Why Is Confession Called the Sacrament of Penance?

[S_V7]

Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question but I’m getting ready to give a talk on confession later and need to know why it’s also called the sacrament of penance. I kind of know why but I just wanted some (name removed by moderator)ut since I couldn’t find much help online. And also, would it be correct to say that mortal sin is like killing your soul, so that in confession, we experience a spiritual ressurection?

anyway thanks for reading and please pray that everything goes well in this retreat

 

[Newbie2]

Actually, it’s called the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

 

[Chaldean_Rite]

It is also called the Sacrament of Penance as well.

newadvent.org/cathen/11618c.htm

 

[NewUlm1976_2000]

Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question but I’m getting ready to give a talk on confession later and need to know why it’s also called the sacrament of penance. I kind of know why but I just wanted some (name removed by moderator)ut since I couldn’t find much help online. And also, would it be correct to say that mortal sin is like killing your soul, so that in confession, we experience a spiritual ressurection?

anyway thanks for reading and please pray that everything goes well in this retreat

“Confession” is the casual name for it. It accuractly describes in one word what you actually do. Reconciliation or Penance are synonyms, but the long “Sacrament of” is wordy for most people and “Confession” convey the same meaning of what you do.

Yes, i would say you are correct in saying that Confession is a form of spiritual resurrection. Our sins are wiped clean and we start again fresh and clean on the inside.

 

[DebChris]

The correct name of the Sacrament is the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We are called to be reconciled to God and to one another. That being said, we often call it Confession because we confess our sins within the confessional, either face to face, or behind a screen. Many grew up with the term Sacrament of Penance. The priest gives us penance to perform as part of our confession. It is from this penance that the term Sacrament of Penance came about. The penance that we are given aids in the reconciliation to which we are called.

As most of the teachers I have had said, there is no such thing as a dumb question except the one that is not asked. We learn when we question and there may be somebody else with the same question who is too ashamed or embarrassed to admit that he/she does not know.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

Actually, it’s called the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Actually, it’s correctly called any of these three names, as well as a couple of others. Straight from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

I. WHAT IS THIS SACRAMENT CALLED?

1423 It is called the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus’ call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father from whom one has strayed by sin.

It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner’s personal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction.

1424 It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a “confession” — acknowledgment and praise — of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man.

It is called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest’s sacramental absolution God grants the penitent “pardon and peace.”

It is called the sacrament of Reconciliation, because it imparts to the sinner the live of God who reconciles: “Be reconciled to God.” He who lives by God’s merciful love is ready to respond to the Lord’s call: “Go; first be reconciled to your brother.”

 

[DebChris]

Actually, it’s correctly called any of these three names, as well as a couple of others. Straight from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Thanks for the correction Philothea. The Unites States Catholic Cathechism for Adults refers to the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. It is perfectly correct to use any of the shortened versions cited in the CCC. Some prefer to use Sacrament of Penance since that is what it was called when we first received. The Sacrament of Reconciliation focuses on the results. Of course, we talk about going to Confession

S_V7,
You may intererested in the discussion of The Sacrament of Penance in the United States Catholic Cathecism for Adults (ch. 18).

 

[PhilotheaZ]

And also, would it be correct to say that mortal sin is like killing your soul, so that in confession, we experience a spiritual ressurection?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church also supports what you are saying here. Here is a way to think of it (excerpts from the Catechism, bold emphasis added):

First, grace is the life of God in our souls:

2023 Sanctifying grace is the gratuitous gift of His life that God makes to us …

When we sin mortally, we lose sanctifying grace, the life of God in our soul:

1861 Mortal sin … results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace.

But we can recover this through the Sacrament of Penance:

1446 Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as “the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace.”

And the following excerpt specifically refers to this as a “spiritual resurrection”:

1468 “The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship.” Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious disposition, reconciliation “is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation.” Indeed the sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about a true “spiritual resurrection,” restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the most precious is friendship with God.

 

[Newbie2]

Please add “…too…” to my previous post.