Institution of the Sacrament

As Jesus went through the Crucifixion in order that we might be forgiven, so the first thing he did after the Crucifixion, when he was raised from the dead, was to give us the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Penance).  “If you forgive the sins of any,” he said to his Apostles, “they are forgiven them; if you retain (refuse to forgive) the sins of any, they are retained” (NRSV, John 20:22,23).

Ordination of priests

So today priests have been given the power and authority to pass on God’s forgiveness to those who come and confess their sins, or make their Confession, as we say.  This power is given when the priest is ordained.  In the Prayer Book Ordination Service, as the Bishop lays hands on those being ordained priest, he says what Jesus himself said to the Apostles: “Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained”. (1) In the Common Worship Service, after the Bishop has laid hands on all those being ordained priest, he says a prayer which includes these words:

“May they declare your blessings to your people;
may they proclaim Christ’s victory over the powers of darkness,
and absolve (forgive sins) in Christ’s name those who turn to him in faith…” (2)

Prayer Book

The Prayer Book tells people about the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the first of the Long Exhortations in the Eucharist.  After speaking about self-examination, it goes on, “…if there be any of you, who by this means cannot quiet his own conscience herein, but requireth further comfort or counsel, let him come to me, or to some other discreet and learned Minister of God’s Word, and open his grief (make his Confession); that by the ministry of God’s holy Word he may receive the benefit of absolution (forgiveness), together with ghostly (spiritual) counsel and advice, to the quieting of his conscience, and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness”. (3)

The actual Sacrament of Reconciliation, being private and not public, is tucked away in the Visitation of the Sick.  “Here”, it says, “shall the sick person be moved (urged) to make a special confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter (serious sin – gravis res).  After which confession the Priest shall absolve him…after this sort.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath left power to his Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in him, of his great mercy forgive thee thine offences: And by his authority committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Ghost.  Amen.” (4)

Common Worship

In Common Worship, orders for the Reconciliation of a Penitent “may be appropriately used when a person’s conscience is burdened with a particular sin, when a person wishes to make a new beginning in the Christian life, or as part of a regular personal discipline”.  Common Worship explains that the “reconciliation of a penitent, even when celebrated privately, remains a corporate action of the Church, because sin affects the unity of the body; through the absolution the penitent is restored to full fellowship in Christ”. (5)

Common Worship has several different forms of absolution, including the following which is a modern language version of the Prayer Book form:

“Our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has left power to his Church to absolve all sinners
who truly repent and believe in him,
of his great mercy forgive you your offences:
and by his authority committed to me,
I absolve you from all your sins,
in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen”. (6)

The effect of the Sacrament

The effect of the Sacrament of Reconciliation is to give us God’s complete forgiveness.  By making a good Confession we know that we are forgiven.

Besides forgiveness, we are given grace and strength by Our Lord to help us resist temptation.  Going to Confession also helps us to keep from committing sins.  It is much easier to commit sins than to confess sins.  By confessing our sins to a priest, we can also get advice and encouragement in our difficulties and temptations from someone who can help us and whom we can trust.

Full confession

In order to be forgiven it is necessary to confess every sin we can remember having committed.  To leave a sin out on purpose makes things much worse, because it is an attempt to lie to God, and no one can get forgiveness that way.  Indeed, to hide a sin in the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a sin in itself, the sin of sacrilege.  And in any case, Our Lord knows all about our sins because he has seen us commit every one.

The seal of confession

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is not merely private but confidential.  Priests are under a solemn vow never to reveal anything that is told to them in Confession, not even if someone confessed to having committed the sin of murder.  And that still applies to confessions made by people who have since died.  Priests cannot even speak to you afterwards about anything you said in Confession without first having your consent.  So you know that nothing you say in your Confession will ever be repeated.  That is what is called the seal of Confession, and that seal is never broken.

Some people imagine that priests will think the worse of them on account of the sins which they confess.  There is no fear of this at all.  Hearing confessions is completely apart from the ordinary lives of priests, and moreover, if they altered their attitude towards penitents, they would be breaking the seal.  As a matter in fact, priests think all the more of those who go to Confession, so you need not worry about that.

Confession and the Crucified

Making our Confession helps us to understand more clearly the meaning of the Crucifixion.  Some people want a kind of Christian religion in which the Crucifixion has no special meaning, or at any rate, no special meaning for them.  But if you take the Crucifixion and our need for forgiveness out of the Christian religion, you are left with an empty husk which has ceased to be the Christian religion.

But in the Sacrament of Reconciliation we kneel at the foot of the Cross, and tell all our sins, and receive God’s forgiveness and are brought face to face with our Crucified Saviour.  We look at the crucifix and see how it was for us, for us in particular, that “he hung and suffered there”. (7) And so we see what our sins cost him, and what our forgiveness cost him too – all the long drawn out agony of Good Friday.  And in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, as we look up at him on the Cross, we realise something of his unimaginable love for us.  And the amazing fact that he was crucified to win for us forgiveness shows, as nothing else can, how much we mean to him and how much our forgiveness means to him.

SUMMARY

1. Priests are given power by Our Lord to forgive sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and when we make a good Confession we know we are forgiven.  Besides forgiveness, we are also given grace to help us resist our temptations.  We have to confess every sin we can remember having committed.

2. Priests are bound by a solemn vow never to reveal anything told them in Confession, and they will never think the worse of anyone who makes his or her Confession.

3. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation we are helped to understand more clearly the inner meaning of Our Saviour’s Crucifixion – how he died that we might be forgiven and how much we mean to him.

References

1. Church of England (1662) The Book of Common Prayer.  The Form and Manner of Ordering of Priests.  Available from:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/bcp/texts/ordering-of-priests.html  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).

2. ©The Archbishops’ Council (2007) Common Worship.  The Ordination of Priests, also called Presbyters.  Available from:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/texts/ordinal/priests.html  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).

3. Church of England (1662) The Book of Common Prayer.  Exhortations to Holy Communion.  Available from:
http://www.lectionarycentral.com/trinity20/Exhortation.html  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).

4. Church of England (1662) The Book of Common Prayer.  The Order for The Visitation of the Sick.  Available from:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/bcp/texts/22-order-for-the-visitation-of-the-sick.html  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).

5. Church of England (not dated) Common Worship.  Reconciliation and Restoration: Recovering Baptism.  Available from:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/downloads/pdf/cirecon.pdf  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).

6. Church of England (not dated) Common Worship.  Reconciliation and Restoration: Recovering Baptism.  Available from:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/downloads/pdf/cirecon.pdf  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).

7. Alexander, C.F. (1848) There is a green hill far away.  Available from:
http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/t/t435.html  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).