Feb 4 Tue
Why confess to a priest if I can talk directly to God?
We, Catholics, confess our sins to the Church, represented by a priest, and receive God’s forgiveness and absolution BECAUSE GOD WANTED IT THIS WAY. God willed that HIS pardon and mercy should pass through His Son, Jesus Christ, who acts through the priest, and hence, instituted the Sacrament of Confession, upon giving His Apostles the power and authority to forgive sins or retain them.
God’s choice makes sense: any ‘objective’ offense to God of mine, should not be forgiven by a ‘subjective’ action of mine, merely.
– Where can you find God’s desire to forgive through his chosen ministers in the Bible and the institution of the Sacrament of Confession?
Jn 20:21-23 – “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so, I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT. IF YOU FORGIVE THE SINS OF ANY, THEY ARE FORGIVEN; IF YOU RETAIN THE SINS OF ANY, THEY ARE RETAINED.”
The power to “forgive and retain” sins in the name of Jesus is described in other scriptural passages as the authority to “bind and loosen.”
But how could Jesus expect the Apostles to judge who should be forgiven, and who should not?
For us, humans, by being told or informed about the matter to judge.
– But isn’t it that only God can forgive sins?
Yes! Only God can, and it is He who forgives sins in the sacrament of Confession and not the priest. The priest is the instrument, he lends his voice to Christ.
The practice of confessing one’s sins has been present since the times when the Apostles were still alive. (James 5: 14-16)
The command in v. 16, “confess your sins to one another” must be interpreted within the previous context of the anointing rite, where the elders (i.e., presbyter = Greek πρεσβύτερος: priest, the senior, leader of the Christian congregation) presumably heard the confession of the sick person before his sins were remitted through the sacrament (5:14-15).
Had God willed us to confess directly to Him, by a merely subjective move, Jesus would not have given His power and authority to forgive sins to His Apostles or instituted the Sacrament of Confession.
When we, obeying God’s will, confess our sins to His instruments, we receive the assurance of having been forgiven (‘I absolve you from your sins’). It is not just a ‘feeling’ that I have been forgiven, rather the Church tells me so. This objective assurance is in no way present for those who reject the sacrament of confession or reconciliation.
By confessing our sins to God’s instruments, who are also sinners, we practice and grow in humility and faith, necessary virtues to receive God’s loving forgiveness. Besides, the priest may give us some advice, as “preventive medicine.”
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