1. RECONCILIATION—HOW IT WORKS

2. JOURNAL QUESTION: Which is harder to do: Why?
Honestly tell someone that you are sorry for doing something wrong to him/her, or
Honestly tell someone that you forgive him/her for what he/she has done?
Why?

3. TERMINOLOGY: Contrition: Sincere sorrow for one’s sins
Reconciliation: Literally, “to come back together”
Absolution: The release of the guilt of sin spoken through the priest
Penance: Outward behavior showing an inward change of heart

4. TRULY A SACRAMENT For this to be a true sacrament, it must have:
CONTRITION
SATISFACTION/PENANCE
CONFESSION

5. HOW MANY WAYS ARE THERE?
Contrary to common knowledge, there are THREE rites of RECONCILIATION:
Individual Celebration (most common)
Communal Celebration followed by Individual Confession
Communal Celebration (in emergencies)

6. EVOLUTION OF RECONCILIATION
For the first 1,000 years of Christianity, Reconciliation was extremely severe
Serious sinners were literally “excommunicated”
They joined the “Order of the Penitents”
The process took years
Monks in Ireland popularized individual confessions, much like spiritual counseling
This became the norm in the 13th century
It wasn’t until Vatican II that the communal celebrations were “brought back”

7. Why the Sacrament?
Sacraments are for the benefit of humans, not for the benefit of God
Does God forgive us when we truly ask His forgiveness?
YES!!
Do we experience God’s forgiveness to a fuller extent when we hear it spoken from human lips after we confess it out loud?