Saturday, March 1, 2014

Catechism L5-14 Asking Forgiveness & Sacrament of Penance



 Prayer Before Studying
Incomprehensible Creator, the true Fountain of light and only Author of all knowledge: vouchsafe, we beseech Thee, to enlighten our understandings, and to remove from us all darkness of sin and ignorance. Thou, who makest eloquent the tongues of those that want utterance, direct our tongues, and pour on our lips the grace of Thy blessing. Give us a diligent and obedient spirit, quickness of apprehension, capacity of retaining, and the powerful assistance of Thy holy grace; that what we hear or learn we may apply to Thy honor and the eternal salvation of our own souls.

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Holy Spirit, giver of all good gifts, enter into my mind and heart. Give me the gift of knowledge, wisdom, understanding and the grace to use it wisely. Help me in all my endeavors. Give me perseverance and fortitude. Help my memory, that I may remember what I learn and recall it when necessary. Guide me in my studies. You who are the Way, the Truth, and the Life, let me not be deceived by false teaching. Our Lady of Good Studies, pray for me. Amen.



The Act of Contrition Prayer
O my God, I am sorry and beg pardon for all my sins and detest them above all things, because they deserve your dreadful punishment because they have crucified my loving Saviour, Jesus Christ, and most of all, because they offended your infinite goodness; (and) I firmly resolve, by the help of your grace, never to offend you again, and carefully avoid the occasions of sin.  Amen.



Topic/Agenda:
1.      To explain the Parable of Prodigal Son
2.      To recite the Act of Contrition.
3.      To explain the meaning of sorrow for sins and Sacrament of Penance.


Questions
  • Do you have brother or sister? Do you have the feeling that sometimes your parents gives more credit to him/her or sometimes your parents love him/her than you?
  • When your brother/sister have done some wrong to you, how would you feel if he/she sincerely says sorry to you? Would you forgive him/her?
  • What if you are the one who had done wrong to your brother/sister, and you sincerely feel and say sorry to them, do you want to be forgiven?
  • Do you want to be forgiven by your Father or Mother as well?



Parable of the Prodigal Son
Plot: Peter was so angry because Jesus is trying to visit Matthew's house and have supper with him. Matthew is the archenemy of Peter.  The other as well are trying to convince Jesus not to go with to Matthew's house because they are sinners and it is forbidden to them join sinners and it might infect him with their dirty ways.   (Jesus Nazareth part 2-4=> 0:39:25-0:50:48)
Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-31)
Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.*’
22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”

Meaning of the Parable of the Prodigal Son
  • The father in the story is like our Heavenly Father and younger son is like the people who run away from God.
  • When we sin we offend God Who loves us very much.
  • But God wants us to be happy. He wants us to come back to Him
  • All we have to do is admit that what have done is wrong and then truly be sorry that we have offended God. God is waiting for us with open arms.
  • God will always forgive us. There is nothing we can do that is so bad that God won't forgive if we are truly sorry.
  • It shows God that we are really love Him when we tell Him we are sorry for having offended Him and want to be forgiven.
  • The elder brother are like people who are offended at the Gospel. In what way?
  • Jesus' justification lies in the boundless love of God. He tells them to behold the greatness of love for his lost children and contrast it with their own thankless, loveless, self-righteous lives.
  • Their complaint, like that of the eldest son seems justified; giving feast to a squandering son and giving only a modest feast for the ever faithful son.
  • Jesus ask us to approach the problem form his point of view, based not only justice, but on the perfection of justice that is love.
  • If we abide only by justice, we deprive ourselves of one of the greatest joys --  the joy of forgiving, the joy of giving undeserved happiness to those disposed to receive it.
  • Jesus still had hope of moving them to recognize how their self-righteousness and lovelessness separate then from God. -- As we usually say "No one is perfect" but Jesus said "Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect".


John 20:21-23:
21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”




THE SACRAMENT OF HEALING:
THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION
1422 "Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God's mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labors for their conversion."4
I. WHAT IS THIS SACRAMENT CALLED?
1423 It is called the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus' call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father5 from whom one has strayed by sin.
It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner's personal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction.
1424 It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a "confession" - acknowledgment and praise - of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man.
It is called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution God grants the penitent "pardon and peace."6
It is called the sacrament of Reconciliation, because it imparts to the sinner the live of God who reconciles: "Be reconciled to God."7 He who lives by God's merciful love is ready to respond to the Lord's call: "Go; first be reconciled to your brother."8
What is Sacrament of Penance -- Penance (punishment inflicted on oneself as an outward expression of repentance for wrongdoing) is the sacrament by which sins committed after Baptism are forgiven.

WHY A SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION AFTER BAPTISM?
1425 "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."9 One must appreciate the magnitude of the gift God has given us in the sacraments of Christian initiation in order to grasp the degree to which sin is excluded for him who has "put on Christ."10 But the apostle John also says: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."11 And the Lord himself taught us to pray: "Forgive us our trespasses,"12 linking our forgiveness of one another's offenses to the forgiveness of our sins that God will grant us.
1426 Conversion to Christ, the new birth of Baptism, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Body and Blood of Christ received as food have made us "holy and without blemish," just as the Church herself, the Bride of Christ, is "holy and without blemish."13 Nevertheless the new life received in Christian initiation has not abolished the frailty and weakness of human nature, nor the inclination to sin that tradition calls concupiscence, which remains in the baptized such that with the help of the grace of Christ they may prove themselves in the struggle of Christian life.14 This is the struggle of conversion directed toward holiness and eternal life to which the Lord never ceases to call us.15
Priests refused absolution when:
  • The priest thinks the penitent is not rightly disposed for the Sacrament.
  • He sometimes postpones the absolution till the next confession, either for the good of the penitent or for the sake of better preparation -- especially when the person has been a long time from confession.
Sins that can be forgiven by Pope only, the bishop of the place or priests authorized by them:
  • Defiling the Eucharist
  • Attempting to assassinate the Pope
  • A priest abusing the confidentiality of the confessional by revealing the nature of the sin and the person who admitted to it
  • A priest who has sex with someone and then offers forgiveness for the act
  • A man who directly participates in an abortion
    • even by paying for it
    • who then seeks to become a priest or deacon.
  • Only the Pope can lift the excommunication incurred by these sins
  • In danger of death any priest, even if deprived of faculties for hearing confessions, can absolve from every sin and excommunication.
Sins that cannot be forgiven by Ordinary Priests
  • for adultery, murder, and idolatry
  • if the excommunication was explicitly declared, it can be lifted by the bishop who declared it (or someone appointed by him)
  • If it's latae sententiae (strarted by a sin, not declared like abortion), it's under authority of the Ordinary of the diocesis where the excommunicated person lives.


Human Experience: 
  • Does God loves you even when you sin?
  • Have you committed sin or mistake in this past few days?
  • How did feel about it? Proud? Guilty?
  • Last time there was some incident in the class and I feel very sorry that wronged person. How about those people? Won't you agree that you should try to make for your mistakes?
  • I heard also that some students here who got a very high grades in our exams became too proud of themselves and even tries to tease their other classmates with their low grades. Do you think it is a right thing to do? Instead of teasing them why not encourage them to be their best. Help them in their studies.
  • How about those incidents that I don't know and still you have done wrong to your classmates and friends?
  • Do you still remember what you have done? Do you know if you are that person I'm talking about?
  • Can we do it right now, not to be shy and say really sorry to those people who we have done wrong? Can we do it for his/her sake, for your sake and God's sake?


Life Application:

How do we cleanse ourselves when we committed sins?
  • First try fix things right. If steal something return it; if wronged someone then we should say sorry. Make it up to him/her.  Remember, the reason why you want to make up for your sins is to please Jesus.  If you think of that it will be easier to do something that is hard for you to do.
  • Then confess our sins using the Sacrament of Penance or sometimes called Confession.
    • Before we go to confess our sins, we must get ready. Ask God the Holy Spirit to help you remember your sins.
    • We should think about our sins and be sorry for them -- being sorrow for sins.
    • What sorrow for sins? -- Being sorry for the sins we have committed and wanting never to commit them again.
    • We say an Act of Contrition prayer then it is time to receive the Sacrament.
    • Then we tell our sins to the priest.
    • The priest takes the place of Jesus. When we confess our sins it is Jesus Who hears us and Who forgive us.
    • He forgive us by saying: "I absolve you from your sins in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."
    • The Sacrament of Penance is more than take our sins away. It gives us grace and makes us closer to God and helps us to be stronger against sin.

The formula of absolution used in Latin Church:
God, the Father of mercies,
through the death and the resurrection of his Son
has reconciled the world to Himself
and sent the Holy Spirit among us
for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church
may God give you pardon and peace,
and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.


Prayer for the Help of the Holy Spirit
O God, I thank you for this day and the lessons that we have learned today.  May You send forth your Holy Spirit and stay forever into my heart that I may perceive and understand You more, into my mind that I may remember, and into my soul that I may meditate.  Inspire me to speak and behave with patience, piety, holiness, tenderness and mercy. Teach, guide and direct my thoughts and senses from beginning to end. By Your grace, we may live and preach on the Words that You spoke to us today. May your grace ever help and correct me, and may I be strengthened now with love and wisdom from on high, for the sake of your infinite mercy. Amen.



References:
Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-31)
Act of Contrition:
O my God, I am sorry and beg pardon for all my sins and detest them above all things, because they deserve your dreadful punishment because they have crucified my loving Saviour, Jesus Christ, and most of all, because they offended your infinite goodness; (and) I firmly resolve, by the help of your grace, never to offend you again, and carefully avoid the occasions of sin.  Amen.

John 20:21-23:
21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

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