The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 201: The Confessor’s Role (2024)

Episode Date: July 19, 2024

If God is the one who forgives our sins, why do we need priests as confessors? The Catechism teaches us today about the role of the priest as the minister of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We learn that priests ought to be "servants" of God's mercy rather than "masters" of God's mercy. Fr. Mike invites us to pray for all priests' hearts, encouraging gentle, loving, and truthful confessors. Lastly, Fr. Mike clarifies the purpose of excommunication and the sacramental seal. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 1461-1467. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in Scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 201, day 201, we're reading paragraphs 1461 to 1467. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes a Foundations

of Faith approach. You can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own Catechism and a year reading plan by visiting AscensionPress.com and I think day 201 would be a great day to follow or subscribe or something like that to receive daily updates and daily notifications in your podcast app. Today is day, as I said, 201. You know, yesterday we were talking about the fact we need confession of sins, we need

satisfaction. The three elements that we bring to confession are contrition, confession and satisfaction. And we talked about that today, we're in a new little mini section in confession on sacrament of reconciliation about the minister of the sacrament. Like who is it that is the minister of reconciliation? Who is the one who forgives us?

Now, we're gonna hear this. That Jesus is the one who forgives sins. It's always Jesus. But he forgives sins through the ministry, that's why the ministry question is there, the ministry of the priests. And we're gonna to talk about that today, that this is a gift that Jesus intended to give and did give when he established the church. And so we're going to talk about that as well as some of the responsibilities that

that priest has as the minister of the sacrament. For example, he is not the master of God's forgiveness, but he is the servant of God's forgiveness. And so there's a responsibility, it's not's forgiveness. And so there's a responsibility. It's not just an authority thing. There's a responsibility that's been placed upon each priest who hears confessions and they have to live up to those. We're going to hear about some of those today. So as we launch into today's reading, let's just call upon our Father, call upon the name

of Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit as we pray. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much for bringing us here. Thank you for giving us your mercy and thank you for giving us the priesthood. Lord God, I thank you for every priest who has ever heard my confession. I thank you for every priest who's ever been patient with me in confession and with all those who are listening. I thank you for every priest who has ever administered your mercy to all of us in our worst moments.

Lord, God, I ask you to please bless all those men, all those priests who have given their lives so that your mercy can touch our lives. Ask you to please bless them wherever they are right now. Lord, God, I ask you to please be with those priests who have been mean in confession, have been cruel in confession, have been short, brief, curt, or even worse in confession. Ask you to please heal them, heal their hearts, help them become more like you, help them

be servants of your mercy, not masters of forgiveness. Help us all to be patient with each other. Because Lord, on our own, none of us is enough. On our own, all of us fail. And so we make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. And we trust in you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Today's Day 201, reading paragraphs 1461 to 1467. The Minister of this Sacrament Since Christ entrusted to His apostles the ministry of reconciliation, bishops who are

their successors and priests, the bishops' collaborators, continue to exercise this ministry. Indeed, bishops and priests by virtue of the sacrament of holy orders have the power to forgive all sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Forgiveness of sins brings reconciliation with God, but also with the Church. Since ancient times, the bishop, visible head of a particular church, has thus rightfully been considered to be the one who principally has the power and ministry of reconciliation. He is the moderator of the penitential discipline. Priests, his collaborators, exercise it to the extent that they have received the commission

either from their bishop or religious superior, or the pope, according to the law of the church. Certain particularly grave sins incur excommunication, the most severe ecclesiastical penalty, which impedes the perception of the sacraments and the exercise of certain ecclesiastical acts, and for which absolution consequently cannot be granted, according to canon law, except by the Pope, the bishop of the place, or priests authorized by them. In danger of death, any priest, even if deprived of faculties for hearing confessions, can absolve from every sin and excommunication. Priests must encourage the faithful to come to the sacrament of penance and must make

themselves available to celebrate this sacrament each time Christians reasonably ask for it. When he celebrates the sacrament of penance, the priest is fulfilling the ministry of the Good Shepherd, who seeks the lost sheep, of the Good Samaritan, who binds up wounds, of the Father, who awaits the prodigal son and welcomes him on his return, and of the just and impartial Judge, whose judgment is both just and merciful. The priest is the sign and the instrument of God's merciful love for the sinner. The confessor is not the master of God's forgiveness, but its servant. The minister of this sacrament should unite himself to the intention and charity of Christ. He should have

a proven knowledge of Christian behavior, experience of human affairs, respect and sensitivity toward the one who has fallen. He must love the truth, be faithful to the magisterium of the Church, and lead the penitent with patience toward healing and full maturity. He must pray and do penance for his penitent, entrusting him to the Lord's mercy. Given the delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons, the Church declares that every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. He can make no use of knowledge that confession gives him about penitents' lives. This secret, which admits of no exceptions, is called the

sacramental seal, because what the penitent has made known to the priest remains sealed by the sacrament Right there we have it gosh the ministry of the priest obviously the minister of the sacrament Jesus is the one who heals at every mass. Jesus is the one who concentrates the Ukraine. He's the actor, right? He is the one who's it's Jesus acting but he's acting to the ministry of the priest and this is very important for us to understand That yes, it's the ministry of the priest, but it's the power of Jesus Years ago. There was a priest who was talking with the man in this case was a Baptist pastor It was very friendly conversation, but they were talking about how the Baptist pastor was like I don't know

You know this only God can forgive sins and I don't think he's given this gift to priests and whatnot And it's Jesus who forgives sins and the priest was you know again friendly conversation but he asked the the Protestant pastor asked the Baptist pastor he said have you ever healed anybody like as have you ever laid hands on someone and they've been healed and the pastor said yeah actually a number of times Jesus has healed others through my laying out of hands in my prayers and the priest said exactly through the office of the priesthood because I'm a priest of Jesus Christ when I say I absolve you of all your sins in the name of the priesthood. Because I'm a priest of Jesus Christ, when I say I absolve you of all your sins

in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Jesus forgives through me, just like he has healed others through you. You're not claiming that power on your own, but you're saying that God heals through you in the same way Jesus heals through the priesthood. And the Baptist pastor, to his credit, was like, oh, I can completely see what you're talking about.

So Jesus had given that authority, he'd given that ability to heal to his credit was like, oh, I can completely see what you're talking about. So Jesus had given that authority, he'd given that ability to heal to his priests. You know, in John chapter 21, he breathes on them and says, "'Receive the Holy Spirit. "'Those whose sins you forgive are forgiven. "'Those whose sins you hold bound are held bound.'" So this is an incredible gift that God has given

to the apostles, passed on to their successors, the bishops, and by extension, of course, as we heard today in paragraph 1462, by extension, the priests are the collaborators of the bishop and they exercise this ministry of forgiveness to the extent that they've received the commission from their bishop, or if they're part of a religious community, from their religious superior, or from the pope. Right? So every priest, as he acts in persona Christi, as he acts out in the world, he acts again as the

bishops collaborators, right? He acts as an extension of the bishops because in the sacrament of holy orders, there's a kind of a hierarchy and the bishops have the fullness of holy orders. The priests share or participate in that bishops fullness of holy orders. We'll talk more about that when it gets to the sacrament of holy orders, but for now, that's what we have going on. So here is Jesus working through the ministry of the priesthood. Incredible. Now 1463 highlights this and specifies there are some sins, particularly grave sins, that result in excommunication, which is the most severe ecclesiastical penalty that goes all the way back to 1st Corinthians. At one point in 1st

Corinthians, St. Paul is writing to the church in Corinth and he says essentially that there is the story among you that even doesn't even have it Among pagans doesn't even happen among people who don't even know who God is where there is a man who's with his living with his father's wife and He says this is horrible and you guys are all just kind of like okay with it And so he says what you need to do you need to basically Remove him or let him know that he's standing outside the fold he is not in union with the church treat him as you would essentially a stranger basically he is not a brother in the Lord and that's the first example of excommunication that we

have here in Scripture and that's for very serious things and it's a very serious penalty it's all meant to be oriented towards healing though so here's the penalty. Why? Even in Scripture it says so that he can realize that he is not in line with the Lord. He is not in God's grace. He's not part of this community. Hopefully he will, St. Paul even says, hand him over to Satan so that he realizes I don't want to belong here. I want to belong to the Lord. And so that's that's a reality that we have to deal with when it comes to excommunication.

At the same time, in the danger of death, any priest, even if someone's excommunicated, in the danger of death, any priest, even if he's been deprived of faculties for hearing confessions, can absolve from every sin and excommunication. So this is one of those moments where here's the church that has, yep, there are some discipline involved here. There are some rules that are involved here. At the same time, the church is the servant of God's mercy, right? The church exists to extend God's mercy into the world. And so if someone's in danger of death, even if that priest no longer has faculties for being a priest,

no longer has faculties for hearing confessions, the church is like, yeah, but once a priest, always a priest. Therefore, in danger of death, even someone who's actually communicated can have their sins forgiven and be reconciled with the church in those extreme moments. I hope that makes sense. Moving on, the Gattacism highlights the fact that priests must encourage the faithful to come to the sacrament of penance and they must make themselves available to celebrate this sacrament each time Christians reasonably ask for it That's it. Just I think that's great I love what are the two questions every priest wants to hear the two questions every priest wants to hear it that rejoices to Hear is well number one father. How do I become Catholic? That's number one number two is father Would you hear my confession like that is just such a grace and virtually every priest?

I know whenever anyone asks they jump at it. Now you might have encountered a priest in your life who did not jump at the chance, who made you feel like you were inconveniencing him. Hopefully that was just a one-off, hopefully just a bad day for him because his life is meant to be defined by the ministry of mercy and and yes we all have bad days, we all have bad days. And yet, we must make ourselves available to celebrate the sacrament each time Christians reasonably ask for it.

So yes, there might be a confession time on Saturday or maybe before daily mass and whatnot. But also, if someone's reasonable and they ask for confession, we're supposed to make ourselves available. And how do we do this? We don't do it as the Lord of the sacrament. As it says in 1466, the confessor is not the master of God's forgiveness, the confessor is the servant of God's forgiveness. And so we have to, we have to, as priests,

unite our heart to the heart of the Good Shepherd. We have to be faithful to the heart of Jesus, but also we have to be faithful to the Magisterium of the church, which is not contradictory, that's actually the same thing, but also have a respect and sensitivity to the one who's fallen. I love how it says here, he must love the truth. Man, that is, oh, that's so good. He must love the truth. Think about how much you and I need a confessor,

a priest hearing our confession, who loves the truth. Like of course who has respect and sensitivity towards us when we have fallen, who has patience towards us when we've fallen, but also just loves the truth. That's so important. And here in paragraph 1466, it also says the thing that I mentioned a couple of days ago, "'He must pray and do penance for his penitent

in trusting him to the Lord's mercy. And that's the responsibility of every priest. He's not the master of God's forgiveness. He's a servant of God's forgiveness. And I have to say, you know my prayer I mentioned, there are priests out there who have hurt people in confession. That's not the rule, that would be the exception.

And if you're one of those people who have been hurt, number one, I'm sorry. Number two, God's mercy wants you to come back, especially if that hurt has caused you to stay away from confession, God's mercy is for you. His invitation is still for you to come back, to hear those words of, I absolve you of all of your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit, to be able to freely and fully divulge whatever sin it is that you need to bring to the Heavenly Father and do that without hesitation, without fear, without embarrassment, without shame but to be able to show up knowing this last part paragraph 1467 that the priest must never ever reveal what he's heard in the sacrament of reconciliation. He must never ever reveal what he's heard in confession. In fact, if a priest were to reveal what he's heard in confession, that is an automatic excommunication of the catholic church. Remember the most serious ecclesiastical penalty is excommunication. And the church says if a priest ever reveals what he's heard in confession, then he is automatically excommunicated

from the church. He has to go about a whole process of hopefully, you know, being received back into the church. But that's how seriously the church takes your privacy, how seriously the church wants you to be able to have confidence in approaching the sacrament of reconciliation, have no hesitation. There's the natural embarrassment, of course, there's the natural feelings we have of hesitation, of shame, have no hesitation. There's the natural embarrassment. Of course, there's the natural feelings we have of hesitation, of shame. And yet the church wants to make this a place that is not just safe, but a place of healing.

Not just a place of healing, but a place of love. Not just a place of love, but a place of restoration and power. That's what it's meant to be for you, and that's what priests are meant to be. And if they're not, we have to pray for them. I know that that might sound backwards, but if us priests keep failing please keep praying for us because this is the way God has given us His mercy right? The way He wants to give us His

reconciliation, the way He wants to, the way He's willed to give us reconciliation is through the ministry of the priesthood and when we have broken priests rather than just getting mad at them we have to pray for them. So right now, I just pray for all my brothers and for myself that we can have the heart of Jesus, that we can have the heart of the Father, and that no one ever who approaches us in reconciliation, no one ever who approaches us in the sacrament of penance is received by anyone other than the Father's arms, by the Father's heart, by our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord God, heal the brokenness in all of us priests and heal those wounds and all your faithful, especially those who have been wounded by a bad experience in confession.

especially those who have been wounded by a bad experience in confession. And I pray for them now. And I pray for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. 1