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Church_Militant
Guest
This is one of the sins that the church teaches cries out to Heaven against those who commit it.
CCC Paragraph # 2409
CCC Paragraph # 2434
CCC Paragraph # 2445
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CCC Paragraph # 2409
CCC Paragraph # 2434
CCC Paragraph # 2445
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Efrain
Guest
One has to be in the truth in order bring another back into the truth. That’s why we shouldn’t be complacent in our faith, instead we should always pray to God and ask Him to show us something new everyday. Increase of knowledge and wisdom = stronger faith in God = greater love of God.
When we show others the truth we help ourselves, we build up the Body of Christ which is the Church, and in turn pleases our Lord. CCC 2006. Therefore, merit should not be done merely for our own benefit but should be done for the love of God.
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Cross-checking
Guest
Efrain, I’m not sure if you mean Catholic for “be in the truth”. I was actually brought back because of a protestant friend. I’m sure her original intent was to get me to her charismatic evangelical church. She challenged me with many questions about the Catholic Church that I couldn’t answer or explain. I realized I need to be able to answer these questions; so I started studying and praying more than I ever had in my life. I am now very solid in my Catholic faith and actually living it.
I credit her with getting me back. Her faith in God and her love of God, although protestant, showed me how far I had fallen away. So I think anyone can bring someone back if they are trying to bring them closer to God. I now pray that one day she will be able to come to the full truth; possibly because of my example and commitment to my faith and love of God, but mainly that she can come to the full truth.
As for the rest of what Efrain said, I completely agree. I became complacent a long time ago and wandered far from the truth. Being complacent just invites temptation and wandering. So yes; we should always pray to God and ask Him to show us something new everyday. Increase of knowledge and wisdom = stronger faith in God = greater love of God.
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Efrain
Guest
What I mean to be in the truth is to be in and with Jesus. Me being a cradle Catholic was away from the Church for years and was actually like yourself, led back to Jesus by a Protestant. I was quite impresed by his zeal for the Lord although I found the fullness of truth in the Catholic Church. So what I think is to be in truth is not always necessarily being Catholic but having a true loving and honest relationship with Jesus to the best of one’s ability.
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maryj
Guest
I had not been to confession in 25 years. A young and ambitious priest came to be placed at our parish very shortly after he had been ordained. During one of his very first homilies he spoke of a trip he had taken when in high school to south america. He had become very ill from some strange virus. He lay in a hospital bed, alone, far from his family and friends. A priest, who he had come to know through mission work, found out that he had been taken to the hospital. This priest went immediately to the hospital to check on him. The priest asked him if he wanted to confess anything before receiving communion, his response was “no father”. This young priest then stated "if I had died that night, which I was very close to, I would have gone to hell!! It was like the Holy Spirit reached out and pushed me back in my seat. I actually felt it. I left that church knowing that if I died that day I would be going to hell. Long conversion story short, I ended up in this Young priest confessional on Holy thursday. As I told him my story, he smiled and said, “I was praying for you, so that you would come to Him” It was his first lenten season as a priest. When I got home that day I picked up my bible and let it fall open in my hand, guess which verse my eyes went to?..I have never forgotten to pray for this priest each and everyday since then. I thank the Lord for sending him to me just when I was ready for HIM. thanks Fr.M and May God Bless you all the days of your life.
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lak611
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I’m sure that the priest who visited the young man who later became your priest saved him from his illness by his prayers, since he recovered his health and came back to God’s grace.
Now your priest did the same thing for you that his priest had done for him when he was a young man. That is a beautiful story. God bless you.
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maryj
Guest
lak611, now I never made that connection. Isn’t that just something!! I guess I’l be praying for that other priest as well!! Thank you for the revelation. Mary
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nobody
Guest
However, verse 16 says to confess to one another, not to an elder. It also says the prayers of a righteous man has great power, but the church teaches that the holiness of the priest does not affect the validity of absolution. Does anyone have an explanation for these seeming contradictions?
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Church_Militant
Guest
Nobody,
Have you considered taking it in context of other passages of the New Testament, like John 20:21-23?
21: Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”
22: And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
23: If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Even the context of the verse you are talking about offers insight.
14: Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
15: and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16: Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects. Who are the “elders”? Priests. The Douay-Rheims New Testament has the following notes.
Link
Note also that St. Paul says that the church was given the ministry of reconciliation in 2nd Corinthians 5:18-19
I hope that helps brother.
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Efrain
Guest
I will try to give my you my opinion on how this is not a contradiction. First, we confess our sins to one another to whom the Lord has given authority to absolve them Jn 20:23. As oposed as “confessing directly to God” without an outward confession to our bretheren. Secondly, the absolvement of sins is of Christ not of the priest’s own power. Jesus absolves our sins in the person of the priest. Therefore the holiness of the priest ultimately does not affect the absolvement of our sins.
The prayers of the righteous does have great power but not the ability to absolve sins. I hope I was able to shed some light to your question.
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vern_humphrey
Guest
They are not contradictions. Confession is one thing, absolution is another. Public confession takes place in the presense of the Elder or Priest, and only he can grant absolution.
As for “the prayers of the righteous man,” we still pray for the intercession of saints. But the saints do not consecrate the bread and wine, give absolution or perform any other sacrement for us.
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nobody
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Thank you all for your replies.
I was looking at this in the context of the other verses, and I still have the same question. That is, why did he say “elders” in the earlier verse, refering to priests, and then “one another” 2 verses later, and it is still supposed to mean priests.
Also, verse 16 has the statement of the prayers of a righteous man immediately after it tells us to confess to one another, and pray for healing, which, in context, links the confession and the prayers of the righteous man together, yes?
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Efrain
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v.14: if someone is sick that person should call on the elders of the Church. Those elders will pray and anoint oil on the sick person in the name of the Lord.
v.15: the prayer of faith of the elders, will save the sick person, and the Lord will heal them, and if the person has commited sins, he will be forgiven. Just as the Lord heals he also forgives us through the elders.
v.16: Therefore we must confess our sins to others similarilly to how we call on others to come and pray for us in our bodily sicknesses. This is how we get healed physically as well as spiritually. The prayer of the righteous man heals the sick physically. The prayer of the righteous does not absolve sins, only Jesus absolves us.
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tcoll2000
Guest
Verse 16 starts off with the word ‘therefore’. When this occurs one must always go to the verses just before it to determine what it is ‘therefore’. The understanding of verse 16 is to be read in the context of vs 13 through 15. Confessing one to another is ‘therefore’ confessing to a Priest.
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nobody
Guest
I am looking at v16 in context.
If we are to interpret “one another” as a priest, then does that mean that in confession we are to be praying for the priest?
"16: Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, "
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nobody
Guest
I do think the passage in John is a good biblical background for the sacrament of confession. However, I think the passage we are currently discussing in James is not. Perhaps was James not talking about the sacrament of confession, but talking about practicing humility and asking eachother for help and prayers?
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Church_Militant
Guest
I see what you mean, and can see where that is one application. However…admitting our shortcomings to each other does not carry the sacramental graces that Reconciliation actually conveys, right?
I think perhaps the important and deciding aspect of this passage is the phrase, “Let him call for the elders of the church” Elders being where we get our priests from (As St. Ignatius of Antioch says “Or one appointed by the bishop…”)
Realize that part of the Sacrament of the Sick is also Confession, and that certainly is part of what St. James is talking about.
Is this passage a good “stand alone” for Confession per see? No I have to agree with you that by itself it is not as strong as John 20, but I also find that just a single verse or passage is almost never adequate for teaching. The context of all the passages that deal with Confession provide a strength of context that isn’t there otherwise, y’know?
I do see what you are saying and I see there is a valid aspect to it. We do indeed need to be humble and frank about our sins and weaknesses. Such can only make all of the Body of Christ stronger and more Christ-like in our compassion and humility. Something that our society in general isn’t really very good at today.
Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.
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nobody
Guest
Does anyone have a comment on this: that if this is referring to the sacrament of reconciliation, that we are supposed to pray for the priest as we confess our sins?
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nobody
Guest
Thank you for taking what I was saying seriously. It adds to the discussion if there are different points of view, yes?
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katy
Guest
The priest often asks me to pray for him as I leave the confessional, and even if he doesn’t, I always do anyway.
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