I Confess, I Cheated

My husband told me I had to confess this to you, so I will.  I lied.  I cheated.  I laughed about it shamelessly.

You see, rea is not a sewing term.  It is just a three letter word I completely made up so that in our scrabble game I could set myself up to use my letter “Q” for aqua.

My husband didn’t really think it was a word, but he let me use it anyway, because he didn’t want to lose his turn over such a small number.  (If you don’t know Scrabble, every tile/letter has points on it.)

He also pointed out to me that my dishonesty is probably why I lost by so much.  This is actually a charitable statement, because my loss has nothing to do with my dishonesty, but probably more, ahem, due to my limited vocabulary and the luck of the draw.

Regardless, there, I’ve confessed it, so let’s move on, if you don’t mind.

They say confession is good for the soul, and I do feel so much better.

But the truth is, confession isn’t simply about feeling better.  Like I always say about the sacrament of Baptism, something actually happens.

It’s that way with confession, which we call the sacrament of reconciliation, or the sacrament of penance.  We are actually, truly, totally forgiven for our sins.

It is not the priest doing the forgiving, but God himself.  In every sacrament, Jesus is present.  The priest, as in the sacrament of reconciliation, is in what we call persona Christi, meaning, when administering a sacrament, he is in the person of Christ.

He is the instrument through which Christ is active in the sacraments, but it is Christ himself doing the forgiving.

That is something that is overlooked by those who are not familiar with sacraments.  It isn’t confessing sins to another person, but it is identifying your sin, asking for forgiveness, receiving a penance (which is an opportunity to repair the damage our sin caused whenever possible) and receiving absolution from God.

Absolution absolves us of our sins.  They are completely gone.  Freed of our sins, there is no need to re-confess those sins which we have confessed and have been forgiven for.  There is no need for us to re-live them in our guilt, or anguish over them, because God has forgiven them completely.

When we confess our sins, we have assurance that God has forgiven them.  Actually, this is biblical.  It comes straight from Jesus himself, when, in the Gospel of John, Chapter 20, verse 23, the risen Jesus breathed on the disciples in the upper room and said, “Receive the holy Spirit.”

At the moment they received the Holy Spirit from Jesus himself, they were instructed that “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

And how would a priest know which sins are forgiven or which can be retained if they are not confessed out loud to him?

Taking up the responsibility that Jesus gave him, the priest, by virtue of his ordination, submits to the presence of Jesus in every sacrament, as we must also.

Forget what you may have heard over the years about this sacrament that may be the cause of your staying away. It is so beautiful.  It is an encounter with the living Christ and brings about peace and reconciliation with God (and by extension, our faith community.)

The sacrament of reconciliation is really the only way we can receive absolute assurance that we are forgiven, since we can be, well, self-deceiving if left to our own accountability.  Through the grace of God we must face our sins and seek forgiveness through the church so that we can continue to move forward in faith.

And remember, a priest is never allowed to break the seal of the confessional, which means that whatever you tell him in this sacrament is held in strict confidence.  He can’t repeat it. Never. Period. End of story.

Oh, and don’t be afraid that he is retaining what you have confessed and thinking about it the next time he sees you.  By the grace of God working in him, he is freed from remembering all of our sins.  He has heard just about every sin imaginable, and even if he tried to hold onto them, his head would probably explode!

Don’t put it off any longer.  As was so often repeated in the bible, don’t be afraid.  Let go of whatever has been burdening you for so long and give it to God in this beautiful sacrament.  He can take care of it like no other.

Janet Cassidy
janetcassidy.blubrry.net
Email:  johnseven38@yahoo.com