Q&A 59
This one was rather animated... Another bonus kesho...
Q. Dude. That Confession story again... Why do you guys insist so much on Confession?
A. Why is Pope Francis insisting on Confession in this Jubilee Year or why does the Catholic Church insist on Confession?
Q. Both!
A. I'm not too sure of the answer to the first question. One probable reason is because you simply cannot give what you do not have and if we don't have God's mercy, if we haven't previously received it, then we certainly can't give it to others. And where do we infallibly receive God's mercy other than in the Sacrament of forgiveness, of reconciliation more familiarly called Confession?
Q. That's precisely it! You guys speak as if it's the ONLY place you can receive mercy, where my sins can be forgiven. Why do I need to confess through a priest? Why complicate things? Why not confess directly to God? That same priest you're confessing to is also a sinner! He can't forgive your sins. Only God can forgive sins (Mk 2:7)!
A. May I give an unfair answer?
Q. I'm not in the mood quite frankly... Just tell me you agree with the point I'm making.
A. Yes I do. But that again is the problem: truereligion - and in a very special way Christianity - is not about your point or my point. It is not we who are searching for and trying to reach God. That's a grave misconception! Right from the 3rd chapter of Genesis, right through the Old and New Testaments, it is ALWAYSGod searching for man, God taking the initiative, God reaching out. Man in his turn would respond, then rebel and run away from home, then regret and repent; and God would draw him back home, day after month after year after generation, over and over again! It would happen with the nation of Israel centuries ago and it happens with each of us today. Read the prophet Hosea again.
What is the first recorded question God addresses to man? The first dialogue between God and man?
Q. Indulge me.
A. God asked Adam, "Where are you?" (Gen 3:9ff). All quest-ions are precisely quests, searches, and here God begins his untiring search for man.
So religion is all about each man responding to this question, this questioning and this quest of God. As one bishop would say, "All are welcome in the Church, but on Christ’s terms and not their own."
So the short answer for why the Catholic Church insists so much on the Sacrament of Confession is because Christ her Lord, does the same: they are His terms, not ours.
15thDecember 2015