Last week we spoke on the ninth article of the Apostles’ Creed, “the Holy Catholic Church; the Communion of Saints.”  In this article, we declare our Faith in the one visible and organized religion founded by Jesus Christ for the salvation of all mankind; this Church is identified by four marks: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.  In the tenth article, “the forgiveness of sins,” we profess catholic belief that Christ transmitted to His Church the power to forgive sins.  This is our topic today.

We know that it belongs to God alone to forgive sin.  As God alone is formally offended by sin, so He alone is able to pardon sin.  Speaking in place of God, Isaiah says, “I am He Who blots out iniquities.” (Is 43:25); and so we pray in the Our Father, “forgive us our trespasses.”  

The power to forgive sins, however, may be transferred to another.  Christ as man was the first to receive the power to forgive sins.  “Christ our Lord, although true God, was the first Who, as man, received this high prerogative from His heavenly Father.” (Catechism of Trent).  We see this in the account of the paralytic, wherein Christ tells the sick man, “Be of good heart son, thy sins are forgiven thee.”  The attending scribes think within themselves, “He blasphemes.”  And Jesus, seeing their thoughts, says to them, “that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins (then He turns to the sick man) arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house.” (Mt 9:6)

As Christ had power on earth to forgive sin so there is an indication that He wanted that power to remain on earth.  And, indeed, the Savior did communicate this power to His Church.  Previous to His ascension, the risen Christ tells His apostles in the Upper Room, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.” (Jn 20:23)

Finally, to avoid confusion on this point, the risen Christ further explained, “Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, the third day; and that penance and remission of sins should be preached in His name unto all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.” (Lk 24:46,47)

And so, for 2,000 years now, in the religion Christ founded, the forgiveness of sins is preached and sins are forgiven through the successors of the apostles, namely, the priests and bishops of the Catholic Church.   

When we say, “the forgiveness of sins,”...
We believe that Christ communicated His divine power of forgiving sins to the priesthood of His Church.  Almost 800 years before the coming Messiah, the prophet Isaiah foretold that the Catholic Church would forgive sin, “The people that dwell therein (in the Church) shall have their iniquity taken away from them.” (Is 33:24)

In two ordinary ways does the Church practice the forgiveness of sins, by the Sacraments of Baptism and Confession.  Baptism removes original sin and all actual sin, all commissions and omissions of sin; nor, after baptism, is any punishment owed for committed sin.  Baptism, however, does not diminish concupiscence; man remains inclined towards sin even after baptism.  And, as so few keep their baptismal innocence, so there is a moral necessity for another way to remove serious sin committed after baptism. 

Thus the purpose of the Sacrament of Confession.  Confession is the second plank after shipwreck.  Should baptismal innocence be lost, a contrite  confession restores friendship with God by returning sanctifying grace into the soul with attendant infused virtue and gifts of the Holy Ghost.

By “contrite” we mean that sorrow in the soul for having lost God’s friendship SO THAT I now hate all sin, past and present, and am now prepared never more to sin, never more to delight in past sin or boast of them, and am now determined to avoid all unnecessary near occasions of my sin.  These mark a proper contrition which every one must bring to his confession AND which the priest must verify.  Lateran Council V (1512-1517) condemned the opinion of Martin Luther that this was unnecessary: “No one ought to answer a priest that he is contrite, nor should the priest inquire” - condemned statement.

The Church’s power to forgive sin is not limited to particular sins; all mortal and venial sins are proper matter for the sacrament: “whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven.”  Nor is this forgiveness limited by number as “‘three strikes you’re out’ sorry, go to hell.”  As long as a man brings proper contrition to confession the priest may forgive his sins as per the words of our dear Savior in response to Peter’s question, “How many times do I forgive my brother? Seven times?”,  ... “Not only seven times, but seventy times seven.” (Mt 18:21-22)  As long as proper contrition exists, we may worthily receive confession as many times as we need to; “as long as they fall into sins after baptism.” (Trent)

Hearing a contrite confession, the priest knows what to forgive and in pronouncing at least these words, “I absolve you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Trent) the sins are “truly and immediately” forgiven.

The “forgiveness of sins” is one of the most recognizably Catholic articles of the Apostle’s Creed.  So aggressively did Martin Luther and other reformers misinterpret it that Council of Trent decreed, “As without baptism, no man can be cleansed from original sin, so without the sacrament of penance, which is another means instituted by God to cleanse from sin, he who desires to recover the grace of baptism, forfeited by actual mortal guilt, cannot recover lost innocence.”

A last note:
The forgiveness of sins is one of the most comforting doctrines of our holy religion.  The whole purpose of the Incarnation is to save man not punish him; Christ became man to take our sins away, not to punish us for having sinned.  And what joy, after making a contrite confession to hear the words of the priest in place of God, “Ego te absolvo, etc.” and know my sins are ‘truly and immediately’ forgiven.

But it will be to our eternal loss if we seriously neglect this great instrument of our salvation.
If we wish to grow in virtue, root out vice, and chip away at our imperfections - then we must contritely come to confession.  To the measure we desire something, so the measure we will try to obtain it.  Mountain climbers take weeks to climb Everest; by a contrite confession, I can come closer than they to heaven; by a contrite confession, I can restore God to my soul if I have lost Him, or if I have not lost Him, the same sacrament will obtain an increase of grace to help me not sin in the future... and all this, in less time than an oil change.  Perhaps if God decreed we had to climb Everest before our sins could be removed some of us could rightly complain; but no such decree exists.  Instead, we are told: “Go to My priest; say a contrite confession; and he shall forgive yours sins as I have appointed him to.”  Such an easy remedy.  But as the solution is easy, so we are more to blame if we neglect its use in working out our salvation.