My dear Parishioners,
Peace! There are six (6) Commandments of the Church treated in three (3) articles of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2041–2043. The following is a reflection on the second commandment “Confess all your sins at least once a year.”
The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) decreed that the Christian faithful had the duty to received the Sacrament of Penance at least once a year. The yearly confession had to be made to one’s proper pastor seems implied in the 1917 Code of Canon Law, canon 873. Mendicant priests, especially Dominicans and Franciscans, had specially faculties to absolve penitents regardless of parish boundries. From the time of Saint Peter Canisius (+21 December, 1597) any duly authorized priest may help us to fulfill this precept of the Church, by granting sacramental absolution of our post-baptismal sins. Pope Saint Pius X (+20 August, 1914), Bl. Paul VI (+1978), and Pope Saint John Paul II (+2005) have all reconfirmed this precept many times. While divine law requires the confession of mortal sins must in order to receive Holy Communion well and to live in the grace of God, Mother Church strongly recommends “regular confession” even of venial sins. Again, it is important to recall that the precepts or commandments, as positive ecclesiastical law of the Church provide us with the bare minimum required for us to live lives with love for God and neighbor.
The annual confession of sins has often been linked with what has been called the “Easter Duty” which also includes the third precept or commandment of the Church, namely, to receive Holy Communion at least once a year, avoiding sacrilegious communion. Suffice it to say, a worthy confession of sins prepares for a worthy reception of Holy Communion.
A good confession continues the work of conversion and pardon begun in Baptism. In Holy Baptism the stain of Original Sin is washed away, as well as any and all other sins we bring to the font. But for those sins we sadly commit after Baptism, the Lord has provided a remedy in the Sacrament of Penance, also called Confession, and Reconciliation.
The precept for us to confess all our sins at least once a year binds those who have attained the use of reason, normally around seven years of age. The 1983 Code of Canon Law, canon 989 reads: “All the faithful who have reached the age of discretion are bound faithfully to confess their grave sins at least once a year.” Annual or even regular confession helps us to avoid a further sin of presumption. The Sacred Scriptures, inspired by God, remind us that the just man sins seven times a day, yet we are only made just and right before God our Father through the blood of Jesus, shed for us on the Cross, applied to us in the sacraments (cf. Proverbs 24:16; Job 9:2; 25:4; Galatians 2:16; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 1:7; 5:6; Hebrews 10:19; Revelation 1:5).
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr