Confession to a Priest: forgiveness from Jesus himself!


The great thing about the Catholic sacrament of confession is that, we are able to confess our sins directly to Jesus. How? In the confessional, the priest acts in persona Christi (in the person of Christ). In other words, the priest speaks not for himself but for Jesus. The advantage of this is that you will physically hear the voice of Jesus (via the mouth of the priest) inform you that your sins are forgiven.

But where does the priest get the authority to act in persona Christi and forgive us our sins? First of all Mark 2:5-12 proves that Jesus had the power to forgive sins.

And when Jesus had seen their faith, he saith to the sick of the palsy: Son, thy sins are forgiven thee. And there were some of the scribes sitting there, and thinking in their hearts: Why doth this man speak thus? he blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins, but God only? Which Jesus presently knowing in his spirit, that they so thought within themselves, saith to them: Why think you these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy: Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say: Arise, take up thy bed, and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say to thee: Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house. And immediately he arose; and taking up his bed, went his way in the sight of all; so that all wondered and glorified God, saying: We never saw the like.
(Mark 2:5-12 DRA)
Second, Matthew 18:18-19 and John 20:23 show how he passed this authority to his disciples.
Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth, concerning any thing whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 18:18-19 DRA)
23Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained (John 20:23 DRA) 

Matthew Bohrn
Senior Web Disciple
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