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PAGE 5—January 30,1975
Penance, a Second Baptism and Renewal
BY REV. PAUL F. PALMER, S.J.
The new ORDER OF PENANCE, or Rite for
Reconciling penitents begins with the
statement: “The Father has shown His mercy
by reconciling the world to Himself in Christ,
making peace with all things whether on earth
or in heaven through the blood of His cross.”
cunning of Satan, our adversary. Accordingly,
the Fathers of Trent, faithful to the teaching of
the past, condemned anyone who would say
that “penance is not truly and properly a
sacrament instituted by Christ our Lord for
reconciling the faithful to God Himself, as
often as they fall into sin after baptism” (SESS.
XXV, CANON 1).
faithful must confess to a priest each and every
grave sin which they remember upon
examination of their conscience.” (Rite of
Penance, 7. a.). But like the Father’s judgment
on sin, to which Christ submitted, the judgment
of the priest is liberating and healing.
Jesus referred to His death on the cross as a
Baptism which He eagerly awaited as the means
of drawing all men to Himself and to the
Father. Because of Christ’s death, the death of
“everyman” can be a dying with Christ,
whether that death be the sacramental dying in
Baptism in water and the Spirit, the dying to
sin in true repentance perfected by love, or the
martyr’s dying with Christ in his own Baptism
of blood.
But what of the Christian who has “been
baptized by the Spirit into one body,” the
body of Christ, and who through serious sin has
“Abandoned his first love,” with which he
responded to the Father’s love? Can he be born
again? Can he be reconciled again to the
Father? Can he be restored to the Church, the
body of Christ?
The early Church referred to the sacrament
of Penance as a second baptism, a more
laborious baptism, a baptism not in clear water
but in the tears of the penitent. More was
demanded of the penitent than of the candidate
for baptism in water. In the new Rite of
Penance, it is stated: “The Church ‘possesses
both water and tears: the water of baptism, the
tears of penance.” (Rite of Penance, No. 2).
And the “more” is spelled out by the Fathers
of Trent.
“The sacrament of penance includes the
confession of sins, which comes from the
knowledge of self before God and from
contrition for those sins. However, this inner
examination of heart and the exterior
accusation should be made in the light of God’s
mercy. Confession requires in the penitent the
will to open his heart to the minister of God,
and in the minister a spiritual judgment by
which, acting in the person of Christ, he
pronounces his decision of forgiveness or
retention of sins in accord with the power of
the keys.” (Rite of Penance, 6. b.)
Ideally speaking, there should be but “one
Baptism for the forgiveness of sins,” and in the
early Church and down through the ages there
have always been rigorist groups who have
pressed the ideal to the point of excluding
irrevocably from the Christian community
those who have violated their baptismal vows.
Unlike Baptism, in which pardon is granted
by way of complete amnesty, the penitent
“who has sinned but who has been moved by
the Holy Spirit to come to the sacrament of
Penance should above all be converted to God
with his whole heart. This inner conversion of
heart embraces sorrow for sin and the intent to
lead a new life. It is expressed through
confession made to the Church, due
satisfaction, and amendment of life. God grants
pardon for sin through the Church, which
works by the ministry of priests.” (Rite of
Penance, No. 6)
In the early third century the Greek word for
the sacrament of Penance was “exomologesis”
or “confession,” just as it is for many Catholics
today. In the Western Church the Latin word
was “paenitentia” which means not only
repentance or true conversion of heart, an
essential requisite for pardon, but penance or
expiation, a “penitential action” in which “by
making satisfaction and in suffering for our sins
we become like Christ who satisfied for our
sins” (TRENT, SESS. XIV, CH. 8).
Against these rigorists the Church has always
appealed to the infinite mercy of God, who
knows our weakness, the stuff of which we are
made, because He has fashioned us, and the
Penitents will not be asked to share Christ’s
physical death before they are reconciled to the
Father, but they will be expected to stand
before the tribunal of penance, “To obtain the
saving remedy of the sacrament of penance,
according to the plan of our merciful God, the
The period of time for “doing” penance, and
the manner in which penance was performed
and reconciliation granted differed according to
time and place. But as the decree of the “Order
of Penance” states: “Although the manner of
celebration has varied, the Church in the course
of the centuries has celebrated faithfully the
sacrament in all its essential elements.”
“CONFESSION REQUIRES in the
penitent the will to open his heart to
the minister of God.” A priest and
penitent take part in a face to face
confession in Germany. (NC Photo by
KNA)
Penance: Gift From God
The Healing Power of Penance
BY STEVE LANDREGAN
BY EUGENE S. GEISSLER
It has to be significant that the new Rite of
Penance came close to being called the Rite of
Reconciliation. The word “reconciliation,” very
prominently a theme of the new rite, opens
new vistas and new emphases for the sacrament.
One of these is healing. Because even the just
man sins daily, and because all of us need
reconciliation all the time, there is more need
for this sacrament than has lately been
recognized. There is need not only for us to
have our sins forgiven and being reconciled to
others and to God, but also of being reconciled
to ourselves -- a need to be healed and to be
made whole.
possibility of priest and penitent praying
together for all the areas of life that are hurting,
in addition to giving absolution and proclaiming
God’s forgiveness for sins. The sins represent
the past, but healing is often needed to change
the penitent’s life in the future.” (p. 289)
Two other books (from Paulist Press) both
deal with this same subject of healing and
confession: a second one by Father Scanlan,
“Inner Healing,” and one by Fathers Dennis
and Matthew Linn, S.J., “The Healing of
Memories.” It seems to me that there is more
here than an isolated remark into the wide,
open spaces. There is indicated a pronounced
activity of the Spirit in our times to help to
restore man, who is ever more wounded by sin
and inner conflict. This dimension of the
sacrament of Penance, while not entirely new
since people have testified to it in the past, may
well become a more normal part of the renewed
“sacrament of reconciliation.”
The sacrament of Penance and
Reconciliation (and all the sacraments for that
matter) make little sense without an
understanding of the Church as the saving
presence of Christ in the world today.
There are many images of the Church in
Scripture but St. Paul’s image of the Body of
Christ (Rom. 12:4-8, 1 Cor. 10:14-22, etc.)
makes it easiest for us to understand the
Church as the redeeming and forgiving presence
of Jesus in and to the world.
Jesus often combined forgiving and healing.
When Christ said to the adulterous woman,
“Your sins are forgiven. Go in peace and sin no
more,” He was not only forgiving her sins (a
matter of the past), but also giving her peace (a
matter of the present), and working a healing
power upon her faults so that she had hope and
help for sinning no more (a matter of the
future). For many people, one of the
unsatisfying aspects of the sacrament of
Penance has been that lack of hope for the
future. Somehow we knew we would sin the
same old sin again, and after a while it was like
a merry-go-round harder and harder to believe
in.
Know Your Faith
(All Articles On This Page Copyrighted 1974 by N.C. News Service)
How Do You Say “Pm Sorry?
55
I admit to acquiring a new attitude and
outlook concerning this lack of hope for the
future and this seeming “weakness” in the
sacrament of Penance upon first reading Father
Michael Scanlan’s “Power in Penance.” I
finished that short book, put it down and said
to v myself: “Man, this old sacrament isn’t dead
yet!” Deep down inside of me I was glad that it
wasn’t. What is more, here in this presently
maligned and neglected sacrament were
untapped resources, unlimited power for
forgiveness, reconciliation and healing.
BY MARY AND JAMES KENNY
Four-year-old Linda was clearly getting the
worst of the deal. In the midst of play with her
big brother, she came wailing to Mama.
“Tommy hit me!” Wail. Pause. “And he didn’t
even say ‘I’m sorry.’”
result, the whole subject is glossed over.
Charges are made that “youth doesn’t care
anyway,” and adults and young people
flounder along.
The thesis in Father Scanlan’s book is
exactly that: there is power in the sacrament of
penance -- power that is available to Christians
for the forgiveness of their sins, yes, but also
for reconciling them to themselves as well as
others, for healing and for making whole. He
says: “It seems inappropriate that prayers for
healing are occurring almost exclusively outside
the sacrament of Penance. The Lord first linked
healing and forgiveness of sin and the Church
developed a theology of reconciliation that
designates this sacrament as the ordinary
avenue of inner healing . .. The work of saving
through Penance should include this healing
unto health or wholeness.” (Ave Maria Press, p.
57) Father Scanlan’s book provides an
approach for incorporating elements of healing
and deliverance into the sacrament of penance.
Even at four a child understands that saying
“I’m sorry” helps to right a wrong. Contrition,
toward neighbor as toward God, breaks down
the barriers that come from wronging another
and helps to reestablish a personal relationship.
So often we hear that people today,
especially young people, are no longer
concerned about sin. They have no sense of
right and wrong, show no guilt, no contrition,
no sorrow. It may be more accurate to say that
young people will no longer accept pat answers
about morality and values. Parents and teachers
too realize that pat answers are not enough, yet
they do not know what to substitute. As a
Through studies of the growing child, we
have learned that the moral sense is a
developing capability. That is, each child goes
through various stages in his understanding of
morality, just as surely as he learns to sit and
crawl before he learns to walk. Intelligence and
education have little or no effect upon the rate
of development. We parents and teachers must
understand this development, or we are likely
to expect a maturity level which is beyond the
child’s development. Until he is 10 or older, a
child learns about right and wrong by observing
and imitating the people around him. Gesell and
Ilg, in their book on young people, quote a
10-year-old’s explanation of morality,
“Conscience usually tells me if it’s wrong - and
then I wait till mummy bawls me out to see if it
themselves: the start of a church season; the
time before an important feast; preparation for
some family event such as the reception of a
sacrament. The family can structure the
penance vigil in whatever way seems
appropriate to them. Scripture readings, prayers
and songs can be used, or the family can simply
meet and talk.
Whatever the format, the essential point for a
successful penance vigil is that each person
examine himself and listen to others without
judging them. The first inclination of each child
is to point out what is wrong with his brothers
and sisters. Even parents sometimes seize this
opportunity for a little lecture on the children’s
shortcomings. No family discussion stands a
chance of success with such attitudes. Parents
can use a light touch to steer the discussion
toward more productive lines.
is.'
Perhaps the single most important thing to
do in regard to this power is to be open to it, to
be aware of it, priest and penitent alike, and to
ask for its effects upon oneself through the
priest. Father Palmer in the lead article this
week: “Penitance, a Second Baptism and
Renewal,” hints at this extended power of
confession when he says: “The judgment of the
priest is liberating and healing.”
Perhaps all of us have, at one time or
another, felt “liberated” after confession
because we knew our sins were forgiven. But
there is really more to it than that. Francis
MacNutt, O.P., in a chapter entitled:
“Sacraments and Healing” in his book,
“Healing,” says: “When a person comes to
confession we cannot always expect that
absolving the confessed sin will solve the
problem; we ordinarily need to deal with
healing the whole man. Once we offer the
possibility of real healing to people, then they
will start flocking back to this sacrament.” (Ave
Maria Press, p. 287)
Eleven becomes more skeptical about
distinguishing right and wrong, Gesell tells us.
Commented one 11-year-old, “I don’t think
anyone knows.” It is important to realize that
such a remark represents, not a defiance of
morality, but a growing stage in moral
development.
While there is great variability during the
years from 12 to 15, moral development shows
a pattern of personal awareness of right and
wrong. By 16 no youth said he was unable to
tell right from wrong. But it has taken 16 years
for an internal ethical sense to develop, and
there is further potential not yet realized.
What possibilities might be explored during a
family penance vigil? The first is the idea that
sin breaks down personal relationships and
contrition restores them. Within the family,
children can be helped to see how lying or
stealing would break down trust. Failure to
keep your word is another kind of failure of
trust. As family members better understand
how their own family relationships are
weakened, they can develop insights into their
relationship with God.
If the development of a moral sense takes far
longer than most parents and teachers realize,
and if adults themselves are confused about
morality today, is it any wonder that young
people do not find Penance meaningful in their
lives? Young people often do not know how to
prepare for confession. In giving examples of
sin, parents and teachers frequently rely on the
“big sins.” The young person examining his
conscience thinks, “I didn’t rob a bank.” When
pressed, he will frequently admit that he sort of
“makes up” sins just so he’ll have something to
say.
Another possibility in family penance vigils is
to focus on sins of omission. What aspirations
have we had, and how well have we done at
striving toward them? While no one should be
forced to speak, family members might actually
gain strength and grow closer by sharing such
ideas.
A family penance vigil might be formalized
by attending a communal penance service or by
going together to the sacrament of Penance.
The new emphasis on reconciliation and the
new context for the sacrament of Penance open
up, according to Father MacNutt, “the
“HOPE IS A TINY GIRL . . . Hope
is she who rises every morning . . . who
every morning wishes us good day.” A
little girl expresses hope in her big eyes.
As in other areas, both parents and young
people can perhaps get a better understanding
of morality by talking and listening to each
other. The discussion can be built around a
family penance vigil. Many occasions suggest
Contrition, like every prayer, is an
affirmation of hope. Saying “I’m sorry” is a
way of saying that things can.,.be better, that
I’m going to try harder, that people can be
closer, and that with God’s grace I will be a
more loving person than I have ever been. The
French poet Peguy has God describing His
virtues. “Faith,” God says, “is a faithful wife.
Charity is an ardent mother. But hope is a tiny
girl . . . Hope is she who rises every morning . . .
who every morning wishes us good day.”
Saying “I’m sorry” is a promise that today will
be better than yesterday.
This Church community that is called Christ
has been described not only as a community of
the redeemed but also as a redeeming
community. It mediates the redeeming power
of Christ to the world.
In his Second Letter to the Corinthians, Paul
puts it this way: “God in Christ was reconciling
the world to Himself, not holding men’s faults
against them, and He has entrusted to us the
news that they are reconciled. So we are
ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God
were appealing through us, and the appeal that
we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to
God” (5:18ff).
The Church community is the minister of
God’s reconciliation, not as a human institution
but as the actual presence of Christ, the
personification of the Father’s forgiving love.
Baptism is the means by which we are joined
to the Body of Christ by sharing in His death
and Resurrection (Rom. 6:4ff). It is the
fundamental sacrament or sign of forgiveness.
But just as man separated himself from God
by original sin, reconciled man separates
himself from the Body of Christ, the Church
community by serious personal sin.
The sin that separates a person from that
community that is the Son’s presence in the
world necessarily separates him from the
Father. (Cf. John 14:23-24)
When we, as sinners, seek reconciliation with
the Church community, the Body of Christ, the
Church prays to the Father with the prayer of
Christ. Because it is the prayer of Christ the
Son, the Father unfailingly answers and we are
forgiven and reconciled.
The Scriptural basis for this reconciling role
of the Church is beautifully set forth in John
20:19-23.
The Risen Christ appears to the disciples in
the upper room. The first thing He says is
“Peace be with you.” The ancient name for
Penance was “Pax Ecclesiae” the Peace of the
Church.
He “showed them His hands and His side”
the signs of His death from which this new
peace flows. Then His own mission was
extended to the disciples . . . “As the Father
sent me, so I am sending you.”
Christ breathes upon them as a symbol of the
renewal of creation His death has made
possible, then says “Receive the Holy Spirit”
their source of His strength and truth.
Finally He bestows the power to bind and
loose . . . “For those whose sins you forgive,
they are forgiven; for those whose sins you
retain, they are retained.”
It is not the priest who forgives sin anymore
than the Apostles forgave sin. The forgiveness
comes from God. The priest represents Christ
and acts in His name because he is one set aside
by the Church community to minister the
sacraments in its name . . . that is in the name
of Christ.
The serious sinner not only separates himself
from the love of God but he also separates
himself from union with the other members of
the Church community. Penance restores the
penitent to full union with the community and
its members as well as effecting a reconciliation
with the Father through Jesus Christ.
Reconciliation through Penance is God’s
great gift of forgiveness and redemption made
present and personal to each of us individually
by Christ acting through the community that is
His Church.