THE SACRAMENT OF

CONFESSION

The SACRAMENT of CONFESSION

We are all sinners.                                                                                          Sin can not enter heaven: The Bible says:” …nothing unclean will enter it, nor any[one] who does abominable things or tells lies. Only those will enter heaven whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev 21:27).

It is not enough to accept Jesus as one’s personal Lord and Savior in order to get to heaven. A soul of a person has to be cleansed, has to be purified  first, otherwise the gates of heaven will be closed for it.

There are many believers from various denominations pointing at the passage in the Book of Psalm, in which king David says : “I made my sins known to you, did not conceal my guilt. I said I shall confess my sins to Yahweh. And you for your part, took away my guilt, forgave my sin” (Ps 32:5).

See, they say, in order to have our sins forgiven we ought to simply confess our sins to God. We don’t have to come to the sacrament of penance, we don’t have to come to a priest and make our confession, it is enough to confess our sins directly to God. God alone will remove our sins, God alone will cleanse us of our iniquities.

The Book of Psalm is a part of the Old Testament. But Jesus came to fulfill the Law and the Prophet (Mt 5:17). Christ has brought us the TRUTH (Jn 1:17). He has established the New and everlasting Covenant. (He 8:7-13). The true Christians are obliged to follow Christ’s teaching. The Gospel of Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.

John the Apostle has recorded and passed on the words spoken by Christ to the Apostles: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (Jn 20:23).

Jesus has shown the true way of cleaning our souls, the true means of having our sins forgiven. This way is the Sacrament of Confession. The power of forgiving  people’s sins has been passed on by Christ to the Apostles and their successors – to the bishops and priests who have received the valid Sacrament of Ordination, as the Tradition of the Catholic Church tells us.

It is important to notice that despite of the fact that the Jews were confessing their sins directly to God, some of their sins were not forgiven by God. Jesus said to the Pharisees: “You will die in your sins. Yes, If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins (Jn 8:24).

You may watch a video clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v6axxidudw&t=1s