THE SACRAMENTS OF HEALING

Reconciliation

 

In most denominations confession is also absorbed into the communion service as public confession as a mass event.  This has historical reasons resulting from the misuse of confession and penance.  However this is an area which needs to be reconsidered for the wholeness of the body.  In real life situation the need for private confession and use of the sacrament of reconciliation is emphasized by the modern Psychology.  Except for the Roman Catholic Church this sacrament is now dead.  Even there its impact is minimal and has become a routine often without any depth of meaning.. Its very name underwent changes from Penance to Confession to Reconciliation. As a result what predominantly was the work of the Church is now taken over by the secular Psychologists.  The essential decree of this sacrament is found in the Epistle of James, where he deals with sickness.

  “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful”
(James 5:16).

Jesus did not institute a separate sacrament for confession.  However it was inherent in his gospel.  “Repent, Return”

Soon after the formation of the Church as an organism, it was found that people who were Christian did sin.  It brought into mind what Jesus told them during the Last Supper.

Joh 13:10  Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but he is clean all over; ….” 

It is this everyday cleaning of the feet that is intended in the sacrament of reconciliation.  It focuses on the personal and ecclesial conversion process of contrition, repentance and satisfaction and serves to restore our  relationships of love and friendship with God, body of Christ  and the external world.   The major parts of the Sacrament of Penance are:

• Confession,
• Repentance,
• Penalty

In the Parable of the Lost Son (Lk 15:11-32) our Lord demonstrates the "heart" of this sacrament:.  It is a four-step process of conversion leading to reconciliation between God and the sinner and reconciliation between Son and the family and the world.

1.  situation of conflict and alienation;
2.   sin leads the alienated son into pain, suffering and starvation,
3.  which eventually brings him to the realization;  
4,  and that leads him back Home  in to the loving embrace of the Father and the family

 There are essentially two types of sin:

1.  Personal Sins.  All sins are in relation to individuals in our life.  When we commit sin we destroy others in a personal way.  We in principle kill our neighbor because of our selfishness.  Those crimes we commit by our own free will are in our control and they form the Personal Sins.  These are the personal responsibility of the sinner.  We do hurt other people knowingly and unknowingly.  We are hurt by others as well.  Both leave deep emotional repercussion in our lives causing sickness – spiritual, mental and physical.

2.  Communal Sins.  These are sins we commit over which we have no personal control, because they are inherent in the structure of the community or society where we live in.  These include exploitation of one class by another – because of caste system, economic system etc.  Very often we are born into the society where these are built in as a structure as economic, social or political patterns of the system.  They destroy classes of people.  Though we are still responsible for these sins - by virtue of condoning and inaction - we are not entirely responsible for the communal behavior.  We are expected to strive to correct them

Jas 2:8-9  If you really fulfil the royal law, according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well.  But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

We can see this demarcation in the Leviticus where sin sacrifices are explained.

James seems to classify personal sin into two as Mortal Sins and Venial Sins.  Mortal sins are “sin unto death” and Venial sins are “excusable sins”.  But the definition of these two is not clear anywhere. It seems to imply that mortal sin is the knowing and willful violation of God's law in a serious matter, for example, idolatry, adultery, murder, slander.  Mortals sins demanded death while venial sins required recompense and return.  The sacrament of Reconciliation is meant to correct the venial sins.

Thus within the community of believers, there are three forms of reconciliation.

1. Personal reconciliation with each other within the community
2. Personal reconciliation with God
3. Communal reconciliation with God

The tremendous result of confession had been the subject of study for   James W. Pennebaker (Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions ) and researchers from other centres  They have used impersonal methods of confession by using oral (Talking into recording machines)  and written methods.  These are their geneal findings.

• Writing or talking about any personal stress, past or present, can make you feel better and help preserve your health.
• Talking to yourself can be as therapeutic as writing. In a study from the University of Miami, both private confessional writing and speaking into a tape recorder increased students' tolerance for Epstein-Barr virus, the critter that causes mononucleosis and possibly some cases of chronic fatigue syndrome and depression.
• We "confess" most readily in dark or dimly lit settings. It also helps if the location is unique or unusual and if we're very relaxed or, conversely, very excited.
• The health benefits of "confession" tend to be proportional to the seriousness of the matter discussed, the extent that you actually open up, and the degree to which you've clammed up in the past. People with exceptionally anguished stories not easily shared with others -- survivors of severe abuse or torture, veterans of unpopular wars, people with unusual illnesses or handicaps, isolated victims of discrimination -- are prime candidates for confessional healing. Holocaust survivors are a case in point.

Just venting your feelings also fails to deliver in the long run, Pennebaker argues. For a real catharsis to occur, he concludes, head and heart must come together: Honest emotional expression and probing, "self-reflective" thought must both be brought to bear upon the nuts and bolts of your story.

"burnt offering you do not desire." What God wants is "a broken, contrite heart."

 Reconciliation is not possible unless you are willing to forgive and the other person apologizes and “makes it up” to you. As a result it is necessary for all the parties involved to meet together to reconcile. But forgiveness can be effective without reconciliation.

“And the sad thing is that in wishing to send someone to hell they end up sending themselves there as well.” This is particularly true for the people who were victimized by other people and other groups. Forgiveness is “replacing the bitter, angry feelings of vengefulness often resulting from a hurt, with positive feelings of goodwill toward the offender” (Wade, Bailey, & Shaffer, 2005).  This can be achieved even when the offending party is non-repentant and still an aggressor. The prayer taught by our Lord therefore includes the important conditional part.  “Forgive us, our trespasses,  as we forgive trespasses against us.”  Later Lord himself added that it is absolutely necessary to do that if we have to receive forgiveness on an on going daily life from God himself.

It is these functions that the sacrament of reconciliation does. The Church as a whole and the function of the elders within the church is intended for this purpose.  It is not a confession in a confession chamber affair.  While total reconciliation is the ideal, the confessional is only the first step.  The ideal is given by James

“Therefore, make it your habit to confess your sins to one another and to pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16