A warm welcome awaits in sacrament of penance

Pope Francis has talked a lot about the mercy and the forgiveness of God, and he also talked recently about sacramental confession. What did you like about his talk?
The Holy Father was giving his Wednesday audience – that’s when he always offers a catechesis on some aspect of the faith – and he talked about confession. He did it in a very down to earth way. First, he told the people that he knew some had been to confession in the last two days, some had been in the last few weeks or months and some may not have been in many, many years. And then he joked: “Now, don’t raise your hand!” But then he told the people: “Just go! You can go and receive the embrace of a forgiving Christ.”

Pope Francis uses a lot of metaphors that really stick with people.
He does. He said something a few months ago that really struck me when he said that the confessional is not a “torture chamber” but a place where we meet the forgiving Christ. It’s a place where we experience the mercy of God. Pope Francis uses those words to remind us that the forgiving Christ invites us to the confessional.

Is Lent a great time to get to confession?
Confession is important all the time, but Lent directs our prayer to reflect on our sins and the call of the Lord Jesus for each of us to conversion and new life. This is an important Lenten practice – that we are able to name our sins and give them over to the Lord in the sacrament. What’s interesting about confession is that God doesn’t accuse us and point out our failures and sins. We accuse ourselves. We name and claim the ways in which we have not become the person that God has called us to be, the ways in which we have placed an obstacle between us and God’s love, and the ways in which we have not been as loving to others. The Lord Jesus is there to touch us in our brokenness and say, “You are forgiven. Go in peace.” That’s the power and beauty of the sacrament.

Why does the church ask us to confess our sins to a priest?
Sometimes people will say, “Well, I can just confess my sins to God.” That is true. At the same time, the sacrament grants to us an intimate and unique gift of God’s mercy and forgiveness. Every time I do something that is not of God, I hurt others and I hurt the body of Christ, the church, and I have to be reconciled with them. The sacrament of penance not only gives us this encounter with the forgiving Christ but also allows us to be reconciled to the church, the people of God, whom we have hurt. I can confess my sins to God, but there is a unique, special, intimate encounter with the forgiving Christ in the sacrament of penance. The Lord Jesus is as present to us in the sacrament of penance as he was to that woman who was being stoned to death because of her sin. Christ went to her rescue, forgave her, loved her and told her to go and sin no more. He’s as present to us as he was to the thief on the cross when he said, “You are forgiven. Today you shall be with me in paradise.” There is a unique presence of the forgiving Christ that comes to us in confession.

It must be an awesome responsibility to hear people’s confessions and offer absolution in the name of Christ and the church.
It is an awesome responsibility. During my almost 40 years of priestly ministry, it has been one of the most humbling things that I’m called to do as a priest, because I am a sinner. While I am a sinner and forgiven by God and reconciled to the church, God also uses me in my weakness, unworthy as I am, to extend his mercy to others and to reconcile them to the church. Before we go into the confessional, all of us as priests have to be aware of that and pray that it will not be us who speaks, giving people some guidance about their lives and offering them the forgiveness of Christ, but we really do act and speak in the name of Jesus, who is the healer, the forgiver.

What advice would you give to those who haven’t been to confession in awhile or for many years?
I think Pope Francis hit on something when he said very often people think of the confessional as a torture chamber or something to fear, but it isn’t. It’s a place where the priest extends to us the gentleness, mercy and forgiveness of Christ nd reconciliation with others. Certainly, I have celebrated the sacrament with people who go regularly and with people who been away from confession for a very, very long time.

What I would say to those people who have been away from the church for a long time is to examine your conscience. I would suggest looking at not just the Ten Commandments but also at the Beatitudes. How have we failed to love God and our neighbor? How have we not taken care of ourselves? There are many examinations of conscience out there. Then, if you’re still confused, just go into the confessional and say to the priest, “I haven’t been in so many years, and I’m confused and nervous. Would you help guide me through this?” I’m quite sure the priest would be very kind and invite that person to journey and make a powerful confession. Confession is very simply that great opportunity to dump “our stuff” on the Lord and to say, “This is who I am. I accuse myself. I give it over to you.” And, every time, the Lord Jesus says, “Not only do I forgive you, I love you, and I give you a new heart and a new spirit.”

Questions for Archbishop Aymond may be sent to [email protected].