RECONCILIATION

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RECONCILIATION
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Penance is a sacrament of the New Law Instituted
by Christ

• In which forgiveness of sins committed after
  baptism is granted through the priest's
  absolution to those who with true sorrow confess
  their sins and promise to satisfy for the same.
• It is called a "sacrament" not simply a function
  or ceremony, because it is an outward sign
  instituted by Christ to impart grace to the soul.
  
• As an outward sign it comprises
• the actions of the penitent in presenting himself
  to the priest and accusing himself of his sins,
• and the actions of the priest in pronouncing
  absolution and imposing satisfaction.

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This whole procedure is called confession

• It is said to take place in the
• "tribunal of penance",
• because it is a judicial process in which the
  penitent is at once
• the accuser, the person accused, and the witness,
  
• while the priest pronounces judgment and
  sentence.
• The confession is made
• to a duly ordained priest with requisite
  jurisdiction and with the "power of the keys
• The power to forgive sins which Christ granted to
  His Church.
• The grace conferred is
• deliverance from the guilt of sin
• in the case of mortal sin, from its eternal
  punishment
• reconciliation with God, justification.

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RECONCILIATION

• People are often misinformed or uninformed
  regarding the Churchs understanding and
  celebration of the sacrament.
• They try to live an adult life
  empowered by an adolescent understanding
• Rooted in fear
• Dark confessional boxes
• Memorized acts of contrition
• Lists and counts of sins

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Theology of ExchangeA Trinitarian Model

• God is
• The only cause of created things
• The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit
• A divine unity of one and the same substance in
  an indivisible equality
• (St. Augustine)

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• The Doctrine of Trinity
  Reflects
  The necessary relationships and
  harmony,
• The flowing wholeness, which is meant of all that
  comes from God the Father
• Since,
  all that is from Him
  must in some way reflect His
  very being

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• Distinction of Persons
• St Augustine
• It was Christ who became man
• It was Father who spoke from the cloud
• It was Spirit who descended as a dove
• Unity of God
• St. Bonaventure
• God the Father is the Source of all that is,
  giving eternal expression to love
• This eternal expression is the Word the Son,
• the image of the Father who in eternal
  self-surrender gives everything back to the
  Father
• Their mutual and eternal giving,
  receiving-accepting,
• sharing-exchanging
• is the Spirit who participates completely and
  totally in the flow of wholeness which is God.

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• Applying this exchange to humanity
• This eternal exchange is eternal gift given to us
• We are borne upwards
• The Spirit is the perfect love which attaches us
  to the Father and Son
• The Spirit is diffused in our hearts and holds us
  fast to the Fathers adoption of human nature
  into the divine through Christ
• Everything that is,
• somehow mirrors the Trinitarian exchange of
  Father Son and Spirit
• A flowing wholeness where distinctions remain
  while they are unified through the exchange of
  Love.

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THE FALL

• The serpent tempted Eve to eat the fruit from the
  forbidden tree
  she in turn convinced Adam to do
  the same
• The serpents lie God did not offer total love in
  creating us. He withheld knowledge of good and
  evil which could be found in the fruit.
• Gods truth The fruit dealt with fidelity and
  obedience, listening to the voice of love.
• Could mankind be satisfied with all the Father
  offered?
• Adam and Eve, the first family, failed to
  receive/accept what God had offered.
• Instead they sought a false source of identity.

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Believing the Lie!

• The Repercussions
  
• By accepting the lie Adam and Eve began to live
  the lie
• Treated one another as less than children of God
  less than brother and sister one to the other
• Proper relationship with God was broken
• They began to hide
• They blamed one another (Gn 312)
• They saw each others nakedness
• Failed to accept responsibility for actions taken
• Separated from their source of identity
  
• They experienced a sense of alienation

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• The original plan was union
• They became individualistic, self-seeking,
  grasping false notions of life thereby bringing
  about death of body and spirit.
• One now had to be over the other, one had to be
  subjugated so that the other might look higher

The original sin was lack of trust Broke the
exchange of love and life given by the source of
all From
The Father through The Son in The Spirit
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• Because our first parents fell
• Sin is a condition not an action
• We begin our life with a wound that touches the
  very core of our being Original Sin
• We lack trust in God This
  condition makes disobedience possible
• The more we trust however,
  The more absurd disobedience becomes

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All was not lost!We can learn to trust

• Deuteronomy 3019-20
  I have set before you life and death,
• the blessing and the curse.
  Choose
  life, then,
• that you and your descendants may live,
• by loving the LORD, your God,
• heeding his voice,
• and holding fast to him.
• For that will mean life for you,
• a long life for you to live on the land which the
  LORD swore he would give to your fathers Abraham,
  Isaac and Jacob."

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God continues to counter the destruction of sin
by reaching out to assist the sinner

• Clothes Adam and Eve
• Protects Cain with a special sign
• Saves Noah and his family from the flood
• Saves Lot and his family from Sodom
• Reveals the plan of covenant to Abraham and Sarah
  after the Tower of Babel

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• The Plan Unfolds
• The Incarnation
• For our sakes, God made Him who did not know
  sin, to be sin, so that in Him we might become
  the very holiness of God. (2 Co. 521)
• Who, though he was in the form of God, did not
  regard equality with God something to be grasped.
  Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a
  slave, coming in human likeness and found human
  in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming
  obedient to death, even death on a cross. (2 Ph
  6-8)

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Jesus, The Incarnation
A part of the Trinitarian
exchange Chooses to become a slave
by receiving flesh
from the womb of Mary, by entering into a family

• Just as Adam and Eve, the first family freely
  reject Gods plan
  Mary and Joseph, the Holy family freely accept
  Gods plan

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• Jesus reconciles his Holy family,
  our first parents and us with the Father in
  heaven
• Our true identity as Gods children is revealed
  again
• We are created to accept the self-surrender of
  the Father and return it in the Spirit By living
  a life of self-surrender through the love we bear
  one another.

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Self-surrender

• Giving ones self in love and service to others
  is the only way to be
• faithful to the Spirit given us
• faithful to ourselves
• faithful to Gods image and likeness
• Ambassadors of Christ
  Proclaim in Word and Deed the Good News
• All are reconciled, created as children of God

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Social Dimension of Sin

• Reconciliation cannot stop with an individuals
  relationship to God.
• Having heard the inner voice which calls to
  conversion
• One must proceed toward a change of heart
• Sin effects not just our own self-identity as
  child of God but our response to others as
  children of God

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• Sin is a condition
  that effects the Body of Christ and each
  of us who make up that body
• If we sin against God
  We have sinned against ourselves
• And we have sinned against others
• Reconciliation, Reparation, Expiation
• is owed to the whole body of the Church

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• Its not enough to say,
  The sin is my problem Ill solve it.
• We are not alone.
  Individualism is another piece of the lie
• Problems can be solved.
  Sin cannot be solved.
  The effect of
  an action due to the condition
  cant be taken back.
  
  It can only be forgiven and healed.

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The Economy of Forgiveness

• Jesus is sole holder of reconciling power
• He is the savior of the word
• He designates the proper means
• He gave authority to the Church

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The Economy of Forgiveness

• The Church designates the method
• The Sacrament of Reconciliation is the
  opportunity provided to
  exercise God-given freedom

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The Economy of Forgiveness

• Penance is not a mere human invention devised by
  the Church to secure power over consciences or to
  relieve the emotional strain of troubled souls
• It is the ordinary means appointed by Christ for
  the remission of sin.

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The Economy of Forgiveness

• Man indeed is free to obey or disobey,
• but once he has sinned,
• He must seek pardon not on conditions of his own
  choosing but on those which God has determined.
• These for the Catholic Christian are embodied in
  the Sacrament of Penance.

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The Economy of Forgiveness

• The priest represents both
  Jesus and His Body the Church
• His words of forgiveness are spoken for both
• No longer public but effective
• Because
  We the Church and Jesus the Savior
  accept this as the effective form for
  reconciliation of mortal sin.

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• No Catholic believes that a priest simply as an
  individual man has power to forgive sins.
• This power belongs to God alone
• But He can and does exercise it through the
  ministration of men.
• Since He has seen fit to exercise it by means of
  this sacrament, it cannot be said that the Church
  or the priest interferes between the soul and God
• Penance is the removal of the one obstacle that
  keeps the soul away from God.

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Theology of ExchangeThe Economy of Forgiveness

• Love is unconditional
  The apology is accepted
  Forgiveness is given
• Trust is conditional
  The behavior has to change
  The wound has to be healed
• God has to be trusted

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• It is not true that for the Catholic the mere
• "telling of one's sins"
• suffices to obtain their forgiveness.
• Without sincere sorrow and purpose of amendment,
• confession avails nothing,
• the pronouncement of absolution is of no effect,
• and the guilt of the sinner is greater than
  before.

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• While this sacrament as a dispensation of Divine
  mercy facilitates the pardoning of sin,
• It by no means renders sin less hateful or its
  consequences less dreadful to the Christian mind
• Much less does it imply permission
• to commit sin in the future.

In paying ordinary debts, as e.g., by monthly
settlements, the intention of contracting new
debts with the same creditor is perfectly
legitimate A similar intention on the part of
him who confesses his sins would not only be
wrong in itself but would nullify the sacrament
and prevent the forgiveness of sins then and
there confessed.
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So! Why Confess My Sins?

• To get it all out to another human being
• At last I admitted to you I had sinned
• Psalm 32
• To come back
• Luke 1511-32
• I have sinned against heaven and against you
• To believe in sin
• Matthew 1229-32
• Sin against the Holy Spirit
• To see and hear forgiveness
• Luke 191-10
• Today salvation has come to your house
• To recognize that our sin is linked with
  societys
• 1 Corinthians 1212-24
• We are one body with Christ
• Both personal sin and structural sin are social
  sin