The Sacrament of Penance Part One

Catechism of the Catholic Church

What do I aim to accomplish by Bloging the Catechism on Penance?
Will the People of the Christian Church be Motivated to Practice Regular Confession?

The Words of the Catechism are simplistic and easy to understand.

I am going to do Part Two …The Synod of 2000 Bishops’ Version.
Can We Make an Effort to Evangelize…Repentence?

**What does Sack Clothe and Ashes mean to America?

IX. The Effects of This Sacrament

1468

“The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship.”73 Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious disposition, reconciliation “is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation.”74 Indeed the sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about a true “spiritual resurrection,” restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the most precious is friendship with God.75

1469

This sacrament reconciles us with the Church. Sin damages or even breaks fraternal communion. The sacrament of Penance repairs or restores it. In this sense it does not simply heal the one restored to ecclesial communion, but has also a revitalizing effect on the life of the Church which suffered from the sin of one of her members.76 Re-established or strengthened in the communion of saints, the sinner is made stronger by the exchange of spiritual goods among all the living members of the Body of Christ, whether still on pilgrimage or already in the heavenly homeland:77
It must be recalled that . . . this reconciliation with God leads, as it were, to other reconciliations, which repair the other breaches caused by sin. The forgiven penitent is reconciled with himself in his inmost being, where he regains his innermost truth. He is reconciled with his brethren whom he has in some way offended and wounded. He is reconciled with the Church. He is reconciled with all creation.78

1470

In this sacrament, the sinner, placing himself before the merciful judgment of God, anticipates in a certain way the judgment to which he will be subjected at the end of his earthly life. For it is now, in this life, that we are offered the choice between life and death, and it is only by the road of conversion that we can enter the Kingdom, from which one is excluded by grave sin.79 In converting to Christ through penance and faith, the sinner passes from death to life and “does not come into judgment.”80

X. Indulgences

1471

The doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the sacrament of Penance.

What is an indulgence?

“An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.”81

“An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin.”82 The faithful can gain indulgences for themselves or apply them to the dead.83

The punishments of sin

1472

To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the “eternal punishment” of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the “temporal punishment” of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain.84

1473

The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains. While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the “old man” and to put on the “new man.”85

In the Communion of Saints

1474

The Christian who seeks to purify himself of his sin and to become holy with the help of God’s grace is not alone. “The life of each of God’s children is joined in Christ and through Christ in a wonderful way to the life of all the other Christian brethren in the supernatural unity of the Mystical Body of Christ, as in a single mystical person.”86
1475
In the communion of saints, “a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who are still pilgrims on earth. Between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things
1476
We also call these spiritual goods of the communion of saints the Church’s treasury, which is “not the sum total of the material goods which have accumulated during the course of the centuries. On the contrary the ‘treasury of the Church’ is the infinite value, which can never be exhausted, which Christ’s merits have before God. They were offered so that the whole of mankind could be set free from sin and attain communion with the Father. In Christ, the Redeemer himself, the satisfactions and merits of his Redemption exist and find their efficacy.”88

1477

“This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable, and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission the Father entrusted to them. In this way they attained their own salvation and at the same time cooperated in saving their brothers in the unity of the Mystical Body.”89

Obtaining indulgence from God through the Church

1478

An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishments due for their sins. Thus the Church does not want simply to come to the aid of these Christians, but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity.90

1479

Since the faithful departed now being purified are also members of the same communion of saints, one way we can help them is to obtain indulgences for them, so that the temporal punishments due for their sins may be remitted.

XI. The Celebration of the Sacrament of Penance

1480

Like all the sacraments, Penance is a liturgical action. The elements of the celebration are ordinarily these: a greeting and blessing from the priest, reading the word of God to illuminate the conscience and elicit contrition, and an exhortation to repentance; the confession, which acknowledges sins and makes them known to the priest; the imposition and acceptance of a penance; the priest’s absolution; a prayer of thanksgiving and praise and dismissal with the blessing of the priest.

1481

The Byzantine Liturgy recognizes several formulas of absolution, in the form of invocation, which admirably express the mystery of forgiveness: “May the same God, who through the Prophet Nathan forgave David when he confessed his sins, who forgave Peter when he wept bitterly, the prostitute when she washed his feet with her tears, the publican, and the prodigal son, through me, a sinner, forgive you both in this life and in the next and enable you to appear before his awe-inspiring tribunal without condemnation, he who is blessed for ever and ever. Amen.”

1482

The sacrament of Penance can also take place in the framework of a communal celebration in which we prepare ourselves together for confession and give thanks together for the forgiveness received. Here, the personal confession of sins and individual absolution are inserted into a liturgy of the word of God with readings and a homily, an examination of conscience conducted in common, a communal request for forgiveness, the Our Father and a thanksgiving in common. This communal celebration expresses more clearly the ecclesial character of penance. However, regardless of its manner of celebration the sacrament of Penance is always, by its very nature, a liturgical action, and therefore an ecclesial and public action.91

Adela Maria, BSP. Why then do we not use it more often?

1483

In case of grave necessity recourse may be had to a communal celebration of reconciliation with general confession and general absolution. Grave necessity of this sort can arise when there is imminent danger of death without sufficient time for the priest or priests to hear each penitent’s confession. Grave necessity can also exist when, given the number of penitents, there are not enough confessors to hear individual confessions properly in a reasonable time, so that the penitents through no fault of their own would be deprived of sacramental grace or Holy Communion for a long time. In this case, for the absolution to be valid the faithful must have the intention of individually confessing their grave sins in the time required.92 The diocesan bishop is the judge of whether or not the conditions required for general absolution exist.93 A large gathering of the faithful on the occasion of major feasts or pilgrimages does not constitute a case of grave necessity.94

Adela Maria, BSP: The fact that people are receiving the Blessed Jesus without confession; with the possibility of grave sin present; with the deliberate and casual manner in which todays laity approaches the Eucharist; with people tossing the Body of Christ into their mouths irreverently; and, if you were to ask them if they had any inter-action with their Savior…they would all say “Yes”!

1484

“Individual, integral confession and absolution remain the only ordinary way for the faithful to reconcile themselves with God and the Church, unless physical or moral impossibility excuses from this kind of confession.”95 There are profound reasons for this. Christ is at work in each of the sacraments. He personally addresses every sinner: “My son, your sins are forgiven.”96 He is the physician tending each one of the sick who need him to cure them.97 He raises them up and reintegrates them into fraternal communion. Personal confession is thus the form most expressive of reconciliation with God and with the Church.

IN BRIEF
1485

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week,” Jesus showed himself to his apostles. “He breathed on them, and said to them: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” (Jn 20:19, 22-23).

1486

The forgiveness of sins committed after Baptism is conferred by a particular sacrament called the sacrament of conversion, confession, penance, or reconciliation.

1487

The sinner wounds God’s honor and love, his own human dignity as a man called to be a son of God, and the spiritual well-being of the Church, of which each Christian ought to be a living stone.

1488

To the eyes of faith no evil is graver than sin and nothing has worse consequences for sinners themselves, for the Church, and for the whole world.

1489

To return to communion with God after having lost it through sin is a process born of the grace of God who is rich in mercy and solicitous for the salvation of men. One must ask for this precious gift for oneself and for others.

1490

The movement of return to God, called conversion and repentance, entails sorrow for and abhorrence of sins committed, and the firm purpose of sinning no more in the future. Conversion touches the past and the future and is nourished by hope in God’s mercy.

1491
The sacrament of Penance is a whole consisting in three actions of the penitent and the priest’s absolution. The penitent’s acts are repentance, confession or disclosure of sins to the priest, and the intention to make reparation and do works of reparation.

1492
Repentance (also called contrition) must be inspired by motives that arise from faith. If repentance arises from love of charity for God, it is called “perfect” contrition; if it is founded on other motives, it is called “imperfect.”

1493

One who desires to obtain reconciliation with God and with the Church, must confess to a priest all the unconfessed grave sins he remembers after having carefully examined his conscience. The confession of venial faults, without being necessary in itself, is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church.

1494

The confessor proposes the performance of certain acts of “satisfaction” or “penance” to be performed by the penitent in order to repair the harm caused by sin and to re-establish habits befitting a disciple of Christ.

1495

Only priests who have received the faculty of absolving from the authority of the Church can forgive sins in the name of Christ.

1496

The spiritual effects of the sacrament of Penance are:
• reconciliation with God by which the penitent recovers grace;
• reconciliation with the Church;
• remission of the eternal punishment incurred by mortal sins;
• remission, at least in part, of temporal punishments resulting from sin;
• peace and serenity of conscience, and spiritual consolation;
• an increase of spiritual strength for the Christian battle.

1497

Individual and integral confession of grave sins followed by absolution remains the only ordinary means of reconciliation with God and with the Church.

1498

Through indulgences the faithful can obtain the remission of temporal punishment resulting from sin for themselves and also for the souls in Purgatory.

Catechism of the Catholic Church
__________________________________

I hope you understand the meaning of this article:

DAVOS 1
GLOBAL CORPORATE FASCISM IS OUT OF THE CLOSET!!!!
**Time for the sack clothe and ashes!

Klaus Schwab speech:

“Develop an ideology of perpetual renewal” which is globalism [not sovereignty] which includes the death of distance [Internet]…, and the death of traditional structures…need common moral and ethical standards.”

Tony Blair speech:

The opening of the 21st century has seen a move away from a very narrow, perhaps selfish individualism towards ideas of belonging, of community, of a self-interest that is mutual. The nature of our world and its challenges mean that nations themselves increasingly need to cooperate more. Politics is going global. We have a chance in this century to achieve an open world, an open economy, and an open global society…I call it a Third Way. It provides a new alternatives in politics on the center and center left but on new terms. We are part of an international community…new search for community locally, nationally, and globally. With it comes a new agenda.
Bill Clinton arrives on Saturday and is expected to discuss his view of globalization which probably is a twin of Tony Blair who is a Vice president of the Socialist International.
The World Economic Forum specializes in blending a mix of cultures, values, and politics as they consider the state of the World; greater emphasis on the fact that the nation-state is dead; and we must globalize and work together. Workshop on East Timor/Kosovo suggested the end of the nation-state as a way of proceeding in the future.
In a workshop on economic infrastructure make clear we have to work on the international level in order to succeed financially: great emphasis on the third way; one -two hour workshops on it; a number of workshops on corporate governance; major inclusion of NGOs this year while in past years, maybe one or two and maybe credentialed, but did not speak and participate actively; will be rehash of WTO, for sake of agenda in Davos.

NGOS

One world International
Friends of the Earth
Greenpeace
Oxfam
World Federalist Move. -
Sir Peter Ustinov

Others

Rockefeller Foundation
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
AFL-CIO
Carnegie Corporation
Warren Beatty
Mayor Richard Daley

UN Movers and Shakers

Maurice Strong
Gro Harlem Brundtland
James Wolfensohn - WB
Stanley Fischer-IMF
Others: UNDP, INTERPOL,
UN High Commissioner for Refugees,
Int’l Labor Organization

CEOs

George Soros
Bill Gates
Ken lay-
William Clay Ford - Ford
Mcdonalds
DeBeers Group
Sara Lee

Mix of cultures, values, politics - all leading to the hegelian dialectic third way

CLINTON ADMINISTRATION
Cabinet

Albright-State
Joel Klein-US Asst Atty-General
Richardson-Energy
Daley-Commerce
Summers-Treasury
Eizenstat-US Dept.
Treasury

Cabinet-con’t

Geitner-Asst Treasury
Barchefsky-Trade
Jane Henney- Commissioner -FDA
Frank Loy-Undersec St. for Global Affairs
Gene Sperling-nat’l l Economic Council

Arthur Levitt - SEC
Roger Ferguson-VC-
Federal Reserve

Congressmen:

Berman, Drier, Dunn,l Kolbe, Leach, Markey,
Gov. Whitman (NJ) &
Ridge (PA)
Mayor Daley-Chicago
Sen. Kerry-MA

Former Clinton Advisers: Laura Tyson and Dan Tarullo

KINGS: KING ABDULLAH-JORDAN AND KING HAROLD - NORWAY

Middle East Players
King Abdullah - Jordan AND Yasser Arafat

NUMBERS

33 world leaders
330 sessions
30th meeting

Ideas presented to lead the world via CEO’s - whose financial power exceeds that of most developing countries to dispense with the individual country which is a hindrance to peace, prosperity, and business.

Middle east peace negotiations will take place on the slopes of the Alps as King Abdullah of Jordan, Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Barak meet with Bill Clinton and Madeline Albright during the 6 day World Economic Forum which begins today. On Saturday, President Clinton will make a keynote speech Yearly 1000 chief executives from key global corporations meet with political leaders from around the world and from the United Nations to determine the state of the world.

Joan Veon
USA Radio New S
Davos, Switzerland

JV: Question to Abby Cohen
Miss Cohen, given our high trade deficit which we are told is unsustainable, my question is, Is it really? Given things which I have been looking at. (1) the shift of borrowing from the government to the private sector to corporations, (2) the shift in production from corporations in America to overseas where it is cheaper and it gives them more “EVA” , (3) the fact that there has been a political shift in our government through downsizing, privatization, and public-private partnerships, so given those three things, is our high level of trade deficit, really that high?

COHEN: THAT THIS A WONDERFUL QUESTION AND A VERY PERCEPTIVE ONE. Let me see what I can add, as I mentioned in this mornings session, we believe that the fact that the United States has a growing trade deficit is a symptom rather than anything else. The fact that we are strong and have a domestic economy that is growing is a key reason why we are drawing imports from other nations and many of our trade partners are not yet strong enough to return the favor. So let’s start with that notion. The question also points out that there may be some technology and numerical reasons why the trade deficit looks as big as it does. I would re-iterate that point. There are many people in the government who believe that we are dramatically overestimating our trade deficit. The key reasons is that we don’t really count our exports. I agree this may seem very strange to you, but we do a much better job of counting our imports than counting our exports and many people believe that we are missing at least 10% of our exports. This seems to be a particular problem when things are exported on airplanes, which includes many high-valued items. The other reason why there is some problem with data collection is that we are increasingly importing from ourselves to the extent that U.S. companies have done foreign direct investment into other nations, producing goods there and then importing them back to the United States which counts as an import , even though it is a U.S. company for whom we are importing. We have been aware of this problem for many, many years with regard to Canada and things have been done to try and straighten out those trade accounts while the trade accounts from other nations remain highly suspect from a mathematical point of view.

Mr. Ken Curtis - Goldman Sachs

The Japanese play such a role with financing this non-existent debt and I would like to comment on whether it is an existing debt and if it will be a problem, especially with regard to a disruption in the Japanese economy. It is really interesting, the Japanese have a weak economy and a big surplus; if they have a strong economy, they would have a big surplus… America has a strong economy, and a big deficit, if they have a weak economy, they would still have a big deficit. It just gets bigger. There is something bigger happening than these numbers. Another way of looking at it to measure is to look at it is to look at the capital account, and the net import and net export accounts. After all, the balance of payments have to balance like an accounting statement. The U.S. Capital requirements have continued to increase. There will be $1B in aid this year. What I am worried about at this moment is not inflation but because of the excess capacity high unemployment and other reasons, there is an insufficient amount of savings as we see real interest rates go up. As long as we have companies which are innovating so aggressively and dynamically that we are creating more and more value, faster than real interest rates are going up. That’s fine but if starts to slow, then obviously we enter into a period of much bigger volatility than in the last few months. I think there is a question market out there that would be a question mark, a big one.

Question: How far do central banks have to go how much is too much at what point, particularly in Asia does rising interest rates begin to affect the recovery and turnaround.

Abby: In the U.S. you are absolutely correct. There is the presumption that the Federal Reserve will be raising interest rates… tape turned over and I lost it. So we don’t think that a rise from the Fed will come as a surprise. Don’t start clock but from several months when markets began to anticipate that the Fed would take action October, 1999. You also raised another point and that is that the Federal Reserve does not have the same sensitivity in its policy makers that it might have had previously. For example with Regulation Q which was disbanded years ago. The Fed is aware, and one of the reasons why they monitor so carefully; not just monetary but measures of economic activity in the United States.

Mr. Curtis

If you look at bonds, they have been cheap If the S&P goes up 8% and bonds are 6 « - 6 3/4%. My sense is that the next big move in capital markets will be bonds. That will come as bonds move in one direction since the 8th of October. Offsetting that could be the trouble that Japan finds itself in. When the authorities are obliged to start aggressively monetizing their debt, moving up yield curve which will put more and more long term liquidity in the market. At that time a large amount of money will leave Japan at that point interest rates will start to come down again because there is so much money available. That would set us off into global markets going higher, helping Japan. So if you put it all together, there are always accidents. We have the underpinnings for a pretty robust 18 months. That does not mean there are not going to be set backs, we will have set backs that scare the day lights out of us. Basically if you put it together, massive technology momentum and spreading in the global markets, the right monetary policy to help be the high octane fuel the global economy and Europe positioned for an increase with many emerging markets already struggling very efficiently to reposition themselves. The irony was the moment the French decided that 35 hours was enough, the Koreans rolled up their sleeves and decided to work 70 hours a week.

JV Question: You said that we skated pretty close to the brink a year ago, that does not mean we are out of it does it?

Curtis: - the U.S. deficit…

JV; What do you see… what is the worst case scenario?

Curtis: What is the biggest risk in the world: AN IMPLOSION IN JAPAN. America has a wonderful economy but we are financing it with other people’s money. A lot of that money comes from Japan. Their banking system is on literal implosion.

JV: How long? 18 months?

Man: the Japanese prices will last a decade.

Socialism in America

Socialism in America is alive, well, and growing. Aided by such influential Congressmen as John Conyers, Ranking Member of the House Judicial Committee, David Bonior, the pit-bull-dog who successfully whipped Newt, Maxine Waters, the President’s outspoken defender in the impeachment debates, and nearly fifty Representatives, socialism is advancing in America behind the “Progressive” label.

This is just the beginning.

Jesus, Mercy…Holy Mother of God, save us with the Flame of Love of Thy Immaculate Heart!