The Sacrament of Penance

The word ‘penance’ comes from ‘repentance’ which means ‘to turn back’.  Jesus’ first words in the Gospel of Mark are: Repent and believe the Gospel (Mk 1:15).  We hear Jesus’ call to conversion of heart and we repent.  This leads us to contrition or sorrow for our wrong-doing and consequently to acknowledge it or confess it before God.  Christ in his infinite mercy forgives our sin and draws us into reconciliation with God.  All this is joyously celebrated by the Church in the liturgy of the sacrament of penance. 

The sacrament is sometimes called ‘confession’ if we focus on what the sinful person is doing.  It is called ‘reconciliation’ when we focus on what Christ is doing and on the result of the celebration.  The first sacrament of conversion to Christ is baptism; when we fall away from the grace of our baptismal union with Christ, the sacrament of penance restores us.

In this sacrament, the Church continues the healing ministry of Christ.  Much of Jesus’ ministry is about restoring people in their relationships and well-being.  The Church’s sacrament is addressed to those in a situation of rupture – rupture with others (either with individuals or with communities), rupture with our best selves, or rupture with God and God’s kingdom.  Such a situation of rupture makes it dishonest to celebrate Eucharist because Eucharist demands that we be in harmony and peace, respect and love with one another – it is the ultimate expression of our oneness with others and with God.

Do I need to go to confession before I go to communion?

If you are in a situation of rupture, yes, you do.  Now, of course, no one is perfect.  All human beings suffer day to day failings – the unkind word or rash judgment, being self-centred or skipping our responsibilities.  The sacrament of penance is not primarily for these.  There are many other ways to overcome these failings and to grow in holiness.

The people of God accomplishes and perfects this continual repentance in many different ways.  It shares in the sufferings of Christ by enduring its own difficulties, carries out works of mercy and charity, and adopts ever more fully the outlook of the gospel message.  Thus, the people of God becomes in the world a sign of conversion to God.  All this the Church expresses in its life and celebrates in the liturgy when the faithful confess that they are sinners and ask pardon of God and of their brothers and sisters.  This happens in penitential services, in the proclamation of the word of God, in prayer, and in the penitential aspects of the eucharistic celebration (Rite of Penance, 4).

It may not do any harm to use the sacrament to confess these venial matters (so long as it does not make the sacrament trivial or routine); but we do not begin our understanding of the sacrament by focussing on ‘confessions of devotion’ as a way of dealing with daily imperfections and promoting our progress in holiness.  Rather it starts with our need, on occasion, to turn back, to set a new direction, and to be reconciled.  It may be appropriate, for example, as the culmination of our Lenten repentance.  This is why the Church has established the ‘Easter Duty’ which requires annual communion at Eastertime and, if one is conscious of grave sin, also the annual celebration of the sacrament of penance (Code of Canon Law, 920, 989).

The availability of this sacrament of the Church expresses God’s infinite patience with human weakness and God’s endless mercy and forgiveness.

Why confess my sins to a priest?

God is always ready to forgive.  We have seen that there are many ways to accept this forgiveness from God: works of mercy and charity, prayers for pardon (such as the Lord’s Prayer), hearing the Scriptures.  Above all, receiving holy communion is itself a sacrament of reconciliation which affirms our oneness with God and the Church. 

In our ordinary relationships, when things go wrong, often enough a quick ‘sorry’ or an act of kindness is enough to resume our harmonious life together.  But when there has been a serious breakdown, a more formal reconciliation process will be required.

So too, when there is a breakdown in our relationship with God and therefore a rupture in our belonging to God’s family (the Church), it is necessary that there be an ecclesial act, an act of Christ himself, that brings us back. The priest speaks Christ’s words as a minister of the Church and the sinner is led back to the fellowship of the Eucharist.  The break is mended.

In the early Church, public sinners sat at the door of the church in sackcloth and ashes, pleading for the prayers of people as they went into the Eucharist.  After a period of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, before Easter, the sinner was reconciled.  The bishop went to the door, took them by the hand, led them into the midst of the assembly, laid hands on them for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and admitted them back to the table of the Eucharist.  This gives us a vivid image of what happens when we celebrate the sacrament of penance.