The Sacrament of Reconciliation, also known as the Sacrament of Penance, is the new and preferred name for the Sacrament of Confession. This is one of the least understood of the sacraments of the Catholic Church. In reconciling us to God, it is a great source of grace, and Catholics are encouraged to take advantage of it often.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of the seven sacraments recognized by the Catholic Church. Catholics believe that all of the sacraments were instituted by Jesus Christ himself. In the case of Reconciliation, that institution occurred on Easter Sunday, when Christ first appeared to the apostles after his Resurrection. Breathing on them, he said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained” (John 20:22-23).

We believe that the Sacraments are an outward sign of an inward grace. In this case, the outward sign is the absolution, or forgiveness of sins, that the priest grants to the penitent (the person confessing); the inward grace is the reconciliation of the penitent to God (which is why the sacrament is now preferably called the Sacrament of Reconciliation). This moves the emphasis on God’s mercy, and our being reconciled to him rather than the emphasis being on us and our sinfulness.

That reconciling of us to God is the purpose of the Sacrament. When we sin, we deprive ourselves of God’s grace. By doing so, we make it even easier to sin some more. The only way out of this downward cycle is to acknowledge our sins, to repent of them, and to ask God’s forgiveness. Then, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, grace can be restored to our souls, and we can once again try to resist sin.

Three things are required of a penitent in order to receive the sacrament worthily:

1. We must be contrite—or, in other words, sorry for our sins.

2. We must confess those sins fully.

3. We must be willing to do penance and make amends for our sins.

While we are only required to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation when we are aware that we have committed a mortal sin, the Church urges us to take advantage of the Sacrament often. A good rule of thumb is to go once per month. (The Church strongly recommends that, in preparation for fulfilling our Easter Duty to receive Holy Communion, we go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.) The Church especially urges us to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation during Lent, to help us in our spiritual preparation for Easter.

Non-Catholics, and even Catholics, often ask whether they can confess their sins directly to God, and whether God can forgive them without going through a priest. On the most basic level, of course, the answer is yes, and Catholics should make frequent acts of contrition, which are prayers in which we tell God that we are sorry for our sins and ask for His forgiveness. But the question misses the point of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation, by its very nature, confers graces that help us to live a Christian life, which is why the Church requires us to receive it at least once per year. Moreover, it was instituted by Christ as the proper form for the forgiveness of our sins. Therefore, we should not only be willing to receive the sacrament, but we should embrace it as a gift from a loving, merciful, forgiving God.

At St. John Bosco, as well as our Lenten and Advent Penitential Services, where there is the opportunity for individual Confession, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is available on a weekly basis at 5:30pm on Saturday evenings before Mass or an alternative arrangement can be made by making an appointment with Fr. Chris.