This past month, we have explored the Church’s belief around the sacrament of Penance. One aspect of the Church’s practice which fascinates many people is the seal of Confession. This seal means that any sins confessed to a priest in the context of the sacrament are absolutely private and cannot be disclosed to anyone for any reason. The seal is of great spiritual benefit to those who go to Confession. Here is what the Catechism says about the seal. 

“Given the delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons, the Church declares that every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. He can make no use of knowledge that confession gives him about penitents’ lives.⁷² This secret, which admits of no exceptions, is called the “sacramental seal,” because what the penitent has made known to the priest remains “sealed” by the sacrament” (Paragraph 1467).

The reason the seal of confession exists is so that people who want to receive forgiveness from God feel free to do so without human judgment. I can attest that in my few months as a priest, the seal of confession has given great freedom to many people to bring their burdens to the Lord, knowing that I would not disclose the details of their life to anybody. 

Every once in a while, we hear in the media about countries or states that try to pass a law forcing priests to disclose knowledge they received in the context of confession. These laws usually don’t get passed either by the legislators or by the court systems because this is seen as a violation of religious freedom. And it’s not just Catholics that this applies to. In the United States, we all have the right to private spiritual counsel from a pastoral minister. Even if the state were to pass a law forcing us to disclose some people’s sins, no Catholic priest would do so, no matter the temporal consequences. 

There are times when priests have questions about how to advise people who come to him in confession. In this case, a priest will usually call another priest and explain the situation in generic terms, not even disclosing if the person is a man or a woman. When I was in the seminary, I had several practice confession sessions with my classmates and teachers. In the course of our learning about the sacrament, our professors shared many stories and examples from confessions they had heard, which was very helpful for us. However, most of these priests were from different states and had been priests for decades. There is no chance of mistakenly revealing someone’s identity in these situations. 

Priests sometimes talk about their ability to forget sins which were brought to them during Confession. The first reason for this is that most confessions are heard behind the screen, so we don’t even know the identity of the one confessing. We also hear a lot of confessions, and most people deal with the same problems, so very few confessions are absolutely unique. However, it is not as if the Holy Spirit does a memory wipe on us when we walk out of the confessional. And it is good for us to remember some things because as priests the Church asks us to pray and do penance for those whose sins we have forgiven in confession. 

The Catechism quote above said that the seal is in place due to the “greatness of this ministry.” It truly is a great ministry to be a servant of God’s mercy and forgive sins in Jesus’ name as a Catholic priest. Here at the Cathedral, we offer many times for confessions, and we never go a day without somebody coming to the parish to be reconciled to God. The Sacrament of Penance truly is a gift straight from the pierced heart of Jesus Christ. May we all accept this gift with open arms! 

As we begin our Lenten journey, permit me briefly to look back to the conclusion of the Christmas Season.  At the 10:00 am Mass for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Bishop Paprocki preached about the difference between being a true follower of Christ and being merely an admirer.  He quoted the nineteenth century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard who wrote the following:

The admirer never makes any true sacrifices. He always plays it safe. Though in words, phrases, songs, he is inexhaustible about how highly he prizes Christ, he renounces nothing, will not reconstruct his life, and will not let his life express what it is he supposedly admires. Not so for the follower. No, no. The follower aspires with all his strength to be what he admires.

I would like to suggest this theme for our reflection for this season during which the Church invites us to undergo the conversion that will result in our being more like Him whom we profess to be our Lord.

The Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the disciplines that the Church proposes to us as the means to bring about this reordering of our lives.  But it does not suffice for us just to “do” these practices, for there is no great merit in simply going through the motions.  True conversion and growth will come only when we connect these practices with our desire to grow in our love for Christ and our brothers and sisters.  If this is not the motivation behind our practices, why are we even doing them?  Because the Church says we are supposed to?  Because that is what we have always done?  In these early days of Lent, we need to make a good examination of our motivations and readjust them toward Christ, lest we fall into a sort of idolatry where we focus just on love of self over love of God and neighbor.  Ensuring that we have the right motivation for how to approach Lent is critical in determining if we are an actual follower of Christ or just an admirer.  

You might find it helpful to write down the practices you are resolving to undertake this Lent and then bring that list to prayer.  As you look at each item in the list, ask yourself: “Am I doing this for me?  Or, am I doing this for you, Lord?”  If you answer yes to the former, ask for the grace to keep your resolve rooted in Him.  If you answer yes to the latter, ask for the grace to purify your motives.  Then, at the end of the list, I might suggest your offer all your proposed Lenten practices to the Lord with this simple line from the Responsorial Psalm we heard on Ash Wednesday: “A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.” (Ps 51:12)

Father Alford     

One reason that Catholics sometimes stay away from the Sacrament of Confession is that they have forgotten how to go. After all, they may have received their “training” on how to go to Confession in second grade! This is an understandable hesitation, but Reconciliation has a surprisingly simple format. 

Confession really begins before you walk into the confessional. First, it is important to take some time to spiritually and mentally prepare for Confession. There are many aids or pamphlets out there which can help us call to mind our sins and our need for God’s mercy. Very simply, we can call to mind the Ten Commandments as a simple examination of conscience, which means that we think about our life and remember the ways in which we have gone against our conscience or God’s Law. These are things we need to take to Confession. Many people (myself included) find it helpful to write down a list of things to be confessed. Oftentimes going to Confession, I get nervous and forget what I need to confess in the moment. Just make sure that you throw this list away when Confession is over! Before going to Confession, St. Faustina recommends that we say a prayer for the priest, that he may listen to the Holy Spirit and give good counsel.

The penitent (the one going to Confession) or the priest can begin with the Sign of the Cross. Then the penitent indicates how much time has passed since their last Confession. This helps to provide some context for what is about to be confessed. Then, simply list your sins. It’s best to be brief and to the point. We are required to confess any mortal sins, but we are encouraged to confess venial sins also, if we have time. (See last week’s article for the distinction between these two types of sin.) This is a place to confess your own sins, not your spouse’s or your friend’s. It can be helpful to give a few sentences of background information for certain things, but it’s good to avoid long stories and get to the point. To conclude, you can simply say, “That’s all, Father.” Some people like to say, “For these and all the sins of my past life I am truly sorry.” After this, the priest will offer some words of encouragement and counsel. He also might ask a clarifying question. 

Then, the priest will assign you some sort of penance to complete after you leave the confessional. In confession, all our sins are forgiven, but it does not correct all the disorder that sin has brought into our life. A penance is usually simple, such as saying some prayers, and it begins to correct what sin has damaged in our spiritual lives. The best penances correspond to what the penitent is dealing with in their life. The priest will ask you to pray the Act of Contrition, which can be said from memory or from a prayer aid. The priest then prays the prayer of absolution, which he has authority to do by his priestly ordination. Finally, he dismisses the penitent with words such as, “Your sins are forgiven; go in peace.” 

Very simply, when you walk through the Confessional door, simply come with a contrite heart ready to confess your sins. The priest will walk you through the rest of the process. Most of all, learn to develop a deep trust in God’s mercy, knowing that Jesus paid a great price to forgive our sins. The number one obstacle to coming to Confession is shame, but Confession is actually the best place to have our shame taken away. The confessional is a tribunal of mercy and a place of true encounter with Jesus through the sacraments. 

“YOU ARE DUST!”  Those words still ring in my memory!  They were the first three words a priest used in a Day of Recollection conference on Ash Wednesday my first year in the seminary.  The enthusiasm with which he yelled those words were startling, to say the least.  I honestly cannot remember anything else he had to say during his talk, but I will never forget those first three words.

These are the words that the Church’s ministers will be speaking (hopefully in a less startling way) this coming Wednesday as we begin our Lenten journey of 40 days toward Easter.  To be exact, the words the Church gives us are these: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  It is a sobering reminder to one who receives the ashes, and I can tell you that it is likewise humbling to speak those words to others as I sign them with the ashes, an outward sign of our inner resolution to repentance.

This year, however, will be different from our experience of Ash Wednesdays in the past.  We have grown accustomed to adapting certain aspects of our liturgies in the midst of a global pandemic, and Ash Wednesday is no exception.  The Holy See has instructed that instead of saying the words for each person, the priest celebrant will say the words only once as he speaks to the entire congregation present.  Then, after sanitizing his hands and donning a mask, he will distribute ashes to the faithful.  Even that will take on a form unfamiliar to most of us.  Instead of marking the forehead of each individual, the instruction is to impose ashes on the top of the head by sprinkling, which requires no touching of the person.

The fact of the matter is that this is actually how ashes have been traditionally imposed, and much of the world still imposes ashes through sprinkling.  There is no outward sign that you have attended Mass, as those ashes are hidden from the view of others.  After all, does not the Gospel for Ash Wednesday seem to support this:

But when you fast, anoint your head so that you may not appear to others to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.

(Matthew 6:17-18)

So instead of seeing this as a negative change, let us see it as an invitation to purify our motives when it comes to the beginning of our Lenten journey.  The ashes we receive (and in fact everything we do during Lent) are not for others to see.  Sure, Lent is a time for us to commit to living lives of more intentional charity toward others.  But Lent is first and foremost about our relationship with the Lord, and our need to turn back to Him.  We should be far more concerned about our hearts being open to receiving His healing mercy, a healing that takes place in the hidden relationship we have with Him.  When the Father alone sees that hidden desire, He will bless us with the reward of His grace, a grace that will overflow in mercy toward others.

Father Alford     

As we try to grow in holiness through the reception of the Sacrament of Penance, it is helpful to know what we are confessing. There are two types of sins that we can commit: mortal and venial. While some may think that this language is too old-fashioned, it actually comes straight from scripture and is relevant to our spiritual life. Let’s take a look at what the Apostle John wrote about mortal and venial sin.

“If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly” (1 John 5:16-17).

The words “mortal” and “deadly” are synonyms. There are certain sins that we can commit that are deadly for our spiritual life. This means that when we commit a mortal sin, the divine life of God which was ignited in our soul through baptism is extinguished. The Church teaches that someone who dies in the state of mortal sin, that is, without ever repenting of that sin, has chosen to go to hell through their own free will. Most of the sins that we commit are considered “venial,” which means small or slight. 

To commit a mortal sin, three conditions must be fulfilled. First, the action done must be objectively very bad. It’s impossible to compile an exact list of mortal sins, but it’s commonly understood that the Ten Commandments are examples of grave or serious sins. St. Paul often lists sins in his letters, such as in his letter to the Galatians. “Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21.) While some mortal sins are obvious, like murder and adultery, some are actually not universally known. One example of this is that missing Mass on Sunday is a very serious sin for Catholics which could exclude them from the Kingdom of Heaven. Of course, during Covid time, most bishops have lifted the obligation to attend Mass. However, without a good reason such as sickness, Catholics are normally obligated to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. To miss Mass on Sunday is to directly disobey the Third Commandment: Keep holy the Lord’s Day. 

The second condition for something to be a mortal sin is that the person must have knowledge that the sin is serious. There are many things that we should know are wrong because of our instinct as human beings. However, some things are not so clearly understood or universally known. The example I used in the above paragraph is once again applicable. The unfortunate fact is that some Catholics do not know that they are required to attend Mass on Sunday. If someone truly does not understand this, through no fault of their own, then missing Mass would not be a mortal sin. 

The third condition for an action to be a mortal sin is that it be completed with the full consent of someone’s will. Sometimes through addictions or other outside influences, someone’s ability to consent to an action can be substantially lessened, and thus would not be a mortal sin. 

The only regular way for mortal sins to be forgiven is through the reception of the Sacrament of Penance. If we have committed a mortal sin, we should never receive Communion without first confessing this sin in the sacrament of Penance. This is to ensure that we receive the Eucharist worthily and avoid causing more spiritual harm to ourselves. 

We should never despair of God’s mercy, no matter how often we may fall into sin. He desires so much to have us reconciled to him. The point of discussing the reality of sin is not to make us despair or be discouraged but to help us to grow more intentionally in the spiritual life. Let us run into the Father’s open arms of love and return to him with our whole hearts through the sacrament of Penance! 

Feast Day: February 17^th (in 2021, Ash Wednesday trumps their celebration)

Florence, in the 1200s, is quickly becoming the richest and most powerful city on the Italic peninsula.  It has begun minting its own currency, the Florin, which would dominate European markets for a century.  But, the city is also divided.  The city’s most famous inhabitant, the poet Dante, would be exiled from his beloved city at the end of this century for his membership in the losing sect of the white-Guelphs.  It would take centuries of street fighting, then bull-fighting, and now horse racing (the bi-annual palio still sends 10 horses careening around the central piazza of the city every year) to keep all the various sections of the city civil with each other.

But, we’re here to meet seven gentlemen: Alexis, Amadeus, Hugh, Benedetto, Gherardino, Boufiglio, and Giovanni.  If you did not know Florence was in Italy, their names might seal the deal!  They are middle-aged merchants in Florence: two with families, two already widowers, the rest still leaving behind (or perhaps very content staying in) their well-to-do youth.  They are Christians from their Italian heritage, but living during the morally troubled, heresy ridden, mid-1200s (probably a heresy you haven’t heard much about: Catharism – basically saying that our bodies are bad.  This comes around under different forms every century or two, and has been very wrong ever since … oh, when God created us “very good”…).  They are members of a guild of cloth merchants, which has made them friends, and made them traders of the wool fabric Florence was famous for.   

They could have just as well become renowned and rich like another cloth merchant, Francesco Bernardone, almost did in Assisi just 50 years before.  But, as the Magna Carta becomes the law of the land in England (1215); as the Mongols sweep in from Asia, defeating cities across Russia (1223), demolish Hungary and Poland (1241), capture Baghdad (1258), and threaten all of Europe; and, as Thomas Aquinas writes his Summa Theologicae (1265), our Lady chose these men for a very different path.

They decided to join a spiritual guild, the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin – what we might now call a men’s-group – joining their friendship by religious, not merely mercantile, bonds.  They were guided by a holy priest, (maybe a Dominican priest, Pietro of Verona, who would later be martyred by those heretical Cathari) in any case his role was quickly overshadowed by advice from someone rather closer to God: our Mother Mary.  She appeared to these seven normal, working, but praying men, and called them to the same thing she knows is essential for all of us: prayer, penance, perseverance in the faith.  

They could have done that as merchants, maybe.  But as they drew closer to God, and meditated more and more on the 7 sorrows of Mary, they found Florence to be louder, and less wholesome, and less rich than it seemed before.  Piles of florins do not seem nearly as glamorous when God offers you heavenly treasure; business relationships seem pretty shallow when the Lord offers you His mother; and the busy-ness and delights of 13^th century Florence paled in comparison to the offer of doing God’s work.  

And so, they began a penitential life.  They provided for their families – however much that entailed – and then eventually formed a community and built a hermitage out in the mountains outside the city.  They took up the black habit, the rule of St. Augustine, and became the Servites.

They also became saints.  

– Fr. Dominic Rankin has been entrusted with the work of chaplain of our diocesan men’s group, the Legion of Valor now for almost 2 years.  It is such awesome work to care, and lead, and pray with dozens of great men and fathers from around the diocese. We pray morning prayer together every morning.  Many of the men see each other regularly in small-groups around the diocese.  And we all join together in brotherhood and formation at least quarterly.  That all sounds ordinary, but the same things made the seven-holy-servite-founders saints.  Interested?: https://valor.dio.org/