, and that in Holy Communion they will share the banquet of Christ’s Sacrifice.  The Lord’s Prayer follows this.

3. Blessing and Dismissal

·         Celebrant gives a final blessing to the assembly and invites them to go in peace to which they respond: “Thanks be to God.”

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

--Matthew 28:19-20