Reconciliation - Symbol of Life

The sacrament of Reconciliation is a sacrament of healing and forgiveness. Through the sacrament, the penitent receives forgiveness from God and the community and is resurrected from a spiritual death. For this sacrament to truly achieve its purpose, it must take root in our whole lives and bring us to a deeper and more fervent love and service of God and neighbour. The rite itself was revised to more clearly express the nature and effects of the sacrament and to emphasise the relation of the sacrament to the community. "This was decreed by the Second Vatican Council ( Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 72). In view of this the Congregation for Divine Worship has carefully prepared the new Rite of Penance so that the celebration of the sacrament may be more fully understood by the faithful."

In Reconciliation and Penance, Pope John Paul II speaks of the sacrament as the primary way for the Christian to obtain forgiveness and the remission of serious sin committed after baptism. The action of the penitent is a symbol of forgiveness and reconciliation and is attributed to God's grace. Approaching the sacrament with contrition and repentance, resolved to sin no more takes place within the context of an awareness of God's love. The penitent trusts in God's mercy and compassion, healing and forgiveness. Contrition and conversion draw the penitent nearer to the holiness of God, to a deeper intimacy with God, and a rediscovering of their true identity as a child of God. Reconciliation is a symbol of life - dying to sin and rising to new life.

Before someone approaches the sacrament, there is a movement toward conversion within their heart. This brings the person to a recognition of the need to repent and be reconciled to God and Church. Thomas Aquinas spoke of this as a sacrament because the renunciation and forgiveness of sins happens with God's help. He spoke of the "matter" of the sacrament being the contrite actions of the penitent and the "form" of the sacrament the words of absolution (Joseph Martos, Doors to the Sacred, p 300).

As a symbol, the sacrament of Reconciliation is in relation to the whole to which it belongs. "What happens here in the sacrament of penance (Reconciliation) is an actualisation of the Church's own essence. She is manifested in the penitent himself [or herself], and the penitent Church of sinners ever bathing the feet of Christ with her tears and hearing his words, 'Neither do I condemn you'" (Karl Rahner, The Church and the Sacraments, p 58). The sacrament is a fitting together of its efficacy to the Church itself who is the fundamental sacrament of Christ. She is God's loving and saving grace in the world as the Body of Christ. "The reconciliation of the sinner with the Church (represented in private confession by the duly authorised minister) is a visible and efficacious sign of the sinner's reconciliation with God as well, for it is only within the Church that the baptised sinner meets the forgiving word of God's mercy in history"(Peter Riga, Sign and Symbol of the Invisible God, p 58).

When the fitting together is possible and happens spontaneously, it is because the symbolic element crystallises in itself the whole. It is what it represents. The sacrament of Reconciliation reconciles. "The symbolic element represents the whole of the world to which it belongs; better it carries it in itself" (Louis-Marie Chauvet, The Sacraments: The Word of God at the Mercy of the Body, p 72).

The symbol represents the real. When the repentant sinner comes to be reconciled to the Church and God, in the presence of the priest-confessor and asks for pardon of God and Church s/he receives the reconciliation of God and Church. "Both the acts of the penitent and of the Church involve a consequence (reconciliation both with the Church and God) which is truly so before God. It is this divine reality which we call the sacrament of penance in the Church"(Riga, 60).

According to Louis-Marie Chauvet, "One of the major functions of the symbol: it allows all persons to situate themselves as subjects in their relation with other subjects or with the world of these other subjects"(Chauvet, 73). As soon as the penitent approaches the confessor for the sacrament, they become partners subject to God's loving mercy and forgiveness. As subjects they recognise and identify a relationship which places them within the sacrament of reconciliation. Symbol is about relationship, and belongs to the order of recognition.

Chauvet writes that, "this symbolic identification is possible only inasmuch as the subjects are under the agency of the Other"(Chauvet, 74). This Other is what binds subjects among themselves, and allows them to form community. "The symbol is a mediator of identity only by being a creator of community," (Chauvet, 74) thus the sacrament of Reconciliation reconciles the penitent to the Christian community who is reconciling. As the fundamental sacrament of Christ, "She [Church] is then the community of those who love and believe in the Lord Jesus, called to the forgiveness of sins and life and reconciliation with God" (Riga, 58). The sacrament is both the acts of penance of the penitent and the action of the confessor as representative of the Other.

The sacrament of Reconciliation is an action that is symbolic. Its aim is to reconcile sinners to God and the community of believers (Church). Although the sacrament is not God, God is actively reconciling in the sacrament. We can therefore, say that Reconciliation is the symbol of God and the Church who have relevance only in their mutual relation.

Chauvet posits that the act of symbolisation is "simultaneously a 'revealer and an agent.'" (Chauvet, 85). In the ritual of Reconciliation, the priest extends his hands over the head of the penitent and pronounces the formula of absolution, in which the essential words are: I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. As he says the final words, he makes the sign of the cross over the penitent. This indicates that the reconciliation comes from the mercy of God. It shows the connection between the reconciliation of the sinner and the paschal mystery of Christ. It also stresses the role of the Holy Spirit in the forgiveness of sins. Sacramental absolution underlines the ecclesial aspect because reconciliation is asked for and given through the ministry of the Church (see the Rite). The sacrament is both revealer and agent.

Pope John Paul II tells us that there is nothing more personal and intimate than this sacrament. The sinner stands alone before God with their sin, with trust, and repentance. Everything takes place between the individual alone and God. This is not to deny the social nature of sin or of this sacrament. He further reiterates that the most precious result is reconciliation with God which takes place in the heart of the forgiven penitent. The penitent is reconciled with themselves, their inmost being and with those who have been hurt and wounded. The penitent is also reconciled with the Church and with all creation. "Every confessional is a special and blessed place from which, with divisions wiped away, there is born new and uncontaminated a reconciled individual - a reconciled world!" ( Reconciliation and Penance) Reconciliation is truly a symbol of life. "When he saw their faith, he said, 'Friend, your sins are forgiven you.' . . . " (Lk 5.20).