conan@sizzlean.berkeley.edu (David Cruz-Uribe) (03/25/91)
This posting is a copy of the talk I gave on the sacrament of
reconciliation. I would like to thank everyone who responded to
my earlier posting with their own insights and observations--these
were very helpful in getting my own thoughts in order.
The talk itself was very well received--it sparked a discussion
which lasted longer than the talk itself. I would be interested in
hearing the reactions of others to it.
Yours in Christ,
David Cruz-Uribe, SFO
P.S. to Hal L.: The most concise source I know for the early history
of the sacrament of reconciliation is the New Catholic Encyclopedia.
P.P.S to Gene G.: I hope this talk gives you the insight you wanted
into the Catholict view of this sacrament. Send e-mail if you have
any more questions.
Sin, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation
A Scriptural Discussion of the Sacrament of Reconciliation
I Introduction
I would like to begin by looking forward to Easter. On the
evening of the first Easter, Jesus came to his disciples. St.
John describes it as follows:
Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, 'Peace be with
you', and showed them his hands and side. The disciples were
filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them
again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so am I
sending you.' After saying this he breathed on them and said:
'Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they
are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are
retained.'
--John, 20:19-23
It is this forgiveness and peace which God has offered us that is
the heart of the sacrament of reconciliation; it is this
forgiveness and peace and our need for it which I want to talk
about today. I can think of no better way to do this than to
discuss Jesus' great story of sin and forgiveness: the parable of
the prodigal son.
What I am going to do is first read through the entire parable,
and then go back through it, piece by piece, to discern what it
has to say on sin, forgiveness, and reconciliation. I am not
going to deal directly with the details of the sacrament of
reconciliation; but I hope what I say will let you see the riches
that the sacrament contains.
II The Prodigal Son
In St. Luke's gospel, Jesus tells the following parable:
[Text of parable from the Jerusalem Bible deleted to save space.]
--Luke, 15:11-32
III Sin
In order to understand forgiveness, we must begin, as the parable
does, with sin. The sins of the younger son are easily
identified: he demanded half of his father's wealth and then
spent it on "a life of debauchery". But what, in general, is
sin? This is not an easy question to answer. The Ten
Commandments list what we must not do; the Sermon on the Mount
outlines what we must do. Falling short of either is sin, but
neither can fully encompass the totality of sinfulness. I
suspect that there are as many kinds of sin as there are men and
women in the world, since each of us, in our own way, turns from
God and rejects His love for us.
It is easy enough to recognize sin in others, but it is far more
important to recognize and acknowledge sin and its effects in our
own lives. For as St. John says, "If we say we have no sin in
us, we are deceiving ourselves and refusing to admit the truth."
(1 John 1:8) Sometimes, as in the case of the younger son, the
disastrous consequences of sin make us aware of them. Surrounded
by the ruins of our lives, we "come to our senses" and realize
that something has gone wrong.
There must be more going on, however, to make us aware of our
sins, if only because we don't always need to hit "rock bottom"
to do so. Sometimes, we have a "guilty conscience" about
something in particular; more often we just sense that something
is not right. Ultimately, it is God who calls them to our
attention. For in baptism we are united with Christ and are
sustained, as Jesus was, by the grace and love of the Father. In
sinning, we reject God's grace, preferring our own resources.
The love, however, remains, and it calls to us unceasingly. St.
Augustine put it this way:
"O Lord my God, tell me what you are to me! Say unto my soul: I
am thy salvation. Speak so that I can hear. See, Lord, the ears
of my heart are in front of you. Open them and say unto my soul:
I am thy salvation."
-- Confessions, 1:5
In recognizing sin then, we are responding to the Lord's call.
IV Forgiveness and Reconciliation
To move beyond sin, we need forgiveness, and the beginning
forgiveness is contrition. Having recognized his errors, the
younger son did not lapse into self-pity and guilt. Had he done
so, he would have stayed, hungry and alone, in a far country.
Rather, he was truly contrite--not only did he feel remorse for
his sins, but he wanted to begin anew with his father.
The long journey home which the younger son made is the same
journey we must make in our hearts to return to God. We must be
concious of our sins and the damage we have done to our
relationship with God, our neighbors, and ourselves. But,
resolving to avoid sin and grow in faith, we must turn our hearts
to the future. As St. Francis said, "Begin anew, always begin
anew; for up to now we have done nothing." (Source unknown)
Out of the ashes of our contrition arises God's great gift to us:
forgiveness, complete and unconditional. Just as the father saw
his son in the distance, God knows our sorrow even as we try to
form the words; indeed, it is His spirit that sustains us as we
do so. And his reponse is love; a love so all-consuming that we
emerge from it clothed again in the "new robe" of our baptism.
As St. Paul said:
"Your mind [is] renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can
put on the new self that has been created in God's way, in the
goodness and holiness of the truth."
-- Ephesians, 4:23-24
With forgiveness comes reconciliation: our hearts are again
turned completely towards God. Further, we are reconciled with
the church community. With the younger son we have returned
home, and the whole church, in heaven and on earth, joins in the
celebration of our return from the dead.
VI Growth
In the first half of the parable we have seen the miracle of
God's complete and overwhelming forgiveness. In the second half,
we find something unsettling: the reaction of the elder son. He
is angered and hurt by his father's actions. Part of his problem
is that he does not recognize the great miracle that has
happened, nor the role he has to play in it. As his father says:
"It is only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your
brother was dead and has come to life".
We too have a role to play in God's forgiveness. For just as in
being forgiven we are reconciled to God and to the Church
community; we, the Church community, must forgive and be
reconciled to those who are brought back to us "from the dead" by
the love of God. As Jesus taught:
"If your brother does something wrong, reprove him, and, if he is
sorry, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times a day and
seven times comes back to you and says, "I am sorry", you must
forgive him."
-- Luke, 17:3-4
Nor can forgiveness be given grudgingly. Each time a sinner is
reconciled to God, there is "great rejoicing" in Heaven. And it
is our duty and our privilege to join in that celebration.
Underlying the elder son's anger is the fact that he has
forgotten (or perhaps never understood) his father's love. He
sees their relationship only superficially: for him it has become
nothing more than obligations, rewards, and punishments. As he
says, "all these years I have slaved for you and never once
disobeyed your orders". He can't look beyond this to the love
his father has for him, and so he cannot see all the good things
which have come from this: As his father says, "My son, you are
with me always and all I have is yours".
Similarly, we can forget that our relationship with God is more
than moral bookkeeping. By God's grace we might avoid grave sin,
but at the same time lose sight of the all encompassing love
which made this possible. We continue to mark and confess our
minor sins, and are forgiven them. But we remain stationary: we
miss the opportunity to celebrate and to continue to grow in
God's love. As it says in the psalms:
God is indeed good to Israel,
the Lord is good to pure hearts.
[For] my feet were on the point of stumbling,
a little further and I should have slipped,
envying the arrogant as I did,
and watching the wich
[Text of psalm lost in transmission and no bible handy
to restore it: Sorry!]
d my heart are pining with love,
my heart's Rock, my own, God for ever!
--Psalm 73:1-3,23-26