(CONFESSION)
“CONFESS THEREFORE YOUR SINS ONE TO ANOTHER.” ST. JAMES 5:16. Part 1.
From the words of scripture, it is clear we are to confess our sins to other men, and not just to God directly. If you do a scripture search, ”Confess your sins straight to God,” there is no such phrase in all of scripture. But what men are we to confess to? Not to just anyone, because not everyone has the power to forgive sin, but only the ministers of Christ who have received the Holy Ghost, and the power to forgive sins as we read in St. John’s Gospel, chapter 20, verses 22-23. “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 retain, they are retained.” To those who deny this power to the priests, St. Augustine answers, “To what purpose then did Our Lord give this power, if not to forgive sins?’’ Here Bishop Sheen remarked, “God did not give priests the power to read hearts, but to forgive sins. If they had the power to read a man’s heart, he would not need to confess.” But some will object, “I confess my sins directly to God!” Does anyone think that God does not already know their sin? What are they doing who act this way? They are hiding their sins from the priest, because God already knows their sin. “He that hideth his sins, shall not prosper: but he that shall confess, and forsake them, shall obtain mercy.” Prov. 28:13. We receive mercy by confessing our sins. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.” 1 St. John 1:9.
But why do we have to confess to men? Because that is part of our penance. We did not care to commit the sin, but now we are ashamed to admit it. So we are required to humble ourselves by God. “Be not ashamed to confess thy sins, but submit not thyself to every man for sin.” Ecclus. 4:31, drbo.org. “God resists the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.” St. James 4:6.
Even in the Old Testament it was a curse to a man to hide his sin. “If as a man I have hid my sin, and have concealed my iniquity in my bosom…Let thistles grow up to me instead of wheat, and thorns instead of barley.” Job 31, 33 & 40. This command in the Old Law was given by God to Moses. “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Say to the children of Israel: when a man or woman shall have committed any of all the sins that men are wont to commit, and by negligence shall have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and offended, they shall confess their sin,” and also make restitution, ‘’and restore the principal itself, and the fifth part over and above, to him against whom they have sinned.” Numbers 5:5-7. David himself admitted that as long as he didn’t confess, his bones wasted away. “As long as I was silent, my bones wasted away amid my continual groanings…My sin I confessed to Thee, and my guilt I did not hide; I said, I confess my iniquity to the Lord, and thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin.’’ Psalm 31:3,5.
Not only has this been practiced in the Old and New Testament, and always taught by the Church, but we also have tangible evidence of this truth. In 1911 in Rome, Fr. Leslie Rumble said that archaeologists unearthed a stone slab which read: “Here lies Blessed Peter, who absolved us, the elect, from sins confessed.” The chief of the Apostles, the one who is always named first in the Scriptures, absolved the early Christians according to the Lord’s directives. He set up our headquarters, the Apostolic See in Rome, which was then called Babylon, from whence he wrote his first Epistle, “The Church that is in Babylon saluteth you…and so doth my son Mark.” 1 St. Peter 5:13. Yes, St. Peter was married, but he left his wife as the Lord implies, St. Matthew 19:29 (wife), and says so himself in verse 27. “Behold, we have left all things to follow thee,” in order to follow the Lord’s work wholly. Yet some erroneously maintain contrary to this, and would have St. Peter “putting his hand to the plow while looking back at his wife.’’ Our Lord would not have chosen a man to lead his Church and have him divided, 1 Cor. 7:32-34. ‘’ But I would have you to be without solicitude. He that is without a wife, is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God. But he that is with a wife, is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife: and he is divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she that is married thinketh on the things of the world, how she may please her husband.’’ And as God governed in the Old Law through the Chair of Moses, St. Matthew 23:2, and commanded it to be observed, so in the New Law he governs through Christ’s Church through the Pope who sits on the Chair of Peter.
The sacrament of confession confers sanctifying grace on the soul by the words of absolution spoken by the priest, and reconciles the sinner to God. “He hath placed in us the word of reconciliation,’’ 2 Cor. 5:19, Douay Rheims Bible, drbo.org. This is why we go to the ministers, because God has ordained it that way. “But all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself, and hath given us the ministry of reconciliation,” verse 18 of 2nd Corinthians. This is why St. Paul says they are “ambassadors.” “For Christ therefore we are ambassadors,” vs. 20. Thus, we hear St. Paul proclaiming that he pardoned the incestuous man not only in the name of Christ, but even in his own person. “And to whom you have pardoned anything, I also. For what I have pardoned, if I have pardoned anything, for your sakes have I done it in the person of Christ.” 2 Cor. 2:10. The term, Persona Christi in Latin means, “Another Christ,” or, “In the Person of Christ.” “Latin is a sacred language, because it was one of the three languages nailed to the Cross of Christ.” – Fr. Chad Ripperger, Excorist.
St. John Vianney said we need only think of one thing when the priest absolves us, The Precious Blood cleansing our soul. St. Padre Pio once said, “I tremble every time I’m about to enter the confessional, because I know I am about to administer the blood of Christ.” Indeed, Our Lord told St. Faustina, “When you go to confession, to this fountain of mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul…in the Tribunal of Mercy (the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or the Sacrament of Penance), …the greatest miracles take place and are incessantly repeated…Here the misery of the soul meets the God of Mercy.”
“Come with faith” he says, “at the feet of my representative…I myself am waiting for you there. I am only hidden by the priest…I myself act in your soul. Make your confession before Me. The person of the priest is, for Me, only a screen. Never analyze what sort of priest it is that I am making use of; open your soul in confession as you would to Me, and I will fill it with My light.” – The Divine Mercy – Message and Devotion, pg. 66.
Jesus calls to us, “Do, then, frequently resort to that divine bath, wherein My Heart will wash they soul with My Blood, and wash her yet more, until she be wholly pure and stainless.” Then follows this beautiful story. This may be explained by a truly wonderful and consoling fact related in the life of St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi. When, on a certain day, in the church of her convent, where confessions were being heard, this holy Virgin was pouring forth her heart before Our Lord, present in the tabernacle, and while she was rapt up by divine communications, she perceived that the spiritual world became, in some manner, unveiled to her. For she saw the souls, such as they were, of each one of the penitents, while they were confessing. And, at the moment when the sacramental absolution was being given, she beheld the Divine Blood of Jesus, mystically poured upon each of them, and washing them, so that they became exceedingly pure and fair. How pure and beautiful must the soul become when it is cleansed frequently! Brown and soiled linen is not only made clean by frequent washing, but is made as white as snow.
Part 2
That being said however, it is now to be feared that many confessions are null and void. Because 400 years ago, our Blessed Mother warned through Mother Marianna de Jesus Torres that in our time, the 20th century and onward, “There would be very little innocence in children, nor modesty in women.” Now the lack of modesty is a very manifest thing, and one can often see in long lines for confession that some women should not even be there. You men know what I’m talking about. For example, recently one young lady was half naked standing in line waiting to go to confession! Where are the clergy, allowing such lewdness in the very House of God! And how are our children losing their innocence? TV and smartphones! No filters in place. St. Padre Pio also said in regarding absolutions to people who were not properly disposed to give up their sin, “We should be careful not to throw the Precious Blood of Jesus around carelessly.” He himself drove many women away from the confessional because their dress did not meet the Norms of Pope Pius XI’s Decree on Modesty. A PAPAL DECREE CONCERNING MODESTY – Pope Pius XI, 1930, https://motherofGodlibrary.org/2021/08. These would come under the topic of bad confessions.
Fr. Michael Muller, in his book, THE SINNER’S RETURN TO GOD, tells a story of a young man who committed a sin in his youth, but was always too ashamed to confess it. He would go to confession, but would always omit telling that sin. His conscious deeply burdened, he decided to join a monastery, and there confess his sin. But he was welcomed as a holy young man, and therefore shame continued to get the best of him when he would go and confess. This continued on until he died. When laid out in the church as a holy man, a friar went to ring the bell, and he had a frightful vision of the young man damned. He acknowledged how he had always hid his sin, and because of it, all his confessions were null and void, and now he was damned. He then disappeared, leaving an intolerable stench in the monastery as proof of what he had just said. The friars quietly removed the bier and the Mass was not offered for his soul. ““He that hideth his sins, shall not prosper.” Here we are not speaking of those who possibly forget a grave sin, which should be confessed at the next confession, but only those who hide certain sins deliberately…
Jesus is always ready to forgive us provided we are humble and contrite. He once confided to a soul: “The door of my mercy is so easily opened that the smallest child or a feeble old man can open it, but the door of My justice can hardly be opened by a thousand men.” “The Lord,” says St. Cyril, “is loving unto man, and swift to pardon, but slow to punish. Let no man therefore despair of his own salvation.”
Following we have a beautiful example of God’s great mercy to a penitent sinner, guilty of many crimes. St. Francis de Sales was hearing confessions in his church at Annecy. Among other penitents who went to him was a woman who had led a very bad life, but who, touched by God’s grace, made a good and sincere confession of all the evil she had done. St. Francis blessed God for her conversion, and felt his soul full of happiness in giving her absolution. When she had received it she said to him, “My Father, what do you think of me now since you have heard of all the crimes I have been guilty of?’’ “My child,’’ he answered, “I now look upon you as a saint; let people say and think what they like. They may judge you as the Pharisees judged Mary Magdalen after her conversion, but you know what Jesus Christ thought of her and how he judged her. Your past life now has no longer any existence. I weep tears of joy because of your resurrection from the grave of sin to a life of grace.” The penitent was not only consoled by these words of St. Francis, but when the devil came to try to make her fall into despair by thinking of her past iniquities, they enabled her to drive the temptation away. – His Life, pg 29, STORIES FROM THECATECHIST, pg. 82.
St. Clement, a disciple of St. Paul, and fourth Pope in line from St. Peter said, “In the other world neither confession nor penance will be of any avail.” (1st century).
Confession is called “the last plank of salvation,” because it is only by the forgiveness of our sins that we can be saved. Many people refuse to make known their sins to the priest, but on the day of Judgement they will be made known to the whole world, much to their dismay. “If thou wouldst withdraw thyself from confession, meditate in thy heart on hell, which confession will extinguish for thee.” (Tertullian, 2nd century).
Origen, 3rd century: “For there is a remission of sins…when he is not ashamed to confess.” Lactantius in the 4th century speaks of confession. St. Augustine again, in the 5th: “Do not fear to confess, where, by not confessing, thou canst not remain concealed.” St. Fulgentius speaks of confession in the 6th century. St. Isidore in the 7th. “All the Fathers of the Church from the Apostles down to our own day,’’ says Fr. Mueller, “speak of confession as a sacrament instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ himself.” “Let no one say to me,” says St. Augustine, “I do penance in my heart. I confess all my sins to God and God alone. Then in vain was it said to the Apostles, ‘Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain they are retained!’ Then the Church has received the keys to no purpose, St. Matthew 16:19; and so you make a mockery of the Gospel.” Fr. Mueller says, “To give the priest the power to forgive sins, and yet not oblige anyone to confess his sins to him, would indeed to make a mockery of the priest. For how can a priest forgive a sin without knowing it? And how can he know the sin unless the sinner himself confesses it?”
God says we have need of the physician of the body, Ecclus. 18:1. In the New Testament the priest is the physician of souls/ “The invisible world is clearly seen by the things that are made.” Romans 1:20. Therefore, if we wish to have our sins forgiven, we must “go and show ourselves to the priest,” St. Luke 17:14. Apparently, even in the Old Testament they were going to the priest for prayer, healing, and forgiveness. Otherwise, why would Our Lord send them to the priest? St. Augustine says, “The effect of these sacraments is indescribably great, and to treat them contemptuously is to be guilty of sacrilege. For to despise what is indispensable for complete union with God is to become godless.” Yet how many Catholics have left the Church and now treat the Sacraments contemptuously! They wind up in protestant churches saying, “Oh, I’ve found Jesus!” while leaving Him in the Eucharist in the Holy Catholic faith! The Vincent Ferrer said, “He who will not go to confession, his soul will be buried in hell.” And St. Anthony of Padua, “The devil enters through the five senses, but only by the mouth, (confession), is he expelled.”
Here are some of Luther’s most remarkable errors: that it is not God, but the Pope, who commands auricular confession to a priest; that God commands impossibilities to man; that it is a dangerous error to call Penance the plank after shipwreck; that all Christians are priests and possess the same power in words and Sacraments; and that it is sufficient for a brother to confess to a brother.” So spoke St. Alphonsus. Sr. Lucy of Fatima asks, “How can a protestant be saved if he will not confess his sins to a priest?” They tell us to Read the Bible; to follow what the Bible says; it’s in the Bible! Yet, when we point out to them some doctrine IN THE BIBLE that they’re uncomfortable with, they deny it. Sister Maria Serafina Micheli had a terrible vision of Luther in hell. https://tinyurl.com/mvkzbwbr.
In ending, let us consider the humble prayer of Pope Leo XIII: Accept my confession, O most merciful Jesus, my soul’s only hope of salvation, and give me, true contrition, I pray, who art my Saviour, and have pity on my sinful soul. Loose its bonds, heal its wounds, O most gracious Lord, by the merits of Thy pure and inviolate mother, Mary ever Virgin. Show me all my shortcomings, which I am bound to confess, and assist me to unfold them fully, and with a contrite heart. Amen. The Raccolta, 1957, Benziger Bros.
Mary’s children go to confession and lay bare their secret faults, (their sins), in confession more often than others. She merited this grace for them by the sword of sorrow which pierced her heart, as it was foretold in Scripture, “And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.” St. Luke 2:35. In the order of nature, a woman has to go through great pain to give life to their child. In the order of grace, Mary did likewise, by this sword which pierced her heart her entire life, knowing that Jesus would be crucified. St. Alphonsus said that St. Bridget had a vision in Rome of an angel with a very long sword, dripping with blood, which represented Mary’s long martyrdom of 33 years, knowing that her Son would one day die for the sins of mankind. This is why we see her crying travailing in birth in Revelation, 12:2. “And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered.” Mary had no pain delivering Jesus. She was suffering for the rest of mankind, her children, “who have the testimony of Jesus Christ, and keep the commandments of God,” verse 17. How do we know this woman is Mary? Because her son is to rule them with an iron rod, probably the rod of eternal damnation. “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod: and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne.” We see a reference of this rod of iron in Psalms chapter two, where the Father in heaven is speaking of his Son: “The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron…’’ 2:7-9.
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