Confession
Q:
Why do
Catholics go to confession? It's not Biblical and is something the
church made up centuries ago to keep people in line. I confess my sins
to God, not a man who's a sinner like me.
-M.W.
A:
I've gotta confess, I love this
topic. Get it, confess? Gee, that’s witty. If lousy jokes were a sin
I’d just have to set up shop in one of those confessionals…
Most common question: Why do you confess your sins to a priest instead
of confessing your sins to God?
Most common answer: Because.
That’s the beauty of Catholics. Lots of times we’re really not in the
mood to answer the question...but let's try anyway.
Let’s start with Scripture first:
Jesus after His Resurrection said it most clearly like this: “Whose
sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are
retained.” (John 20:23, cross reference: Mat 16, 19 and 18, 18). This
isn't the only place, but I'm not exactly a Biblical scholar...it
should suffice.
So Jesus definitely did not describe the process we use to go to
confession nowadays. Gotta admit that. But at the same time, why give
these guys power to forgive sin? Or power to retain sins? It’s easier
for Him to say, “Listen, if anyone’s got sins...don’t forgive them –
only God can do that. Just have ‘em come to me.”
So the practice of how we go to confession is “made up” by Catholics –
in the sense that we put structure to this forgiveness of sins bit.
Now don’t forget: God’s the one who does the forgiving. God forgives us
through the priest – but not because the priest is necessarily a good
person…the priest might have more sins than we do! Nonetheless, God
does lots of things through His ministers – we don’t go to God by
ourselves for baptism and say, “Hey, this is between you and me. I’m
pouring water on myself here.” Same with confession. God works through
His people.
When we sin we harm our relationship with God and our relationship with
others. Most sins aren’t done in a vacuum…they hurt others. So the
priest also represents “the Church” – the people we’ve offended. And
some of us, when we sin against large groups of people, aren’t able to
go back to everyone and apologize. If I had to apologize to everyone
who’s suffered through my tv and radio work…I’d just be apologizing all
day long.
And the truth is, there’s a psychological aspect to confession. It’s
nice to have a certain structure in things. I can get on my knees and
ask for God’s forgiveness – God knows my heart. But the problem is, I
usually can’t hear God tell me “Your sins are forgiven.”
So the other beauty of going to confession is you hear someone speaking
God’s words of forgiveness to you.
Plus, let’s be honest…it’s much easier to sin today, ask God for
forgiveness at night, and be done with it. If I’ve gotta go back to
this same priest day after day and ask for forgiveness – I start to
realize what an embarrassment and mess this sin is becoming in my life.
I’ve gotta take responsibility then. Sometimes God’s too easy on us! We
need another human being saying “Hey, God will forgive you…are you
really sorry, though? You don’t seem to be making much of an effort,
you know…”
By this point, you’re probably just chomping at the bit and wanting to
get into that dark, hot confessional. Or maybe not.
So here are a few more things to remember:
The priest is sworn to secrecy. What is said in that confessional will
stay there.
Most of my priest friends say they honestly forget what’s been told to
them in there. Plus, what kind of sicko would want to walk around
remembering everyone else’s sins all day?
So Jesus gave his apostles the ability to forgive sins in His
name...the apostles have handed down the tradition to us...we, as
Catholics, have put form and structure to it in the form of the
Sacrament of Reconiliation. But it's God forgiving us our sins through
His ministers
