“They made a hole in the roof—.When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic,
‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ ‘He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone?’—the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Mark 2:3,5,10)
The second Sunday of Great Lent features the forgiveness of sins. Every Orthodox Christian understands the requirement of a formal confession in this sacred time. Priests spend a great deal of their time during these weeks at the confessional. The premise at the final prayer before the closing of the casket at the time of burial: “This my spiritual child is absolved of all his/her sins committed in his/her lifetime—” is based on the supposition that the deceased had been a frequent communicant and had been free of all sins in holy confession through the grace of the Holy Spirit at work in the Church of Christ. “Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.’ And with that He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven—’” (John 20:21).
Problems arise in this very personal relationship with the Holy Trinity through the Church. The priest and confessor are together sharing a spiritual intimacy that some feel uncomfortable experiencing. Many insist that they don’t need confession, because they have no reason to seek forgiveness. Like Adam, it’s always someone else’s fault. The priest is challenged with the chore of first describing sinfulness and then explaining the value of the absolution of sins.
Another problem is the conflict between God’s commandments in the Bible and the values of our present society. What once was obvious is now explained away by a culture of humanism with its own criteria of morality. Christ’s gospel teachings are not paramount in the consciences of today’s people, and the Church can only stand aside and wait until her children return like prodigals to reevaluate their morals. Led by the media in what is considered liberation from “oppressive” strictures, the contemporary civilization has whittled away the ethical principles so precious to the integrity of society, family, religion and human morality.
I find, however, that the supreme challenge at least to me as a pastor and spiritual counselor using the healing unguent of the confessional is the guilt that resists forgiveness. Some look upon us as though we consider ourselves to be the Lord’s judges standing in condemnation of helpless sinners, as though we were a modern version of the medieval Spanish inquisitors. Quite the contrary. We reach out with the Lord’s forgiveness entrusted to our care. The medicine of salvation follows recognition of sins, repentance, contrition, promise of attitude change, a fresh beginning, and a renewed life in Christ.
The difficulty is that some feel their sins are so immoral that nothing can be done to erase them. The priest struggles to release the hold that sin has on the penitent. He calls upon his gifts of persuasion to convince the one held fast by his conscience that God can do everything; however, given the precious gift of free will, even the Lord cannot or will not forgive a sinner who will not forgive himself. The tragedy is that the exercise of confession is for naught, the absolution nullified and the weight of guilt continues to press down upon the soul of the one who has judged himself and has condemned himself to eternal damnation. When that happens, we can only offer our prayers that the Holy Spirit will somehow open the eyes that are blinded by self-rejection and lead the unfortunate soul out of the depths of loneliness and despair to the life and light of Christ, to bask in the glow from Him along with the other members of His holy Church.