Catholic Sacraments: Reconciliation

The sacrament of reconciliation is the method given by Christ to the Church where men and woman can confess any sins and have them absolved by a priest. This is done after a person is baptized. This is done by just an individual. It older times it could be done in a group situation but this since has changed.

Catholics believe that a priest himself can not forgive the sins of a person. Catholics believe that only God himself can and that he does this through the Catholic priesthood. The priests have the ability to absolve the sins of a person. The definition absolution in liturgy is pronouncement of God's forgiveness of sins. Catholics believe God exercises the power of forgiveness by means of the sacrament of reconciliation

The priest has the role of a judge. He is supposed to symbolize Christ. The Church gives the priest the right and power of jurisdiction over the person who is repenting. There are two types of sins that the person asking for forgiveness has. They are mortal and venial sins. The mortal sins are the sins which destroy the relationship with God. They break the love and trust that there is between a believer and God. These sins are done willingly with knowledge that they are going against the wishes of God. These sins include murder, missing Mass without good reasons, rape, sex, etc.

If you were to die before you had the chance to perform this sacrament and you had committed mortal sins, then you would be sentenced to an eternal hell. The venial sins are ones that a person does usually unknowingly and only strain their relationship with God. They are lesser sins. A person confessing his/her sins must confess the mortal sins. This is in order to restore God's grace and not damn them to Hell. They can choose whether or not to talk about the venial sins. The intent of reconciliation is to provide healing for the soul as well as to regain the grace of God, lost by sin.

There are a few requirements that the person asking for forgiveness has to do. First off, he can't just simply state the sins he has committed. This is not enough. The penitent must truly be sorry for what you did and recognize fully what your offense has done to your relationship with God. The penitent must have a firm and good intention of never committing the mortal sin ever again and perform the penance that the priest imposes on them. On addition to all of this, a person during confession must recall how many times they had committed the offense. According the Canon Law a person should confess their mortal sins once a year. From my research I have surmised that this is the most negated part of a Catholics spiritual life.

What is learned in confession by the priest is under total confidentiality and cannot be talked about ever again. They can not reveal it in the threat of death or that of others. If a priest were to reveal any information then they would be excommunicated. In a criminal case, a priest can encourage the person in question to surrender or corroborate information but they cannot go any further than that. The only way a priest can say anything is with permission from the penitent and without actually revealing the identity of the penitent.