What Are You Looking For? Part 2: The Liturgy and the Sacraments

The Sacrament of Reconciliation: A Short History

The Sacrament of Reconciliation: A Short History

            Of all of the Sacraments, it seems to me that this is one Protestant traditions understand the least.  Yet the Sacrament of Reconciliation has been around as long as the Church has.  Reconciliation addresses the problem that quickly arose within the early church.  When someone became a Christian, they went through some instruction on the faith, and then were baptized.  That baptism cleansed the new Christian of all Original Sin and all Actual Sin, both mortal and venial.  But what about sins committed after baptism? 

Fortunately, Jesus instituted a Sacrament for that as well.  The authority to forgive sins was handed on by Jesus to his disciples on the evening of his resurrection.  “[Jesus] said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’  And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.’”  (John 20: 21-23) 

            Now, it seems to me, that for the disciples to know whether to forgive sins, or to retain them, they must first know what they are.  Therefore, we can reach the logical conclusion that people were supposed to actually name their sins when they came to the apostles for forgiveness.  It’s called confession.  Whether the sin was retained or forgiven, I would think, generally depended on the contrition of the penitent.  For example, if you were a first century Christian and went to St. Peter and asked him to forgive you because you were committing adultery, and he asked if you planned to stop and you said, “No”, your sin would be retained. 

            In the early first century, the sacrament was somewhat different than it is today.  If you committed a serious sin, like murder or adultery, you could enter the order of penitents.  In some areas, you were only allowed to enter this order once during your lifetime.  Then followed a long process, sometimes years, of public penitence, before you were finally given absolution and restored to full communion with the Church.

            During the seventh century, things began to change.  Irish missionaries were inspired to by the Eastern monastic traditions and began teaching private confession throughout Europe.  Which is the structure we still have today.  Because of the private nature of confession, mortal sins could now be confessed frequently, thus allowing the sinner to be restored to spiritual health much faster.

            This was an important development in the practice of the Sacrament of Reconciliation because any Catholic who is not in a state of grace, that is, who has committed any mortal sin cannot receive the Eucharist until they have confessed that sin out loud to a priest and been granted absolution by God through the ministry of the Church.  When you were only permitted to enter the “order of penitents” and the process of penance took years, anyone who gravely sinned was deprived of the strength our souls receive through the Eucharist.  They were deprived of fellowship with the community of believers, because, by their sin, they had willingly severed that bond, not just with God, but with the Church.  This means that they were deprived of the very things that aid us in our struggle with sin and our Christian growth, sometimes for years, as a result of their sin.

            Today, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is available to every Roman Catholic.  Even when it’s not “scheduled”, most priests are more than willing to hear any penitent’s confession whenever they are available.  Whether we avail ourselves of the sacrament frequently or infrequently is up to us.  But should we commit mortal sin, we can find a priest, any priest, and confess our sins and be restored back to the state of grace that same day.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation is where we find the mercy of Christ waiting for us.