Reconciliation: An encounter with mercy

“Every time we go to confession, God embraces us,” Pope Francis once said. 

The Sacrament of Penance (also commonly called reconciliation or confession) is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, in which the faithful are absolved from sins committed after Baptism and are reconciled with the Christian community. 

According to Father Cory Stanley, pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Okarche, “Our Lord gave the apostles and their successors the ability to speak his own words of forgiveness (Jn 20:19-23). Jesus had his heart set on healing and now, after he ascended into Heaven, his healing ministry would remain. A man himself could never forgive sins, but Jesus gave certain men the authority to speak his words of forgiveness, so that the world could continue to meet him in person as time marched on. This encounter of forgiveness where we meet the successors of the apostles, the bishops and priests, has developed through the centuries.”  

Father Stanley further explains, “Sin is sin. Seeing God’s healing forgiveness at work is the most memorable part of the sacrament – not the sins confessed. The memorable part is seeing someone walking away with all that weight lifted off their shoulders!” 

Father Lance Warren, pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in El Reno, said when hearing confessions, he always carries a picture of the prodigal son being embraced by his father upon his return as representative of what happens in the Sacrament of Penance. 

“A parishioner heard me preach on the prodigal son and confession, and she generously gave me a framed print of the famous Rembrandt painting. It hangs in the confessional at Sacred Heart right now.”

Father Warren further explained, “I know many parishioners prefer going to a priest they don't
know and might very well never see again, but it's important to remember that for confessors celebrating the sacrament, there is the grace of leaving it all behind in the confessional. The priest who taught us in the art of confession told us this would be the case, but until I was ordained, I wasn't sure I believed this. But, it's true.”

“Reconciliation is not about judging or being judges. It's an encounter with mercy itself. It's an encounter with Christ.”

Charles Albert is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.