RECONCILIATION: HOW OFTEN?

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

One of the commonly noted characteristics of today's culture is a loss of a sense of sin. Not surprisingly, then, there has been a corresponding loss of awareness of the need to examine our consciences, confront the fact of the wrongs we have done, and seek to make amends.

Sin is before all else an offense against God, a rupture of communion with him. At the same time it damages communion with the Church and others. Therefore, an essential aspect of overcoming sin is to reestablish the bonds of communion which sin has broken, and this is called reconciliation.

Jesus Christ is the great reconciler, the one mediator between God and humanity, the eternal high priest whose sacrifice of himself as spotless victim on Calvary has won for all men and women a new covenant of eternal communion with the Father. In entrusting the continuation of his saving work to his Bride, the Church, the Lord gave the Apostles and their successors a unique share in the work of reconciliation by empowering them, in the Church's Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, to extend the forgiveness of sins to those who would seek it with a contrite heart.

To be sure, only God can forgive sins, and it is God who does so in this sacrament, acting through the Church's minister, namely, the priest.

The question arises, how often should one seek reconciliation with God and the Church through this sacrament. One could say immediately, as often as one stands in need of it. A brief passage from the Gospel according to St. Matthew helps bring the point out. Peter asks Jesus, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy times seven times" (Mt 18:21‑22). Jesus was teaching the need to forgive others from our heart, but this episode also shows that it is not extraordinary to stand in need of forgiveness time and again, and that forgiveness should be actively sought, for the sake of reconciliation.

Over the centuries the Church's concrete practice of sacramental reconciliation has varied considerably. In the first centuries, the reconciliation of Christians who had committed very grave sins after their Baptism, such as idolatry or murder, was tied to a rigorous discipline which involved public forms of penance, often for years, before being reconciled. At times, reconciliation would occur only once in a lifetime. Reconciliation first took on a "private" character in the seventh century, and from that time on, the sacrament has been performed in secret between priest and penitent, and not only once in a lifetime, but frequently. In its main lines this is the form of penance that the Church has practiced down to our own day.

Earlier in this century, Catholics popularly held the conviction that they should "go to confession" before receiving Eucharistic Communion at Mass, even if they had only minor sins. The practical effect of this, however, was to discourage frequent Communion. Today the Church has rightly reestablished frequent Communion and made it clear that it is not a prerequisite to confess one's sins to a priest and to receive absolution, when there are no serious sins involved.

While the Church's faithful of past times had a lively sense of sin, it made them feel unworthy of Communion, and so they did not often receive it, which was not good, because the Body and Blood of Christ are not a reward for being saints, but nourishment and strength given us by Christ to help us live saintly lives.

Today, in contrast, there is a lively hunger for the Body and Blood of Christ, but, as I said at the beginning, a loss of a sense of sin, and of the need for the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.

How often should persons seek out this sacrament? There are no hard and fast rules, except that as a bare minimum, anyone guilty of serious sin should confess his sins at least once a year. In making this rule, the Church did not want the sacrament to become an oppressive burden. Rather, it should be approached freely and gladly. But again, the question: what is the ideal of frequency?

Ideally, each person should seek the guidance of spiritual direction in this matter. In general, opinions vary. Some would say at least twice a year, once during Advent, and once during Lent. Others would say once every month or so. There is general consensus that weekly is too frequent for the average person. The best advice would be for each person to be guided by his or her conscience, after carefully forming it in consultation with his priest‑confessor.

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 09-Jun-2010 10:44 sitemap