Rev. Gus Puleo: Confession is the celebration of God’s mercy
There are many misconceptions about the wonderful Sacrament of Confession. For many people going to confession evokes different feelings of discomfort or reluctance.
I humbly relate to you that I am a Missionary of Mercy chosen by Pope Francis to help people to celebrate this powerful sacrament. I have found that all of the doubt, fear and confusion surrounding confession is because of two grave misunderstandings: that my sin is only about me so I do not have to talk to a priest and that confession is a shameful and hurtful encounter.
Many question the need to confess to a priest as opposed to confessing to God just in private prayer and others have heard stories of negative experiences in the confessional. We are all sinners; however, with a good confession we receive the grace to resist sin and we learn humility by having to confess our sins to another person.
In addition, confession prepares us to receive the Holy Eucharist. Those who approach the Sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God’s mercy for the offenses committed against him and then are reconciled with the Church, which they have wounded by their sins, and by charity, example and prayer that helps for their conversion.
This sacrament has also been called the Sacrament of Conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus’s call to conversion, which is the first step to return to the Father from whom we have strayed. In this sacrament, the essential element is that one discloses his sins to a priest. Afterward, the priest absolves the penitent of his sins and asks him to perform an act of reparation or penance for the sins committed. Finally, the penitent is reconciled with God and the Church.
The origin of Confession is found in the New Testament. In Matthew 3:2 John the Baptist shouts, “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” Jesus spreads this message by forgiving the sins of people He encountered. The woman who was caught in the act of adultery in John 8 is saved from being stoned by Jesus who tells her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and from now on do not sin anymore” (John 8:11).
Even after his Resurrection, He told the Apostles to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins in His name to all the nations (Luke 24:47). In fact, the Sacrament was instituted on Easter evening as Jesus appeared to his disciples showing himself to the apostles and telling them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22-23).
Conversion to Christ occurs in our new birth of Baptism with the gift of the Holy Spirit and later with the Body and Blood of Christ who received as food have made us “holy and without blemish,” just as the Church is. Nevertheless, the new life received has not changed our frailties and weaknesses of human nature, nor the inclination to sin which the tradition calls “concupiscence.”
Baptism is the first call to conversion. However, our other conversions are an uninterrupted task for the whole Church which is to have a contrite heart that is drawn to and moved by grace to respond to the merciful love of God who loved us first. We saw Saint Peter’s conversion after he denied Jesus three times and after his Resurrection, there was a threefold affirmation of the love of God for Peter.
The second version is for the entire church to “Repent!” Repentance for our sins is radical reorientation of our whole life, a return to God with all of our heart, an end to sins, a turning away from evil and the bad actions we have committed. At the same time it entails a desire and resolution to change one’s life with hope in God’s mercy and trust in the help of his grace. We get a new heart as God gives us the strength to begin again. Only God can forgive sins through the words of his priest. The ecclesial dimension of the task is expressed in His words to St. Peter, “I give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind one earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). So, reconciliation with the Church is inseparable from our reconciliation with God.
The disclosure of sins even from a human point of view frees us and facilitates our reconciliation with others. Through one’s admission one looks at sins which that person is guilty of, takes responsibility for them and opens himself again to God and the communion of the Church to have a new future possible. Confession to a priest is essential part of this sacrament. The confessor is not the master of God’s forgiveness, but its servant. He stands in for God. He has to have respect and sensitivity to the one who has fallen, love the truth, and be faithful to the Church. He, then, leads the penitent with patience and love to healing and fully maturity. The priest must pray and do penance for his penitents, entrusting them to the mercy of Christ. Mortal sins must be confessed, but also confession of everyday faults, or venial sins, is recommended by the Church as it helps form our conscience, fight again evil and lets us be healed by grace and progress in the life of the Holy Spirit.
Indeed, the Sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about a true strong spiritual resurrection, restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the child of God and affords the most precious gift which is friendship with God. Please go to Confession this Lent — Confession at least once a year is required for all, but make it a monthly practice in your faith always. Don’t be afraid, God is waiting for you with his love and mercy.
Your Missionary of Mercy, Father Gus
The Rev. Gus Puleo serves as director of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program and the Spanish Department at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, where he also teaches English and Spanish. He is a graduate of Norristown High School and attended Georgetown University, where he received B.A. and B.S. in Spanish and linguistics. He has master’s degrees in Spanish, linguistics and divinity from Middlebury College, Georgetown University and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the former pastor of St. Patrick Church in Norristown.
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