PARDON AND PEACE

All of this is what we mean by sin. It weakens and wounds our friendship with God, but also our bonds with others. It undermines the life and witness of the Church, of which each of us is a vital part.

Rightly we feel ashamed and embarrassed about our sins, especially if asked to admit them openly to another. At the centre of our thoughts should be the amazing richness of the merciful love of God, the Lord who is patient and faithful almost beyond belief. God forgives again and again, and he never refuses to welcome back the sinner who truly returns to him.

There are perhaps two kinds of sinners. Some fail seriously, committing grave sin and deeply wounding their relationships with God and the Church community. Others - and this includes all of us - fail to live up to the ideals of Christian love; this sinfulness is less harmful, but still hinders our openness to the presence of God. We are all in need of continual renewal and reformation.

To all sinners, the Lord reaches out as the Good Shepherd in the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Penance (often still called 'Confession'). Through the priest, the Lord himself grants his forgiveness and renews his transforming love within us.

After grave sin, or a period of spiritual apathy, the sacrament involves full recon-ciliation, a turning back to the Lord, a fresh start, a new beginning. It is almost like a second Baptism. For others, it involves weakening the hold of sinfulness, healing the wounds sin leaves, and growing in holiness.

There are other ways of receiving God's pardon, but this sacrament is the Lord's truly human way of carrying out his divine work of forgiveness.

Three things are expected of the sinner. Firstly, real sorrow for sin, including a change of heart and a determination to try to turn away from sinfulness. Secondly, a humble and open confession of sinfulness to the priest (he can never tell anyone about our sins, and far from thinking less of us as we reveal our failings, he will rejoice at our turning back to the Lord). Thirdly, a willingness to do penance to show our change of heart and repair some of the damage done by our sin. Then the priest, as sacramental representative of the Lord, says the words of absolution (which means 'setting free'): 'I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.'

Sinfulness is never a private affair between us and God, but something which weakens the Church. As a sinner I need to be reconciled to the Church as Christ's Body, and so with Christ himself. It is a sacrament we must receive after grave sin, and one we should all celebrate frequently as we continue our pilgrim journey.

Coming to this sacrament is never easy, but it is a marvellous way of receiving the healing pardon, the forgiving welcome, of our Shepherd Lord, who breaks the bonds of our sinful past and sets us free to grow closer to him and to live more fully the life of love. We know that Jesus says to the priest, as he said to the apostles in another context, 'Those sins you forgive, they are forgiven' (John 20:23).

Penance is an important part of the whole pilgrim life of the Christian. It shows our sorrow, our readiness to undo the damage caused by our sin, and our union with Christ in his suffering. Friday is a special day when we remember the first Good Friday by some kind of self-denial, prayer or act of loving kindness.

We need the support of the whole Church in our life of penance. The idea behind indulgences is that as we take on a certain prayer or action, the Church shoulders some of our burden, rather like Simon of Cyrene helping Jesus to carry his cross.