Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - Letter to Priests, Holy Thursday 2002, 2. “…mission which the Lord has given us to represent him not just in the Eucharistic Sacrifice but also in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Between the two sacraments there is a profound relationship. 3. Yes, great indeed is the wisdom of God, who by instituting this sacrament has made provision for a profound and unremitting need of the human heart. We are meant to be loving and enlightened interpreters of this wisdom though the personal contact we are called to have with so many brothers and sisters in the celebration of Penance. In this regard, I wish to repeat that the usual form of administering this sacrament is its individual celebration, and only in “cases of grave necessity” is it lawful to employ the communal form with general confession and absolution. 5. Every encounter with someone wanting to go to confession, even when the request is somewhat superficial because it is poorly motivated and prepared, can become, through the surprising grace of God, that “place” near the sycamore tree where Christ looked up at Zacchaeus. How deeply Christ's gaze penetrated the Jericho publican's soul is impossible for us to judge. But we do know that that same gaze looks upon each of our penitents.
6. In confession, therefore, we can find ourselves faced with all kinds of people. But of one thing we must be convinced: anticipating our invitation, and even before we speak the words of the sacrament, the brothers and sisters who seek our ministry have already been touched by a mercy that works from within. Please God, we shall know how to co-operate with the mercy that welcomes and the love that saves.
7. Who can deny that the dominant culture of our time creates very real difficulties in this regard? Even mature Christians are often hindered by it in their efforts to live by God's commandments and follow the guidelines set out on the basis of the commandments by the Church's magisterium. This is the case with many issues in the area of sexual and family morality, bio-ethics and professional and social morality; but it is also true of problems regarding obligations in the area of religious practice and participation in the life of the Church. For this reason there is a need for a catechesis which the confessor cannot offer at the moment of celebrating the sacrament. It would be best to make this catechesis part of a deeper preparation for confession. With this in mind, penitential celebrations with community preparation and individual confession can be very helpful. To clarify all of this, the “biblical icon” of Zacchaeus provides yet another important cue. In the sacrament, the penitent first meets not “the commandments of God” but, in Jesus, “the God of the commandments”. To Zacchaeus, Jesus offers himself: “I must stay at your house”. He himself is the gift that awaits Zacchaeus, and he is also “God's law” for Zacchaeus. When we see our encounter with Jesus as a gift, even the most demanding features of the law assume the “lightness” of grace.
9. ... It is all the more evident why the personal encounter between confessor and penitent is the ordinary form of sacramental Reconciliation… The ordinary form of Reconciliation not only expresses well the truth of divine mercy and the forgiveness which springs from it, but also sheds light on the truth of man in one of its most fundamental aspects. Although human beings live through a network of relationships and communities, the uniqueness of each person can never be lost in a shapeless mass. This explains the deep echo in our souls when we hear ourselves called by name. When we realise that we are known and accepted as we are, with our most individual traits, we feel truly alive.(Fides Service 8/4/2005)
