Confession

I must confess life is taking hold of me, or better I have allowed life to take hold of me, so my postings have been space lately. but I want to continue with the series of posts I started last year on the the sacraments.

I began with a short primer on what a sacrament was and what they were here, then I expounded deeper on the sacrament of Baptism here.

Today I will talk about what is perhaps the most beautiful of Sacraments and that is Reconciliation or confession. Confession is a difficult Sacrament for even the most devout Catholic let alone the non-Catholic. The notion of going to another man, himself a sinner and perhaps even a worse sinner than me, and telling them my sins is to many like walking into the confessional and stripping naked. In truth a proper confession is a stripping naked of the soul, which is why it is uncomfortable to so many. It is also true that some of the same people that would never dream of taking their sins to a priest, will gladly spend hundreds of dollars to bear their souls to a psychotherapist only to be given advice that is morally dubious at best and being left the underlying sinful issue unaddressed and no sense of healing or reconciliation. The fact is that Jesus knew what he was doing in John 20:23 When he gave sinful men to power to forgive sins. The one who created men knew mans nature and understood that human worship involved both body and soul and that hearing the words "go in peace you sins are forgiven" would have more healing power than any psychotherapy or the latest feel good self-empowering don't sweat the small stuff fad ever could.

Sin destroys our relationship with God and in turn with is body the church, So it is God alone who can in the end forgive sins, it is however through the Church and through his duly appointed minister, the priest, the Shepperd of his body the Church , that he has chosen to grant us his forgiveness

The theology of confession like that of the other Sacraments and every other Church doctrine is far deeper than I could give it justice here, but it is my earnest hope and prayer that this will help those of you who may be struggling with this most beautiful of church treasures.

Baptism

A couple of weeks back I posted a blog on the sacraments with the intention of expounding on each individual sacrament on a latter day. Given the deep theological nature of these type of posts I prefer to do them on the few weekends when my schedule is relatively light and can give them their due justice, both mentally as in regards to supporting documentation.

The initial blog on Sacraments can be found here.

Today I will begin with the sacrament of baptism. This is the logical beginning, since without this sacrament a Christian cannot participate in any other sacrament and is indeed concidered outside of the fold of the Christian faith.

Baptism is the first of the three sacraments of initiation. It is the sacrament that makes one a Christian, it cleanses us of original sin. Indeed without baptism one is outside of the spiritual jurisdiction of the church and without it one cannot even be married in a sacramental fashion.

Jesus stated Clearly the need for baptism when he made this very declarative statement to Nicodemus in John 3:4-5 after which he proceeds to Baptize with his disciples in verse 22.

The need for baptism stems from what is known as original sin. Which is the Sin of Adam that is inherited by humans from the moment of conception. (Whether this is just that all men should be subject to the sin of another man is the subject for another post, suffice it to say that people suffer the consequences of others sins constantly as evidenced by the numerous mass graves world wide created at the hands of evil men such as Saddam Hussein and others) The main purpose of baptism is to cleanse us of this original sin and infuse us with the life of Grace that can come only though the Holy Spirit of God. See Acts 2:38-39. God uses the natural element of Water which signifies cleansing to actually cleanse us of original Sin. In the scene of Acts 2 cited 3000+ people accepted Jesus and were baptized. Catholicism knows of no other means of making salvation accessible other than though baptism. This does not mean that non-baptized people cannot be saved. It simply means that those non-baptized that are saved are being saved though means other than the ordinary means instituted by Jesus. Like any King, God is at liberty to circumvent his edicts, the Church as his loyal subject is not.

All Christian faiths practice baptism, though not all have the same view of it. Some have the Catholic notion of it's necessity and salvific effect others see it as merely a symbol and a response of obedience and nothing more with no salvific effect.

One aspect of baptism that is often maligned by non-Catholics is the practice of infant baptism. The common non-Catholic refrain is that Children are not capable of making a decision for Christ thus making the baptism invalid. They will often re-baptize adult Catholics that convert to their churches on the notion that only adults can make that commitment. Traditional Christianity has always practiced infant baptism. The truth is that since no other provision was revealed for Salvation it was seen as imperative that even children be baptized so as to ensure their entrance into glory. Note in the above passage from acts that Peter says "...for the promise is for you and your Children" and it states that all present were baptized, no exceptions were made for adults. Consider the historical context of of early Christianity. Christianity is born of Judaism and carried many Jewish notions and beliefs. Indeed Jesus was a Jew and he founded his Church as a perfection of that old covenant revelation. In Judaism the means of becoming a Jew was though Circumcision and the law dictated that infants should be circumcised on the eighth day of they birth. Note, Jews did not wait until the child reached an age of accountability to be circumcised. to be sure converts to Judaism were circumcised as adults as are adults converts to Catholicism. Paul makes the connection of circumcision to baptism here. In Scripture we see entire Household being baptized (Acts 16:27-33, and 1Cor 1:16).

As can be seen Baptism is the most important of Sacraments, because without no other sacrament is accessible even the most precious Eucharist. Baptism cleanses us of Original sin and start us in the life of Grace. It is is also vital in that no other means of attaining salvation was revealed and thus no other means is known.

Further reading on baptism can be found in the Catechism, and New Advent

What are the Sacraments

One of the most misunderstood aspects of Catholic Doctrine , both by non-Catholics as well as by Catholics themselves is the Sacraments. The Sacraments are Central to Catholic theology. Failure to understand them is failure to understand Catholicism. Many of those who reject Catholic teaching on the sacraments often ague against a false understanding of them and are thus working against a straw man, in many cases in good faith wishing to correct what they perceive to be Catholic errors and in some cases by people who should know better. Examples; Here, here, here, and here. This post will (in the feeble words of the author) attempt to explain what the sacraments are and what they are not.

A Sacrament is in a essence a visible, outward sign of a spiritual reality. In essence what the we see taking place with our senses is actualytaking place in the spiritual realm. In baptism for example, Water which represents cleansing, actually cleans the soul of the individual of original sin. The following web sites give similar definitions of the word Sacrament; Here and here.

Humans are unique creatures in all of creation. Creation is comprised (As far as what has been revealed to us) by three distinct living being, the spiritual in the form of Angels, who have spiritual but not corporal natures, and corporal as in the from of animals and plant who have corporal but not spiritual natures, Humans are unique in that they are created with both spiritual and corporal natures. Of these beings the Angelic and the Humans are made to worship God. The Angels worship God within their nature and worship with their whole being which is spiritual. Humans are made worship God with their whole being as well. So how can a human creature who is both flesh and spirit worship God using their whole nature? This is where the Sacraments come in. In the old testament there was no sacramental system, so the Jews worshiped God using symbols such as the Temple, Sacrifice, Images (yes the Jews used Images in their worship, this is for another post) etc. Jesus Came to show us a more perfect form of Worship, first by becoming flesh himself and showing us God though our senses. Jesus usually used matter to perform his miracles. He would for example make mud by spitting on dirt and healing the blind. He would show a visible act of Worship to the Father and raise the dead. The lady with the blood disease showed her faith by touching the garment Jesus wore. Jesus made it a point of going down to the Jordan and being baptized by John. Jesus turned bread into his body and blood and commanded his apostles to forgive and retain sins. So by becoming flesh and leaving a visible church with visible means of showing us God's grace Jesus instituted a Sacramental Church. Indeed as Jesus is seen as a sacrament of the Father by making God visible, the Church is seen as a sacrament of Jesus as it is her mission to make Jesus visible in the form of his body, both in the sacrament and in her body of believers. It must be noted
that all of the Sacraments have supporting passages in scripture. I will deal with each sacrament individually in other posts.

There are seven Sacraments;

Baptism

Confirmation

Reconciliation

Eucharist

Matrimony

Holy Order

Anointing of the Sick

Each sacrament corresponds with a certain aspect or stage in human life. The fact that there are seven is also significant. In scripture the number seven corresponded with the fullness of what is being spoken off. Thus there are seven days in a week and on the fullness of Creation God Rested.

In essence the Sacraments are gift from God that shows us his grace. They are not means of earning salvation (as some non-Catholics say) since they have no use to us unless we have faith, they are simply there for us, to aide us in worshipping with our whole being, to see and feel Gods grace flowing into our lives, keeping us feed in our journey in this life while at the same time showing us glimpses of the next.