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Confessions:
Saturday 3:30 p.m. or by appointment
Reconciliation
Are all of our
sins—past, present, and future—forgiven once and for all when we become
Christians? Not according to the Bible or the early Church Fathers.
Scripture nowhere states that our future sins are forgiven; instead, it
teaches us to pray, "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our
debtors" (Matt. 6:12).
The means by which God forgives sins after baptism is confession: "If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Minor or venial sins can
be confessed directly to God, but for grave or mortal sins, which crush the
spiritual life out of the soul, God has instituted a different means for
obtaining forgiveness—the sacrament known popularly as confession, penance,
or reconciliation.
This sacrament is rooted in the mission God gave to Christ in his capacity
as the Son of man on earth to go and forgive sins (cf. Matt. 9:6). Thus, the
crowds who witnessed this new power "glorified God, who had given such
authority to men" (Matt. 9:8; note the plural "men"). After his
resurrection, Jesus passed on his mission to forgive sins to his ministers,
telling them, "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you. . . . 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 20:21–23).
Catholic Answers, “Confession” (San Diego:
Catholic Answers, 2004)
http://www.catholic.com/library/Confession.asp
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