By Suzanne Haugh

Staff Writer

ATLANTA—Embezzlers and prostitutes, people who perform abortions and other human rights violators—imagine Christ sitting down to dinner with those drenched in sin, those he calls the lost sheep. Like the proud Pharisees in Jesus’ time, we may react by saying: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

But Jesus’ answer cuts to the heart of his mission, in which he makes apparent the way to conversion and through which he becomes the source of our redemption: “It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners” (Luke 2: 15-17).

Throughout Scripture we find references to the need for repentance and reconciliation. From the earliest Christians to Vatican II, those within the church have wrestled with finding the most life-giving format for handling one’s sins. Through the workings of the Holy Spirit we are offered various avenues to experience conversion and reconciliation, in particular, the sacrament of penance.

The fall of our first parents depicted in Genesis unleashed sin, or “humanity’s rejection of God and opposition to him, even as it continued to weigh heavy on human life and history” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 386).

Stories abound throughout the Old Testament of humanity caught in the quagmire of sin: Cain’s murder at the hands of his brother, Abel (Genesis 4: 3-15); the abandonment of Joseph by his brothers (Genesis 37); and the Israelites, who “were quick to leave the way (Yahweh had) marked out for them” by worshipping a golden calf (Exodus 32: 8).

From our vantage point we see how these stories from the Old Testament become pieces that complement the intricate puzzle completed in the New Testament.

“There’s a lot of prefiguration in the Old Testament to the New Testament,” said Father Mark Fischer, FSSP, pastor at St. Francis de Sales Church in Mableton. “We do see sin and the need for forgiveness beginning with Adam and Eve.”

To appease Yahweh for their sins, the Israelites offered animal sacrifices as a type of penance.

“They’d give their best animal to God ... The sacrifice was offered to make atonement for some wrongdoing,” Father Fischer said.

Mosaic Law, outlined in Exodus with the Ten Commandments or Decalogue as its foundation, put in fine print specific transgressions Israelites were to avoid. The penalties for such shortcomings were, at times, harsh. “Anyone who curses father or mother must die ... If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and sleeps with her, he must pay her price and make her his wife ...You shall not allow a sorceress to live ... (and) if you come on your enemy’s ox and donkey going astray, you must lead it back to him” (Exodus 21-23).

Given these directives, and in other places in the Old Testament, we see man’s conflict with himself, others and Yahweh, still the “hidden God.” But as Moses discovers, Yahweh is “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34: 5-6).

Providence has it that the spiritual tug of war for humanity’s soul prompted direct intervention from God by offering humanity his only Son, who eventually becomes the sacrificial Lamb to atone for our sins.

“For the Hebrew the sacrifice of an animal was not enough to forgive sins,” Father Fischer said. “It gave a ritual purity to the person, but the guilt remained. (Only) Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, his suffering, was enough to merit forgiveness of our guilt.”

The severity of a sin depends on the offense and also who is wronged. While both are sins, saying “nasty words” to the governor or archbishop before a crowd is a greater offense than saying the same words to someone on the street, Father Fischer said.

“When we insult God (through sin), it becomes an infinite offense. The problem is that we are not capable of doing an infinite act. But Christ did it for us. As God, he offered God (the Father) infinite reparation for our sins. As man, he did it in our name.”

The essence of Christ’s presence in human history is foreshadowed in Isaiah as the one sent to “bind up hearts that are broken” (Isaiah 61: 1). The timeless Gospel stories show us the desire and determination of God’s Son to connect to humanity, today distracted by worldly desires and selfishness, through parables and physical and spiritual healing.

The parable of the Prodigal Son, one of three parables that comprise Luke 15, speaks to the forgiveness of sinners. Father Tim Gadziala, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Church, Blairsville, recounted the story.

“Remember how the prodigal son squandered his inheritance and had to live with the pigs? For the Jews this was the lowest of the lows. Finally the son said, ‘I’m worth more than this. I’m going back and tell my father that I’m sorry.’”

The father’s reception of the son mirrors God’s reaction to those who seek his forgiveness.

“When the father sees him, he runs so fast ... With the sacrament of confession, all we need is to make a little bit of effort and the Father runs to meet us,” Father Gadziala said.

When the son confesses his sins, the father does not cast him away but calls for a feast “because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found” (Luke 20-24). The father brings him new sandals, a robe and puts a ring on his finger, “symbols of divine royalty in Christ,” Father Gadziala said. The festive banquet celebrates our baptism as children of God.

Father Stephen Churchwell, pastor at Sacred Heart Church, Atlanta, referred to this reading as one reason that highlights the gift that we, as Catholics, have in the sacrament of penance.

“There’s a big emphasis in the Protestant tradition on a personal relationship with God. Because of that emphasis, the institutional involvement has been taken out: it’s just me and God,” he said. “On the other hand, look at how we sin. It usually involves ourselves and other people. When people do something wrong, they might not realize the sinfulness of their action until years later. Then they feel the wrongness.”

What if a child seeks the forgiveness of a parent who has already died? To whom could he address his confession and then hear the spoken words, “You are forgiven?” Catholics can experience forgiveness in the confessional from priests — Christ’s mediators within the church — through a sacrament, “the visible sign of the hidden reality of salvation” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 774).

“It’s a good thing that every person has a place to address the alienation,” Father Churchwell said. “...It’s something we can do spiritually.”

Jesus’ handling of the adulterous woman brought before him by the Pharisees and Scribes breaks with Mosaic Law and shows Jesus’ new higher standard of love, mercy and forgiveness (Matthew 5). It also expresses the “public aspect of sin,” Father Gadziala said.

“‘Let those who have no sin cast the first stone’ ... Sin is not just personal; it’s public,” he added.

And when only the adulterous woman is standing before Jesus, he says, “Has no one condemned you? ... Neither do I condemn you ... go away and don’t sin anymore” (Luke 8). Jesus forgives her sins and bestows on her the grace she needs for “a 180-degree turn (that comes about) through conversion,” Father Gadziala said.

In all sin, we see that “...there’s a hidden chain that (makes it) a public sin affecting many people ... The sacrament of forgiveness acknowledges the need for personal forgiveness and also (presents) a way to celebrate as a community,” he said.

In his cure of the paralytic man, Jesus plays off a myth ingrained in the Hebrew mind-set.

“People erroneously thought that sin was equated with physical suffering,” Father Gadziala said. “If, for example, one had committed serious sins, he would be punished physically. In the spiritual and physical healing of the paralytic man, Jesus, upon seeing the great effort friends took to lower the man from the roof into the room where he was preaching, publicly forgave the man of his sins. The Scribes began to question, ‘Who can forgive sins but God?’ Jesus addressed them, in effect saying, ‘Okay, let’s give you the benefit of the doubt. If he does not have sin, then he should be able to walk, to rise up,’” Father Gadziala said.

And the man did. “It’s a prelude to the Resurrection (through which) we’re able to walk on our own two feet in the presence of the Lord.”

To help those who would come after him, Jesus established the understanding that a ministry of forgiveness of sins was essential in the church.

“The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, who forgave the sins of the paralytic and restored him to bodily health, has willed that his church continue, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation, even among her members. This is the purpose of the two sacraments of healing: the sacrament of penance and the sacrament of the anointing of the sick” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1421).

The church, guided by the Holy Spirit, carries on Christ’s mission of forgiveness by appointing priests as “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5: 19).

Father Fischer explained, “In the sacrament of penance the priest is able to forgive sins by the power of Christ based on the merits he gained on the cross. No longer is it just a ritual purity, but he acts in place of the person of Christ to use the merits of Christ to forgive sins. Our soul is purified.”

Protestant theology differs in interpretation of Scripture in regard to how one is reconciled with God and neighbor, Father Churchwell said. “When we have a sacrament, we find the way of looking for justification for it,” he added.

The seven sacraments, ‘powers that come forth’ from the Body of Christ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1116), allow us to directly ask for and receive God’s grace.

Recognizing “the treasure” received by Christ as witnessed in Scripture and guided by the Holy Spirit, the church, as God’s “faithful steward,” formed the sacraments we have today.

“Thus the church has discerned over the centuries that among liturgical celebrations there are seven that are, in the strict sense of the term, sacraments instituted by the Lord” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1117).

One scriptural passage specific to the institution of the sacrament of penance is when Jesus hands over his authority to forgive sins to the apostles who will minister in his name.

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16: 19).

Father Gadziala spoke on the authority of the apostles and the priests who have followed them. “Christ didn’t say they had all authority except (for example) in the sacraments of confession and marriage. The church has the authority to bind and loose and to mediate through the church.”

And one place Catholics can encounter Christ’s needed forgiveness and love is in the sacrament of penance.

“Christ instituted the sacrament of penance for all sinful members of his church: above all for those who, since baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded the ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1446).

God knew that we’d “miss the mark,” Father Gadziala said, which is why we need the sacrament of penance.

“A psychiatrist will hear your problem, discuss it and then say, ‘give me a $100. Thank you.’ A Catholic priest will say, ‘I absolve you from your sins, at no cost.’ That’s not to say we’re psychiatrists, but many people need to hear they are forgiven,” he said.

Father Fischer encouraged people to participate in the sacrament of penance once a month.

“You go through it, not to be humiliated, but in order that your relationship with God is restored. If I owed money that I needed 10 lifetimes to repay, and if I could go to one bank and say, ‘Okay, I’m sorry’ and someone said, ‘I forgive you,’ everyone would be running to the nearest bank.”

Likewise, through the sacrament of penance and its subsequent grace, the divine physician is available to mend the broken-hearted and restore what was lost at no cost.