2nd Sunday of Advent – B
December 10, 2023 – 8:30 and 11am
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton
Penance/Reconciliation/Confession
I remember that when I was a child, my parents would take my brother and me to Confession every two weeks or so.
Okay! I know that some of you are probably thinking that I needed it! Well, maybe I did, but that kind of frequent Confession was standard practice back then.
I remember also that I had to come up with a kind of grocery list of sins and numbers – like disobeying my parents ten times and things like that. I felt anxious that I would forget something.
Well, today, the understanding and practice of this sacrament is a bit different. And that’s what I want to talk about this morning.
The Name
The first thing I want to comment on is the name of the sacrament.
It is officially called the Sacrament of Penance. Penance means that we bring some area of sinfulness to God for forgiveness and that we resolve to try to do better.
That’s what John the Baptist is talking about in today’s gospel. He was offering a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Part of our Sacrament of Penance is a penance. This is some prayer or action that the priest asks us to do as a way to begin living out our renewed relationship with God.
Now, this sacrament is also called Reconciliation. That is really its purpose anyway – our reconciliation with God, with ourselves, and even with others.
I know we often refer to this as confession. That’s okay, but in truth, the word confession names the entire sacrament by just one part of it.
Why?
That’s a good segue to this question: why do we as Catholics have this individual confession of sin to a priest?
This is a distinctive feature of Catholicism. Well, for one thing, Jesus gave us this sacrament when he said to the apostles: “Whose sins you forgive shall be forgiven.”
Through our 2,000-year history, this sacrament has taken different forms, but it has always been there. Still, the question is: can’t we just confess our sins directly to God without going to a priest?
And the answer is yes and no, and that will be clear in just a minute. Right now, I want to say that this sacrament with individual confession is an opportunity for a personal experience with God.
God relates to us supremely in the humanity of Jesus. The core of our faith is incarnational, the divine being expressed in the human.
So, in this sacrament, the intention is for us to experience God’s forgiveness in a very human way, through the absolution of the priest. This brings a fullness to the experience of forgiveness.
How Often?
Okay, with that said, the next question is: when or how often are we to receive this sacrament?
The Church teaches that we only have to go to confession when we need to be forgiven for some serious sin. Now, most of us have a sense of what serious sin is; I plan to focus on that some other time.
The Church, and this is important, also encourages us to come to confession more often, for ordinary or less serious sins. And some of you, like myself, do that.
This is for things like losing our temper or being untruthful and a host of other things. The idea here is that this sacrament is a means to receive God’s grace and keep growing in our relationship with God.
This sacrament can also be especially good in the penitential seasons of Advent and Lent. It is a way of preparing for the sacred celebrations of Christmas and Easter.
And, of course, Penance or Reconciliation can be wonderful at significant moments of our lives – like before getting married, or when a loved one has died, or when we are about to retire from our job or go off to college for the first time. It is a way to mark a new beginning or new chapter in our lives.
Concluding Recommendations
Okay, I have packed a lot into this, and now I want to conclude with two recommendations.
First, each day, maybe in the morning or at night, pray what we call an Act of Contrition. A sample Act of Contrition is printed in today’s bulletin.
Do this every day. It is a good practice to bring ourselves humbly to God and express our sorrow for any sin.
And my other recommendation is just to think about the place of Penance, Reconciliation, confession in your own life. Just think about this and see if it has a place for you.
The important thing is a penitential spirit. That spirit will keep us alive and growing in God.
