302. What are the essential elements of the sacrament of Reconciliation? (part 2 continuation)
(Comp
302 repetition) The essential elements are two: the acts of the penitent
who comes to repentance through the action of the Holy Spirit, and the
absolution of the priest who in the name of Christ grants forgiveness and
determines the ways of making satisfaction.
“In brief”
(CCC 1441) Only God forgives sins (Cf. Mk 2:7). Since he is
the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, "The Son of man has authority on
earth to forgive sins" and exercises this divine power: "Your sins
are forgiven" (Mk 2:5, 10; Lk 7:48). Further, by virtue of his divine
authority he gives this power to men to exercise in his name (Cf. Jn
20:21-23).
To deepen and explain
(CCC 1448) Beneath the changes in discipline and celebration
that this sacrament has undergone over the centuries, the same fundamental structure is to be
discerned. It comprises two equally essential elements: on the one hand, the
acts of the man who undergoes conversion through the action of the Holy Spirit:
namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction; on the other, God's action
through the intervention of the Church. The Church, who through the bishop and
his priests forgives sins in the name of Jesus Christ and determines the manner
of satisfaction, also prays for the sinner and does penance with him. Thus the
sinner is healed and re-established in ecclesial communion. (CCC 1449) The
formula of absolution used in the Latin Church expresses the essential elements
of this sacrament: the Father of mercies is the source of all forgiveness. He
effects the reconciliation of sinners through the Passover of his Son and the
gift of his Spirit, through the prayer and ministry of the Church: “God, the
Father of mercies, through the death and the resurrection of his Son has
reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the
forgiveness of sins; through the
ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you
from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit” (OP 46: formula of absolution).
On reflection
(CCC 1445) The words bind
and loose mean: whomever you exclude from your communion, will be excluded
from communion with God; whomever you receive anew into your communion, God
will welcome back into his. Reconciliation
with the Church is inseparable from reconciliation with God. (CCC 1446)
Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his
Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and
have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to
them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to
recover the grace of justification. The Fathers of the Church present this
sacrament as "the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is
the loss of grace" (Tertullian, De
Paenit. 4, 2: PL 1, 1343; cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1542). [END]
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