Reconciliation - A Feature of Christology

Reconciliation is the pinnacle of the ministry of Jesus Christ. Reconciliation is who Jesus Christ is. Through him we realise the destruction of death, and the forgiveness of sins. Through his atoning death, Jesus Christ is the agent of reconciliation. As Christians, we have been called to a deeper and more intimate relationship with God and neighbour, and in our response to this invitation we recognise that we are sinners in need of God's mercy. Christ Incarnate affects our reconciliation with the world, with each another, and with our God. St. Paul encapsulates this when he says, "But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Ep 2.4-7).

It is the person of Jesus who calls us to repentance saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news" (Mk 1.14-15). Jesus calls us back to a deeper and more intimate relationship with God. He welcomed sinners and reconciled them with the Father. "Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins'" (Mt 26.27-28). Jesus Christ brought about reconciliation between God and humanity through the mystery of his death and resurrection. "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. . . . But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation" (Rom 5. 6, 8, 11). It is important for us to remember this when we seem to be "stuck" in our sin.

A brief overview of the gospel of Mark reveals some of the reconciling ministry performed by Jesus where he heals both spiritually and physically. The dominant theme is reconciliation - within communities, families, themselves and most importantly in their relationship with God. Jesus healed the man with an unclean spirit (1.21-28). Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law (1.29-31) and many others were also healed (1.32-34). Jesus cleansed a leper and restored him to the community (1.40-45). He healed a paralytic and forgave him his sins (2.1-12). He healed the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath (3.1-6). He healed the Gerasene demoniac and told him to go home to his friends, "and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you" (5.1-20). The woman with a haemorrhage was healed when she touched his cloak. Jesus said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease." He raised Jairus' daughter to life and said, "Talitha cum,' which means, 'little girl, get up!", with that, she is restored to her family (5.21-43). Jesus healed the sick at Gennesaret and "all who touched it [his cloak] were healed" (6.53-56). Healing the Syrophoenician woman's daughter of an unclean spirit, Jesus brought salvation also to the Gentiles (7.24-30). He healed a deaf man with a speech impediment (7.31-37). The blind man at Bethsaida is healed in stages and Jesus sent him home (8.22-26). He healed the boy with a spirit when the disciples could not (9.14-29). Blind Bartimaeus shouted to Jesus for healing, and "Jesus replied, 'Go; your faith has made you well.' Immediately he regained his sight . . . "(10.46-52). In these healings, Jesus reconciled each person to God and to the community.

According to Herbert Vorgrimler, it is God who graces our hearts with an openness in a place where forgiveness can be dynamically present. "For Christian believers this tangible place of divine forgiveness and reconciliation is Jesus Christ. In his solidarity with sinners . . . the unconditional and anticipatory love of God is made visible in an unsurpassable way" (Sacramental Theology [Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1992] p201). It is up to us to respond to this grace of openness that God offers.

In Matthew's gospel we read of how Jesus gave Peter the power of the keys. "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Mt 16.19). When Jesus gave the power to forgive sins he instituted the Sacrament of Reconciliation. "According to Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Lord entrusted the ministry of reconciliation to the Church in the person of the apostles (see 2 Cor 5.18ff). . . . The Lord, therefore, instituted a special sacrament of penance for the pardon of sins committed after baptism (see John 20.21-23), and the Church has faithfully celebrated the sacrament throughout the centuries - in varying ways, but retaining its essential elements" (The Rites of the Catholic Church as Revised by Decree of the Second Vatican Council and Published by Authority of Pope Paul VI Study Edition [NY: Pueblo Publishing Co, 1983] p 359).

We continue to encounter Christ Incarnate today in the sacrament of reconciliation. In the celebration of the sacrament, Christ is present in the confessor and in the penitent. Christ is present in the welcoming, in the Word that is proclaimed, in the blessing, in the contrition and sorrow of the penitent, as well as in the empathetic listening of the confessor. Christ is present in the penance and in its acceptance, in the laying on of hands, in the words of absolution, as well as in the sign of peace. Christ is present in his dying and rising to new life. We are reconciled to the Body of Christ whom we have hurt through our sin, and to whom we make amends. The graces of the sacrament bring forgiveness, and we experience healing that helps us physically and emotionally. We are brought back into "right relations" through our encounter with Christ, particularly with God, neighbour, and the world.

Vorgrimler posits that the sacrament of reconciliation within the Church is a sensible sign of human conversion. The desire for reconciliation is a share in the reconciliation of the penitential Church, "supported by the constant memory of the suffering and death and Jesus and its connection with the sin of humanity. . . . The sacrament of reconciliation is the effective memory of God's gracious judgement . . .[which] removes all human guilt" (Sacramental Theology, 220). It is grace that moves us to request the sacrament. This is tangibly present in our desire to be forgiven, an in our desire to convert our whole hearts to God. It is this interior conversion to a deeper intimacy with the person of Christ that stimulates an exterior sorrow for sin and a desire for wholeness. The grace of contrition, which is a heartfelt sorrow for sin committed along with a firm resolve to sin no more, is the most important act of the penitent. "We can only approach the Kingdom of Christ by metanoia. . . . For conversion should affect a person from within so that it may progressively enlighten him [her] and render him [her] continually more like Christ" (The Rites of the Catholic Church, 365). We are called to a continual repentance, becoming a visible sign in the world of conversion to God.

The prayer of absolution indicates that the reconciliation of the penitent comes from the mercy of the Father and shows the connection between the reconciliation of the sinner and the paschal mystery of Christ. "God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace . . ." (The Rites of the Catholic Church, 382).

When we celebrate the sacrament, the humanity and loving kindness of Christ our Saviour is made visible. It is here in reconciliation that the Father receives the prodigal/repentant son or daughter; Christ places the lost lamb on his shoulders and brings him/her back to the fold. This is how we enter into the sacrament - how we witness to the sacrament - how we allow the sacrament to draw us into the Paschal mystery and to be Christ in the world.