“Whose Sins You Forgive
Are Forgiven” by Rev. Paul Berghout (@FatherPB)
Piety
They devoted
themselves
to the teaching of
the apostles and to the communal life,
to the breaking of
bread and to the prayers.
Awe came upon
everyone,
and many wonders and
signs were done through the apostles.
All who believed were
together and had all things in common;
they would sell their
property and possessions
and divide them among
all according to each one’s need. Acts 2:42-44
Jesus came and stood
in their midst
and said to them,
“Peace be with you.”
When he had said
this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples
rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them
again, “Peace be with you.
As the Father has
sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said
this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy
Spirit.
Whose sins you
forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you
retain are retained.” John 20:19C-23
Study
Jim Friedrich shared
that at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Church of All Nations, next to the Garden
of Gethsemane, there is a sign warning every visitor: “NO EXPLANATIONS INSIDE
THE CHURCH.”
The sign discourages
over-talkative tour guides, but it’s also what Jesus practiced after his
resurrection: no explaining or blaming: He simply wished them peace and forgave
them.
Jesus shows up to his
disciples who abandoned him before his crucifixion, and who now huddle like
frightened rabbits behind locked doors (John 20:19). However, Jesus did not explain anything to
them about what had happened. Instead, he repeated, “Peace be with you!” (John
19,21) which is another way of saying, “I forgive you.”
One writer commented
that, if he had been resurrected, he would have gone first to Pontius Pilate
and said, “Pilate, you made a big mistake. Now, it’s payback time! Then, he would have gone to Caiaphas, the
high priest who condemned Jesus, and said, “Oh, really, so I was guilty of
blasphemy, was I?!! And you said that I was not the Messiah! Check your Bible
one more time and review the Prophecies!”
A Protestant minister
said, “When told, by a woman in my congregation, that she had, at last,
received the power to forgive the person who had so horribly wronged her (it
only took her twenty years!), I said to her, “Really? I guess then that Robert
Funk got it wrong. Jesus did rise from the dead and come back to harass the
very people who betrayed him.”
…Harass your heart, that
is, if you are withholding forgiveness from someone.
Application-- Mercy is
the virtue of cognitive empathy. There is no need for fraternal correction when
someone is already grieving for their sin. However, it IS necessary to grieve
over sin because to the degree that we deny or remain ignorant of the gravity
of injustice and the suffering caused by it, and that we are unable of
ourselves to make it right. The power and wonder and meaning of divine mercy do
not appear for us.
Secondly, Jesus then
told his Apostles that their primary work would be to bind and unbind sin. It’s
an astounding commission. The breath of the Holy Spirit seals this divine
commissioning. Remember that Jesus’ critics were outraged that he presumed to
act like God and forgive sins (Luke 7:49). Now Jesus extends this sacramental
power (this outrage), giving the Apostles the power to forgive (compare with
Matt. 16:19, 18:18).
Why do Catholics confess
their sins to a priest? Well, you just heard why, because Jesus commissioned
his ministers to do so in His Name.
Confession, or the
Sacrament of Reconciliation is how God forgives sins after baptism.
In the First Letter of
John (1:9), we read, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will
forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Minor or venial sins
can be confessed directly to God. Still, 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.
Since it is not possible
to confess all of our many daily faults, we know that sacramental
reconciliation is required only for grave or mortal sin, or Christ would not
have commanded it.
Tertullian, writing in AD
203, said that “[Regarding confession, some] flee from this work as being an
exposure of themselves, or they put it off from day-to-day. I presume they are
more mindful of modesty than of salvation, like those who contract a disease in
the more shameful parts of the body and shun making themselves known to the
physicians. Thus, they perish along with their bashfulness” (Repentance 10:1 [AD
203]). –source: Catholic Answers
Pride can keep people
from confession or even from acknowledging that sin exists.
Voluntary despair is
when the pride of ego, confident in its autonomy and sufficiency, despairs
because it can’t get rid of the suffering on its own power.
When this goes a step
further, it becomes despair in “defiance” [Trodsen], which is the will to be in
misery, instead of experiencing metanoia and receiving divine mercy.
Action
The source of the power
of Divine Mercy is “the pierced Heart of the Savior” (St. JPII), which is the
source of Redemption.
Vocation and mission
mean bringing the world, through Mary, to Divine Mercy! Mary knows the power of
merciful Love better than anyone. St. John Paul II says she knows it “more than
any other heart in the whole universe, visible and invisible.”
Essentially,
consecrating ourselves to Jesus through Mary “means accepting her help to offer
ourselves and to bring the whole world to Redemption and Salvation in Jesus
Christ. [Homily of Pope John Paul II in Fatima, Portugal on May 13, 1982].
The word “mercy” comes
from the Latin “misericors” (miserable) and cor (heart).
Don’t forget the heart
of Jesus, and bring the miserable there, which is Divine Mercy.
Amen.
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