Confession: What happens EXACTLY?

  • Thread starter Thread starter justamoose89
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

justamoose89

Guest
I was recently describing to my protestant friend about Confession. I heard somewhere (from an apologist) that we can basically always ask God’s forgiveness, and He will forgive them. So whats the point of confession? The apologist said that confession takes away the effects of the sin: example:

A boy throws a baseball through a window. He asks the owner to forgive him, and he does. But the window is still broken. Going to confession is like fixing the window. We get forgiveness, AND receive graces that take away the effects of the sin- the broken window.

So this is what I told my protestant friend. Well, yesterday, he had a talk with another Catholic he knows, someone who claims to know Catholicism inside and out. This friend told him that my description was absolutely wrong, that going to confession only forgives sins. But this is also the same friend that told him that we hold Jesus and Mary to the same esteem, and that the Old Testament isn’t relevant anymore. But still I want to make sure i’m telling my friend the truth.

So, what EXACTLY happens at confession?
 
justamoose89 said:
So, what EXACTLY happens at confession?
Click to expand...
You are using the broken window analogy in a different way than I usually see it used. Typically, the description goes that the window is still broken after confession, and that is what penance and indulgences and stuff are for, to fix the broken window. So I am not surprised that you got a Catholic there who disagreed with your use of the analogy.

Confession forgives the eternal consequences of sins, the guilt. The temporal consequences may or may not be removed. Hence a penance is assigned, and hence the Church has teachings about indulgences, which are directed to the remaining temporal consequences of sins after the sins are forgiven.

Don’t get the idea there there must always remain temporal consequences of sins left over after confession, though. 🙂 It need not be so if one has fervent enough charity.
 
justamoose89 said:
I was recently describing to my protestant friend about Confession. I heard somewhere (from an apologist) that we can basically always ask God’s forgiveness, and He will forgive them. So whats the point of confession? The apologist said that confession takes away the effects of the sin: example:

A boy throws a baseball through a window. He asks the owner to forgive him, and he does. But the window is still broken. Going to confession is like fixing the window. We get forgiveness, AND receive graces that take away the effects of the sin- the broken window.

So this is what I told my protestant friend. Well, yesterday, he had a talk with another Catholic he knows, someone who claims to know Catholicism inside and out. This friend told him that my description was absolutely wrong, that going to confession only forgives sins. But this is also the same friend that told him that we hold Jesus and Mary to the same esteem, and that the Old Testament isn’t relevant anymore. But still I want to make sure i’m telling my friend the truth.

So, what EXACTLY happens at confession?
Click to expand...
Let’s try to “start over” again.

First of all, the difference between the sacrament of Confession and praying for forgiveness is that only in confession do we get an answer. We can pray for forgiveness, but never actually know with certainty that we’ve been forgiven. Christ gave us the Sacrament of Confession so that we can actually hear the words spoken to us directly that we are forgiven. Only here do we get an answer.

As human beings, we are imperfect and nothing we ever do can be completely perfect; that means that our own contrition for sins cannot be literally perfect (let’s set aside the term “perfect contrition” which has its own meaning, but doesn’t mean “contrition that is literally perfect”). Because we can’t be perfect in asking for forgiveness, Christ instituted the Sacrament of Confession to “make up for” what is lacking in our own imperfect condition. If I steal a few dollars to buy an ice cream, I might be sorry for that later, but there’s still some part of me that says “yes, I’m sorry, but I still enjoyed that chocolate cone” The Sacrament and the ministry of the Church “supply” what is lacking in our own imperfect condition.

The other affect of the Sacrament is that we are absolved as well as forgiven; the two are not the same thing. Reconciliation is both forgiveness and absolution. Absolution means that we are reconciled to God and the Church. We might be forgiven at any time (and indeed, a loving, merciful God does forgive us), but to be reconciled as well as forgiven, we need absolution. Let’s say that my brother lives a thousand miles away, and sometime in the past, I did something to wrong him. He might forgive me in his heart even without the two of us ever having contact. He has forgiven my wrong-doing, perhaps even forgotten that it ever happened. However, until we talk, we aren’t actually reconciled. That’s what absolution is about (at least in brief).

So your Protestant friend is right in that we can be forgiven at any time, but to be both forgiven and reconciled, we need the Sacrament which Christ gave us.

That’s a start at least–I’m sure the discussion will go on from here…
 
Assuming too the every time we pray to God for forgiveness we are forgiven, we also need to be reunited with His Church. The only way to do that is receive the absolution from the representative of the Church which is the priest. As Fr. David has said, absolution not only repairs your relationship with God but also with His Church. We need this because we can only become one with Jesus Christ through His Church.
 
"Now when it was late that same day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them: ‘Peace be to you.’ And when He had said this, he showed them His hands and His side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord.

He said therefore to them again: ‘Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you.’ When He had said this, He breathed on them; and He said to them: ‘Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.’" (John 20:19-23)
 
One important element that has not been mentioned, and should be, is that in adddition to representing Christ, the priest represents the Church as a whole. Sin hurts the community (the Church, the Body of Christ) – even if it appears to be “only” private, personal sin. All of our sins have outward ripple effects. To confess to a priest achieves the aspect of announcing to a representative of the community that we acknowledge our wrongdoing, apologize for it, ask forgiveness (of Christ and the community, as represented by the priest), and are restored to the embrace of the community, through the priest who welcomes us back and assigns some penance as a way to complete that reparation.

There are many layers of value in “going public” (going audible). One really does experience graces through the act of self-disclosure. (This also mirrors what happens in secular venues when a person acknowledges wrongdoing publicly. There is much more opportunity for healing that way, assuming the person is sincere in such an acknowledgement.)

Also, gospel theology (this should appeal to non-Catholic Christians) is that, in Jesus’ words, Jesus is Truth Itself. Therefore, in confronting and disclosing Truth (in confession), we are encountering Jesus, by definition. But that disclosure needs to be expressed audibly to another person in order to benefit fully from the graces of such an encounter.

Incidentally, confession is liberating because we unburden ourselves of sin and the knowledge of sin which has been eating at us, whether we’re conscious of that toxicity or not. When we disclose to another, we are released and liberated from that sin. This is both a theological/spiritual reality, and a psychological one.

[Self-edited to add that I just saw Fr. David’s post, wherein he does make reference to community.]
 
I would really like to have Fr.David address how “purgatory” fits into this scenario. Confession/Absolution/Reconciliation and purgatory. (the paying for the broken window)
 
corsair said:
I would really like to have Fr.David address how “purgatory” fits into this scenario. Confession/Absolution/Reconciliation and purgatory. (the paying for the broken window)
Click to expand...
OK. See the Catechism 1496.

To begin, there are 2 kinds of punishment which results from sin: eternal and temporal. Eternal punishment means that as a result of mortal sin, we cannot enter heaven. The Sacrament remits that eternal punishment. Temporal punishment means that we have to be purified (or “punished” so to speak) for the act itself, although this punishment is temporary.

The sacrament of Confession (reconciliation, absolution, etc.) remits at least in part the temporal punishment of sin, but some of that might remain even after we’ve been forgiven. To keep with the window analogy, if I break someone else’s window, he might forgive me for the act, but the window is still broken. I need to pay for a new window, no matter how sincerely and completely the victim forgives me–because the broken glass is still there. Being forgiven means that the two of us are reconciled to each other. The victim might say “forget about it, I’ll repair the window myself, go in peace” or “let’s split the cost of a new window”. In the later example, some form of payment/restitution is still due.

Even after the sacrament of Confession is complete, there might still remain some temporal punishment to purify us from the sins we’ve comitted. That’s what purgatory is all about. Remember that purgatory is the entrance-way into heaven. Everyone in purgatory is going into heaven (sooner or later). Being forgiven/absolved/reconciled means that we can enter heaven.

Perhaps an extreme example might make the point. Let’s say that I am a notorious mass murderer. On my deathbed, I make a sincere confession (yes, sincere, remember this is a hypothetical scenario, so I can make the character be sincere). By that confession, I’ve been forgiven and absolved and reconciled, and saved from eternal punishment–in other words, I’m going to heaven. But all the evil I’ve done still requires some punishment for the sake of justice. When I die moments after the confession, I don’t just walk straight into heaven, but pass through purgatory where I’m punished (purified is a better word) for the evil I’ve done in my life–that’s temporal punishment. Because I went to confession, the temporal punishment is lessened, but not entirely removed.

Does that help at all?
 
Thank you, Fr. D. I was pretty sure of the answer just needed to hear spelled out plainly.

Are you really an ordained priest? Or is that just your “handle”.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top