Confession and Forgiveness

[Anima_Christi]

In the “Ask an Apologist” forum, Michelle Arnold recently said:

Although sin does mar the soul, it is forgiven as soon as you repent. Since you have obviously repented, you are not “dirty” and God certainly hears your prayers and forgives you. For Catholics, repentance means following up with sacramental confession as soon as possible, but please rest assured that you are forgiven in the meantime.

Is this true? I thought that the sacrament of confession and absolution itself forgives sin; it isn’t forgiven in the meantime, unless we can make an act of perfect contrition (which thing it is impossible to know whether or not we have done).

 

[Franciscan]

I think the issue here is the distinction that needs to be made between frogiveness and absolution.

Forgiveness is not the same as completely wiping the sin away so that even God allows himself to forget. There is no threat of judgement against that sin which is “absolved”.

We may be “forgiven” but only confession completely obliterates the sins and truly reconciles us to the Father.

It is the only way to have the certitude that one is free of the sin.

 

[Verbum]

Hi Anima,

I am doubtful about this. It takes perfect contrition to have mortal sin forgiven, that is contrition that is not merely present because of the fear of punishment but because we have offended a God who is infinitely good. However, the intention of going to confession as soon as possible must count for something.

Verbum

 

[Anima_Christi]

What is the difference between forgiveness and absolution? Does not absolution forgive sins? Michelle Arnold’s answer seems to teach the error that the sacrament of penance declares sins to be forgiven rather than actually forgiving them.

According to Ludwig Ott’s Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma:

**By the Church’s Absolution sins are truly and immediately remitted. (*De fide).
***According to the view of the Reformers, absolution is a mere declaration that sins are forgiven on the ground of fiducial faith…As against this the Church firmly insists that the power of absolution is a true and real power of absolution, by which sins committed against God are immediately remitted.

The proof derives from John 20,23. According to the words of Jesus, the act of the remisson of sins, performed by the Apostles and by their successors, as the effect that sins are remitted by God. There is a casual connection between the active remitting and the passive being remitted.

The inrepretation of the Reformers is exegetically untenable as they take the expression remittere to mean two things in the one sentence: “Those to whom you declare that sins are remitted to these they are remitted.”

(p. 422)

So if one can pray to God and ask him to forgive their sins, and they are immediately forgiven, how can the priest also forgive sins that have already been forgiven?

 

[Anima_Christi]

Bump!

 

[atsheeran]

If she was using the term “repent” to mean “make an act of perfect contrition”, or if by “sin” she meant only “venial sin,” then it was a perfectly fine and orthodox statement.