150. Forgivness of sins

Forgivness of sins

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 150

Ave Maria series

150  Can the Church really forgive sins?

Yes.  Jesus not only forgave sins himself, he also conferred on the Church the mission and the power to free men from their sins.  [981-983, 986-987]

Our Lord’s promise to grant complete forgiveness of sins and punishment on the Feast of Mercy (the first Sunday following Easter each year) is recorded three times in the Diary of Saint Faustina Kowalska, each time in a slightly different way:

 “I want to grant a complete pardon to the souls that will go to confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My Mercy” (1109);

“Whoever approaches the Fountain of Life on this day will be granted complete forgiveness of sins and punishment” (300); and,

“the soul that will go to confession and receive Holy Communion will obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment”(699).

 The numbers 1109, 300, and 699 in parenthesis (above) relate to the numbered paragraphs in the book, DIARY of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. …..150

Through the ministry of the priest, the penitent receives God’s forgiveness, and his guilt is wiped away as completely as if it had never existed.  A priest can do this only because Jesus allows him to participate in his own divine power to forgive sins.  225-239

“If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”  John 20:23

“Priests have received from God a power that he has given neither to angels nor to archangels.  …God above confirms what priests do here below.”  St. John Chrysostom  (349/350-407)

[981-983, 986-987]

THE POWER OF THE KEYS

981 After his Resurrection, Christ sent his apostles "so that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations."(Luke 24:47)⁵²⁶  The apostles and their successors carry out this "ministry of reconciliation," not only by announcing to men God's forgiveness merited for us by Christ, and calling them to conversion and faith; but also by communicating to them the forgiveness of sins in Baptism, and reconciling them with God and with the Church through the power of the keys, received from Christ(2 Corinthians 5:18)⁵²⁷ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

[The Church] has received the keys of the Kingdom of heaven so that, in her, sins may be forgiven through Christ's blood and the Holy Spirit's action. In this Church, the soul dead through sin comes back to life in order to live with Christ, whose grace has saved us.( St. Augustine, Sermo 214,11:Patrologia Latina 38,1071-1072)⁵²⁸ –CCC

982 There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive. "There is no one, however wicked and guilty, who may not confidently hope for forgiveness, provided his repentance is honest.(Roman Catechism I, 11, 5)⁵²⁹  Christ who died for all men desires that in his Church the gates of forgiveness should always be open to anyone who turns away from sin.(compare Matthew 18:21-22)⁵³⁰ –CCC

983 Catechesis strives to awaken and nourish in the faithful faith in the incomparable greatness of the risen Christ's gift to his Church: the mission and the power to forgive sins through the ministry of the apostles and their successors: –CCC

The Lord wills that his disciples possess a tremendous power: that his lowly servants accomplish in his name all that he did when he was on earth.( compare St. Ambrose, De poenit. I, 15:Patrologia Latina 16,490)⁵³¹  –CCC

Priests have received from God a power that he has given neither to angels nor to archangels . . . . God above confirms what priests do here below.( John Chrysostom, De sac. 3, 5:Patrologia Graeca 48,643)⁵³² --CCC

Were there no forgiveness of sins in the Church, there would be no hope of life to come or eternal liberation. Let us thank God who has given his Church such a gift.( St. Augustine, Sermo 213, 8:PL 38,1064.)⁵³³ –CCC

IN BRIEF

986 By Christ's will, the Church possesses the power to forgive the sins of the baptized and exercises it through bishops and priests normally in the sacrament of Penance.--CCC

987 "In the forgiveness of sins, both priests and sacraments are instruments which our Lord Jesus Christ, the only author and liberal giver of salvation, wills to use in order to efface our sins and give us the grace of justification" (Roman Catechism, I, 11, 6).—CCC

Divine Mercy