Confession to a Priest & Petitioning Saints
CATHOLIC TRADITION - Confession (of sins) to a priest. Petitioning Mary and the saints.
WHAT THE ANTI-CATHOLIC HAS TO SAY - Sins and needs are to be confessed only to God.
BIBLICAL CITATIONS OF THE ANTI-CATHOLIC - [Confession to God] "If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from every wrongdoing" (1 John 1:9). [The Our Father] "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (Matthew 6:12). [One Mediator, not the saints, the Pope, or the priests] "For there is one God. There is one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:5). "But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one" (1 John 2:1).
RESPONSE OF A CATHOLIC - The use of 1 Timothy is quite interesting because he affirms the value of good works in fidelity and love to Christ: "But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever calims to abide in him ought to live [just] as he lived" (1 Timothy 2:5-6). I would suspect that the anti-Catholic bigot would not like this message very much. None of his citations contradict Catholic faith. Sins can be forgiven, even outside of the sacrament of Confession. However, one must still admit sinfulness, be sorry, and offer an act of contrition. The sacrament is a special and certain way we receive God's mercy. The Church reserves to herself the confession of certain serious sins so that we may assuredly be forgiven, receive the graces to amend our life, repair rift caused by sin in the Mystical Body, and receive appropriate counsel. Because of his configuration to Christ, the absolution of the priest in Confession resonates in perfect harmony with the expiation of the Cross. Christ forgives our sins. He has extended something of this authority to his Church as an element of his abiding and healing presence. The anti-Catholic critic has trouble with Confession for the same reason that he cannot abide the ministry of priests, the authority of the Pope, and the intercession of the saints: his is an intensely privatized faith which makes no concession to a church other than periodic fellowship. Churches, as long as they are not Romanized, are interchangeable and maybe even considered unnecessary. Such is a theology incapatable with the Scriptural view of the Church as the new People of God or the new Israel or Jerusalem.
BIBLICAL CITATIONS OF A CATHOLIC - [All the previous ones are okay as long as they are correctly understood] [Precident in the Old Testament] "The Lord said to Moses: 'Tell the Israelites: If a man (or woman) commits a fault against his fellow man and wrongs him, thus breaking faith with the Lord, he shall confess the wrong he has done, restore his ill-gotten goods in full, ...'" (Numbers 5:5-7). "He who conceals his sins prospers not, but he who confesses and forsakes them obtains mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). [David confessed his sins to Nathan the prophet and was given assurance of pardon] "Then David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the Lord.' Nathan answered David: 'The Lord on his part has forgiven your sin: you shall not die" (2 Samuel 12:13). [Responding to John the Baptizer] "Then there went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region about the Jordan; and they were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins" (Matthew 3:5-6). [Responding to the Apostles] "Many of those who had become believers came forward and openly acknowledged their former practices" (Acts 19:18). [Ordained ministers exert Christ's forgiveness over sins] "So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20). "He therefore said to them again, 'Peace be to you! As the Father has sent me, I also send you.' When he said this, be breathed upon them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained'" (John 20:21-23). "Amen I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven" (Matthew 18:18). "And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). [I will address the matter of Mary and the saints elsewhere.]
WHAT THE ANTI-CATHOLIC HAS TO SAY - Sins and needs are to be confessed only to God.
BIBLICAL CITATIONS OF THE ANTI-CATHOLIC - [Confession to God] "If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from every wrongdoing" (1 John 1:9). [The Our Father] "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (Matthew 6:12). [One Mediator, not the saints, the Pope, or the priests] "For there is one God. There is one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:5). "But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one" (1 John 2:1).
RESPONSE OF A CATHOLIC - The use of 1 Timothy is quite interesting because he affirms the value of good works in fidelity and love to Christ: "But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever calims to abide in him ought to live [just] as he lived" (1 Timothy 2:5-6). I would suspect that the anti-Catholic bigot would not like this message very much. None of his citations contradict Catholic faith. Sins can be forgiven, even outside of the sacrament of Confession. However, one must still admit sinfulness, be sorry, and offer an act of contrition. The sacrament is a special and certain way we receive God's mercy. The Church reserves to herself the confession of certain serious sins so that we may assuredly be forgiven, receive the graces to amend our life, repair rift caused by sin in the Mystical Body, and receive appropriate counsel. Because of his configuration to Christ, the absolution of the priest in Confession resonates in perfect harmony with the expiation of the Cross. Christ forgives our sins. He has extended something of this authority to his Church as an element of his abiding and healing presence. The anti-Catholic critic has trouble with Confession for the same reason that he cannot abide the ministry of priests, the authority of the Pope, and the intercession of the saints: his is an intensely privatized faith which makes no concession to a church other than periodic fellowship. Churches, as long as they are not Romanized, are interchangeable and maybe even considered unnecessary. Such is a theology incapatable with the Scriptural view of the Church as the new People of God or the new Israel or Jerusalem.
BIBLICAL CITATIONS OF A CATHOLIC - [All the previous ones are okay as long as they are correctly understood] [Precident in the Old Testament] "The Lord said to Moses: 'Tell the Israelites: If a man (or woman) commits a fault against his fellow man and wrongs him, thus breaking faith with the Lord, he shall confess the wrong he has done, restore his ill-gotten goods in full, ...'" (Numbers 5:5-7). "He who conceals his sins prospers not, but he who confesses and forsakes them obtains mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). [David confessed his sins to Nathan the prophet and was given assurance of pardon] "Then David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the Lord.' Nathan answered David: 'The Lord on his part has forgiven your sin: you shall not die" (2 Samuel 12:13). [Responding to John the Baptizer] "Then there went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region about the Jordan; and they were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins" (Matthew 3:5-6). [Responding to the Apostles] "Many of those who had become believers came forward and openly acknowledged their former practices" (Acts 19:18). [Ordained ministers exert Christ's forgiveness over sins] "So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20). "He therefore said to them again, 'Peace be to you! As the Father has sent me, I also send you.' When he said this, be breathed upon them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained'" (John 20:21-23). "Amen I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven" (Matthew 18:18). "And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). [I will address the matter of Mary and the saints elsewhere.]
posted by Father Joe Jenkins at 3:31 PM
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