Historical & Biblical Roots of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Chad Grube Adult Faith Formation Coordinator at St. Joan of Arc & St. Patrick Catechetical Day October 11, 2014
A Prayer Before Confession Show me, O Lord, Your mercy, and delight my heart with it. Let me find You whom I so longingly seek. Behold, here is the man whom the robbers seized, manhandled, and left half dead on the road to Jericho. Kind-hearted Samaritan, come to my aid! I am the sheep who wandered into the wilderness. Seek after me and bring me home again to Your fold. Do with me according to Your Will, that I may abide with You all the days of my life, and praise You with all those who are with You in heaven for all eternity. Amen. St. Jerome
Large Group Discussion How familiar are you with the historical development of the Sacrament of Reconciliation? How might studying the history of the Sacrament help us to understand its theology and to appreciate it more fully for the great gift from God that it truly is?
Principles Governing Historical Development Sacramental Causality It s faith, but not magic (which desires to gain control over spiritual realities). Ex opere operato (literally, from the work worked ) God is the cause of grace (particularly through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ) & conferral of grace in the Sacrament does not depend on the attitude or sanctity (or lack thereof) of the person dispensing the Sacrament. It s a gift, freely bestowed by Christ, that lacks nothing. Ex opere operantis (literally, from the work of the one working ) Efficacy of the Sacrament is derived from the prayer and good deeds of the Church as well as the disposition of the one making use of the Sacrament.
Principles Governing Historical Development I can choose to resist the grace ex opere operato. Grace, although it is a free gift from God that lacks nothing, is still received in the mode of the receiver. We need to understand grace in terms of relationship not in terms of a quantitative thing.
Principles Governing Historical Development Constant search for proper balance that recognizes the four key components of the Sacrament (even the names we use for the Sacrament reflect which of the components is emphasized) Confession (Confession) Contrition Satisfaction (Penance) Absolution (Reconciliation) First three components are subjective (personal) acts of the penitent; last component is the objective act of the Church
Yom Kippur Daily Sin Offerings Old Testament Roots Principles laid out in the Book of Deuteronomy Separation & rejoining of the community is source of Jewish understanding of binding and loosening. Bound the person to his sin, so he was expelled & loosed the person from his sin so he was restored to the community.
Gospel Foundations The power of forgiveness based on the power of the keys (Matthew 16:9) Power of the keys extended to the other Apostles & reserved to Christ s ministers (Matthew 18:18) Paul upset that they didn t expel a man after his sin (1 Cor 5:1-11) but also stresses that it is time to welcome him back (2 Cor 2:5-11). This separation from the community is connected to fraternal correction (cf. Matthew 18) Institution of the Sacrament (John 20:18-23) Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.
Reconciliation in The Apostolic Church Confess your faults to one another (James 5:16) If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly. (1 John 5:16-17) Didache 14:1 On the Lord s own day, gather together, break bread, and give thanks, having first confessed your sins so that your sacrifice may be pure.
Reconciliation During the Patristics (the Time of the Church Fathers) Rooted in metanoia (metanoia) what St. Jerome translated in Latin as paenitentia (basis of the English word penitence ) Had to deal with the question what to do if someone sins after Baptism and then repents Rigorist Position: Excommunication binding forever (supporters feared a laxity towards sin). Tertullian held this position. Penitential Position: Those who demonstrate their sorrow for sin should be readmitted to the community. This required a ritual of loosening thus the beginning of the Order of Penitents
The Order of Penitents Usually limited to just once in a person s lifetime and reserved for major sins like murder, apostasy, and fornication. Those who had committed serious sins confessed their sins to the bishop or his representative They were assigned a penance that was to be carried out over a period of time (sometimes as long as 7 years). After completing their penance, they were reconciled by the bishop with a prayer of absolution offered in the midst of the community, and they were re-clothed with a white garment. Penance assumed many forms, such as pilgrimages to holy sites; constructing, repairing, and rebuilding churches; and caring for the poor and sick.
The Order of Penitents During the time they worked out their penances, the penitents often had special places in church (in back, separated from the community) and wore special garments to indicate their status (sackcloth of goats hair, chains indicating their bondage to sin, rags indicating their poverty of virtue, etc.) Like the catechumens, they were often dismissed from the Sunday assembly after the Liturgy of the Word. Some people began to delay Baptism so they wouldn t suffer humiliation of public penance. Ashes on Ash Wednesday is a sign from the Order of Penitents still used today.
5 th through 8 th Centuries Canonical penance (Order of Penitents) all but disappears Monastic asceticism begins to replace public penance. Within monasteries, the practice developed of confessing sins to the abbot/spiritual master. (Root of our practice today) Monks began sharing this practice with those outside of the monasteries. The Order of Penitents which was heavily dependent upon the administration of the bishop was difficult to maintain in these lands where individual priests were responsible for thousands of souls (thus a practical need for something else)
5 th through 8 th Centuries Monastic asceticism begins to replace public penance (continued) The barbarian lands where the monks evangelized especially had need of this means of repentance as people would relapse into their old moral norms Frequent, private Confession began to be the norm in these lands St. Patrick (461) took this practice with him to Ireland and supported many base communities.
Irish Penitentials Need for consistency (focusing on the satisfaction element of the Sacrament) gave rise to the Irish Penitentials a small book listing every kind of sin which detailed the amount of penance necessary as a remedy Also change in how viewed the penance not just retribution, but therapeutic Rooted in contraries healing contraries like fasting as a remedy to gluttony Unlike the Order of Penitents, this was not limited to once in a person s life Abuses did exist (including some individuals seeking to hire others to do their penance for them), but this doesn t negate proper use of the Sacrament
8 th through 13 th Centuries Reaction to the new practice of repeated, personal confessions Some bishops wished to impose the old form (canonical). Others tried to regulate the new form to protect it from abuses that had crept in Declaration at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) by Pope Innocent III: Declare private, repeated Confession in the West as normative All Catholics who committed mortal sin had to confess to their pastor within one year (Easter duty) Focus of the Sacrament shifted from satisfaction to absolution (but all three subjective elements still necessary)
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) The Summa on Confession I answer that, Penance is twofold, internal and external. Internal penance is that whereby one grieves for a sin one has committed, and this penance should last until the end of life. Because man should always be displeased at having sinned, for if he were to be pleased thereat, he would for this very reason fall into sin and lose the fruit of pardon External penance is that whereby a man shows external signs of sorrow, confesses his sins verbally to the priest who absolves him, and makes satisfaction for his sins according to the judgment of the priest. Such penance need not last until the end of life, but only for a fixed time according to the measure of the sin. Tertia Pars, Question 84
The Council of Trent (1551) All Sacraments greatly under attack because of the Protestant Reformation Said that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a gift ordered to absolution and is not just a private confession of an individual before God. The grace of the Sacrament moves a person to the concrete, visible sign of Christ s representative (manifest in the priest).
The Council of Trent (1551) On this point of doctrine, then, it is the duty of the pastor to teach that, not only is forgiveness of sins to be found in the Catholic Church, as Isaias had foretold in these words: The people that dwell therein shall have their iniquity taken away from them; but also that in her resides the power of forgiving sins; and furthermore that we are bound to believe that this power, if exercised duly, and according to the laws prescribed by our Lord, is such as truly to pardon and remit sins.
Pope St. Pius X Timing of First Confession On August 8, 1910, Pope Saint Pius X decreed that right from the age of discretion children should receive the sacraments of penance and the Eucharist.
Reaffirmed prior teachings of the Church connected to this Sacrament Vatican II The rite and formulas for the sacrament of penance are to be revised so that they more clearly express both the nature and effect of the sacrament. Sacrosanctum Concilium #72 Pastors should also be mindful of how much the sacrament of Penance contributes to developing the Christian life and, therefore, should always make themselves available to hear the confessions of the faithful. Christus Dominus #29
Vatican II By Baptism men are truly brought into the People of God; by the sacrament of Penance sinners are reconciled to God and his Church; by the Anointing of the Sick, the ill are given solace; and especially by the celebration of Mass they offer sacramentally the Sacrifice of Christ.... In the spirit of Christ the Shepherd, they must prompt their people to confess their sins with a contrite heart in the sacrament of Penance, so that, mindful of his words "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand" (Mt 4:17), they are drawn closer to the Lord more and more each day. Presbyterorum Ordinis #5
St. John Paul II on Reconciliation The church, as a reconciled and reconciling community, cannot forget that at the source of her gift and mission of reconciliation is the initiative, full of compassionate love and mercy, of that God who is love and who out of love created human beings; and he created them so that they might live in friendship with him and in communion with one another. Reconciliatio et Paenitentia #10 To evoke conversion and penance in man's heart and to offer him the gift of reconciliation is the specific mission of the church as she continues the redemptive work of her divine founder. Reconciliatio et Paenitentia #23
Prayer After Confession O almighty and most merciful God, I give You thanks with all the powers of my soul for this and all other mercies, graces, and blessings bestowed on me, and prostrating myself at Your sacred feet, I offer myself to be henceforth forever Yours. Let nothing in life or death ever separate me from You! I renounce with my whole soul all my treasons against You, and all the abominations and sins of my past life. I renew my promises made in Baptism, and from this moment I dedicate myself eternally to Your love and service. Grant that for the time to come, I may detest sin more than death itself, and avoid all such occasions and companies as have unhappily brought me to it. This I resolve to do by the aid of Your divine grace, without which I can do nothing. Amen.