Confession

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You are hitting the references I have, I would recommend you read the early church fathers if you wish to better understand how the sacrament developed in it current form. I am not a Church Historian.

The priesthood when acting In Persona Christi is very powerful in that they are given the power to make God act. Command God to transform bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. Command God to forgive sins. Ask a few priests what “in persona Christi” means for them and how they experience. You will find the answers amazing.
 
I don’t have an emotional high, except a certain sense of relief. Kind of like getting my teeth cleaned, I don’t want to eat anything sugary. If I were not Catholic and needed one reason to join the Church, confession would be it. The absolute certain assurance that I have been forgiven, and I can move on, start with a clean slate. Without confession I don’t see how I could ever make any spiritual progress. To all you DREs and catechists, how can we make sure kids get to their Second (and subsequent) confessions?
 
Facedown asked:
*how a man can forgive, if the Church is saying only God can forgive? **Who is man to speak for Almighty God?

*Man can forgive nothing–only God forgives.

But God has given authority to Catholic priests through the Sacrament of Holy Orders to speak on His behalf. Thus, when the priest says, “I absolve you,” it is God Himself who absolves the sinner through the priest. God acts through the man; the man, on his own, is nothing.
 
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facedown:
Stobie, thanks for your answer. Where did this pratice come from?

It seems like a re-instatement of some of the roles of the High Priest.
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Dear Facedown,

You ask really important questions. I have not yet finished this whole thread but Stobie has done a great job so far. One thing that might help clarify the position of the priestly ministry in this sacrament is to keep in mind the Church as the Body of Christ. It is the Body of Christ that administers the Sacrament. We understand the ministry of the Priest in John 20:19-23 (emphasis mine)

19] On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, **Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” **
20] When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
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."

Without going into a lengthy explication or mediation on this text, note that peace is twice mentioned here in the context of forgiveness. It is the Holy Spirit, transmitted to the apostles, who enables this ministry. As for making a confession, it is hard to see how the Apostles could forgive the sins of someone unless that person had repented and, as part of that repentance, had verbally confessed what needed forgiving.

Hope this helps. Ask more if this isn’t clear.

This sacrament seems to be one people outside the Church either can’t wait to experience or one which keeps people from approaching the Church because of dread or outright hostility. Count me among those who are in awe of it. For example, I made a confession a couple of weeks ago with a priest who generally acts like something of an idiot (sorry!). In confession he was unbelievable! It was as if someone else were speaking to me. (Which, of course, it was!)
 
Just picking out one small point from this carefully phrased set:
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facedown:
What other Scripture is this taken from? When did this practice originate?

. . . then we find 1441, and this says that “Only God forgives sins” And here I am back asking how a man can forgive, if the Church is saying only God can forgive? Who is man to speak for Almighty God?.
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Only God forgives sins. True! But he has appointed his agents, acting in the power of the Holy Spirit, as indicated in John 20:22, to share in that ministry. "[He] breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ "

When we think of the scandal that the God of all humbled himself to accept a human body in order to redeem the human race, it isn’t so hard to accept the idea that the Church, the Body of Christ, also has a “human body” – yours, mine, but in particular her Apostles (bishops). Technically, priests receive the “faculty” or permission for hearing confessions and pronouncing absolution from the bishop, since it is an Apostolic gift belonging properly to bishops. Bishops are the spiritual descendents of the Apostles. (Sorry if that seems patronizingly elementary, but a lot of people who are not Catholic don’t know that.)
 
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