Pope Benedict XVI talks to priests
about the sacramental value of confession
March 25, 2011
Each year during Lent, the Apostolic Penitentiary holds a formation course on the so-called 'internal forum' – the personal area of conscience and judgment, which is of paramount importance for penitents and priest-confessors.
In his remarks on Friday to the more than 700 participants in this year’s course, Pope Benedict XVI concentrated on the pedagogical value of the sacrament of Christian penance – discussing the ways in which the sacrament can be and provide teaching moments for both priests and penitents, alike.
The Holy Father said, “In our time, characterized by noise, by distraction and by solitude, the colloquy of the penitent with the priest can represent one of the few – perhaps the only – occasion for truly being listened-to and heard in the depths of one’s being.”
The Holy Father also encouraged priests to spend time in the confessional. “Dear priests,” continued Pope Benedict, “do not neglect to give opportune space to the exercise of the ministry of the Sacrament of Penance,” which, he said, “educates the penitent in humility, in the recognition of his frailty, and the awareness of the need for God’s forgiveness and trust that God’s Grace can transform one’s life.”
The 2011 Lenten course of the Apostolic Penitentiary opened on Monday, March 21st, and ends today.
Here is a translation of the Holy Father's address:
Dear friends,
I am very happy to extend to each of you a most cordial welcome. I greet Cardinal Fortunato Baldelli, the Major Penitentiary, and thank him for his kind words.
And I greet Penitentiary Regent, Mons. Gianfranco Girotti, the staff, the co-workers and all the participants of this course on the internal forum, which has now become an annual tradition and an important occasion for examining in depth the Sacrament of Penance.
I wish to dwell today on an aspect that is often not sufficiently considered but which has great spiritual and pastoral relevance: the pedagogical or teaching value of sacramental confession.
While one must always be objective about the effects of the Sacrament and its correct celebration according to the norms of the Rite of Penitence, it is not out of place to reflect on how it could educate the faith, both of the minister and of the penitent.
The faithful and generous availability of priests to hear confessions, following the example of great saints like Jean Marie Vianney and John Bosco, of Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer and Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, of Giuseppe Cafasso and Leopoldo Mandic, can show us all how the confessional can be a true 'place' of sanctification.
In what way can the Sacrament of Penance educate? In what sense does its celebration have a pedagogical value especially for its ministers?
We can start from acknowledging that the priest's mission is a unique and privileged observation point, from which daily, we are given to contemplate the splendor of divine mercy.
How many times during the celebration of the Sacrament does the priest assist at a true and proper miracle of conversion which, by renewing "the encounter with an event, a Person" (Deus caritas est, 1), which reinforce his own faith!
Basically, to hear confessions means to witness as many
professiones fidei (professions of faith) as there are penitents, to contemplate the action of merciful God in history, to touch with one's hands the saving effects of the Cross and Resurrection of Christ.
Not rarely we are faced with true existential or spiritual tragedies which do not find a response in the words of men, but are embraced and assumed by Divine Love, which pardons and transforms: "Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow" (Is 1,18).
To know the human heart is in some way to visit its abyss, even its darkest aspects: If. on the one hand, it tests the humanity and faith of the priest himself, on the other hand, it nourishes in him the certainty that the last word on evil in man and in history is God's, and his mercy which is capable of renewing all things (cfr Ap 21,5).
How much priests can learn from penitents who are exemplary for their spiritual life, for the seriousness in which they conduct their examination of conscience, for their transparency in recognizing their own sins, and for their obedience to the teaching of the Church and their confessor's counsel!
In administering the Sacrament of Penance we can receive profound lessons of humility and faith. It is a very strong reminder for every priest to be conscious of his own identity.
Never, merely through the strength of our humanity, could we listen to our brothers' confessions! If they come to us, it is only because we are priests, who are configured to Christ the Eternal and Supreme Priest, and therefore able to act in his name and in his person, thus rendering truly present God who pardons, renews and transforms.
The celebration of the Sacrament of Penance has a pedagogical value for the priest, according to his faith, to truth, and to the poverty of his own person, and nourishes in him a consciousness of sacramental identity.
And what is the pedagogical value of the Sacrament of Penance to the penitents? We must presume that it depends, first of all, on the action of grace and the objective effects of the Sacrament on the soul of the faithful.
Certainly, sacramental reconciliation is one of the times when personal freedom and consciousness of oneself are called on to be expressed in a specially obvious way. Perhaps it is also because of this that in a time of relativism and the consequent attenuation of self-awareness, even sacramental practice has been weakened.
Examination of conscience has an important pedagogical value: It educates us to look sincerely at our own existence, to compare it against the truth of the Gospel, and to evaluate it not only with human criteria but with criteria that are drawn from divine revelation.
A confrontation with the Ten Commandments, with the Beatitudes, and above all, with the precept of love, constitutes the first great 'penitential school'.
In our day, which is characterized by noise, distraction and loneliness, the penitent's conversation with his confessor can represent one of the few occasions - if not the only one - for the priest to be truly heard and heeded profoundly.
Dear priests, do not neglect to give appropriate room for exercising the ministry of penance at the confessional: (For teh penitent), to be welcomed and heard is also a human sign of the welcoming goodness of God towards his children.
Further, An integral confession of sins educates the penitent in humility, to acknowledging his own frailty, and at the same time, to awareness of the need for God's forgiveness and for trusting that divine grace can transform his life.
Listening to the admonitions and counsel of the confessor is important for judgment on one's acts, for one's spiritual journey, and for the interior healing of the penitent. Let us not forget how many conversions and how many truly saintly lives began in the confessional!
Finally, the acceptance of penance and listening to the words "I absolve you of your sins" represent a true school of love and hope, which leads to full confidence in God-Love revealed in Jesus Christ, and to personal responsibility and commitment for continual conversion.
Dear priests, may our own experience of divine mercy, of which we are the humble instruments, educate us to an ever more faithful celebration of the Sacrament of Penance and to a profound gratitude to God who "has entrusted to us the ministry of reconciliation"
(1Cor 5,10).
To the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mater misericordiae and Refugium peccatorum - Mother of Mercy and refuge of sinners - I entrust the fruits of your course on the internal forum and the ministry of all confessors, as I bless you all affectionately.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 25/03/2011 21:31]