Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 232: Confession a Divine Institution

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Show 232: Confession a Divine Institution · The Uncensored Catholic

0:54
Speaker 1: A Hey, y' all, welcome this week's show. Today we
1:02
will continue on the topic of penance or reconciliation or
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confession or whatever you want to call the sacrament that's
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going by different names at different times. I think we'll
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have one more show after this we can wrap up
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confession or penance, whatever. But you know I mentioned before
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that oftentimes and people are really shocked that. Well, Okay,
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being an herbalist, I interact with a lot of people
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of different religions. You know, every people on Earth has
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their own tradition of herbal medicine, and oftentimes I end
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up interacting with a lot of pagans and witches. And
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I think a lot of Catholics are really shocked that
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when I say that. Generally speaking, my dialogue with such
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people when it comes to the topic of religion, when
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they find out I'm Catholic. Of course, I do nothing
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to hide in the fact I'm Catholic. I'll wear a crew,
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I write Catholic books and such. We generally have more
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respectful conversations and more productive conversations than I have with Protestants.
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And I think that really would surprise a lot of
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my audience. If you haven't had, you know, such interactions,
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but it's the same, is true usually speaking with Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists,
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you name it. And the reason is when you're talking
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to someone from of a different religion and you treat
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each other with respect, you can have a lot of
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you know, respectful conversation. When you're talking with the Protestant,
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their default position is to protest. You tell them what
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the Catholic Church teaches. They get angry. You know, they
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start accusing you of falsehoods, and they believe it because
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their preacher said it, and their preacher is infallible. Their
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preacher has more authority in the pope right. They believe
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that because they read in some wacko book somewhere. They
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believe these myths and legends about Catholicism that are completely
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utterly false. When they say you can't confess your sins
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to a man, did the priest is just a man
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and opened the Book of John and show where Jesus
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gave his apostle the authorities to both forgive and retain sins,
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they get angry. I mean, first of all, they'll deny
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it's even in the Bible. I mean, and then you say, okay,
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get your king James, and go the Book of John,
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and what do you think this says? Then they may
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try to come up with some kind of way to
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argue that it isn't true when it's the plain words
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of the Bible. Those who sins you forgive, they are forgiven.
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Those who sins you retain, they are retained. Because we're
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talking about the sacrament of reconciliation. That's the first one
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that came to mind. But I mean, just a few
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months ago, I'm debating with a Protestant.
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Speaker 2: Try to keep it.
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Speaker 1: Civil, and I said, okay, they said there was no church.
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There's no organized church. I said, well, okay, So when
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Jesus said, if a man will not listen to the church,
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let him be into you as a heathen, what church
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was he supposed to listen to? Those words aren't in
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the Bible. I said, okay, get your king, James, let's
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look it up here it is. There was obviously a
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church that had authority and hierarchy and rules. And person
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flipped out. A couple of weeks ago, I thought I
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was talking to a fairly good friend, somebody I have
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a lot in common with, and tastes of music and such,
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and the person just went, I mean, as I said
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in my last show, almost demonically possessed because they hate
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the Mother of God so much. I mean literal, absolute
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hatred for the blessed Virgin Mary. And they came tell
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you why that's demonic. But contrast this. Contrast this with
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a conversation I had on Twitter a couple of days
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ago with a pagan. First of all, we started off
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very respectfully. She had some questions. I said, I'm going
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to assume you're a person of good faith and genuinely
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interested in seeking knowledge, and I'm pleased to dialogue with
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you on this topic.
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Speaker 2: And first of.
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Speaker 1: All, I recommended the book Bearing False Witness, which is
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an excellent history book written by a Protestant historian, dispelling
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all the myths about the you know, witch trials and
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the Inquisition and all the stuff Protestants want to throw
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at you that you know, the Catholic Church tried to
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prevent people from reading the Bible and etcetera, etcetera, ETCETERA.
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Speaker 2: Great book.
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Speaker 1: Right, So we started with that, and it was just,
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you know, a few topics of historical significance, and I
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was able to dispel and you know, She started out
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saying that a lot of our Catholic or Christian holidays
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are based on pagan holidays and pagan traditions. And I said,
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you know, there really is some truth to that. Now
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it's not entirely true, but yeah, the Christmas tree, because
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to the pagan peoples, it was a sign evergreen, a
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sign of eternal life. You know, it's evergreen in the winter,
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and it made sense as a Christian symbol as well.
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Before then, the hawthorn was more common. Many cultures in
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the spring celebrate with eggs because that's when the chickens
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would start laying eggs again, and the ducks and all that.
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And yeah, the egg is a very good sign of
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a symbol for rebirth. And Christians had no problem in
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bracing the Easter egg as part of our Christian tradition.
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And you know, she found that very interesting and it
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was not what she had been taught in college at all.
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I mean, another thing that book does, Bearing False Witness,
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dispels the myth that Christians, specifically the Catholic Church, went
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around subjugating pagan peoples and forcing them by the sword
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to convert to Catholicism. That was not only not true,
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but not a lot out. I mean, we could go
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on and on about such as that, and we did
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for some time. And then I said, you know, once
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you read this, I'd be glad to share with your
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original sources. We can talk, you know, Clement of Alexandria
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and Tertullian and other writers from the first century or
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two of Christianity that went to great links to explain
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Christianity to the pagan Greeks and Romans, and say, you know,
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let me see, how did I say exactly? I said,
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they dialected with pagan authorities at the time, so you
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can understand how and why the early Church admired pagan
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religions and philosophies, and the very true, especially the Stoics,
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were very much admired by early Christianity, very I mean.
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Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian, I mean, while they strongly opposed,
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you know, polytheism and pagan rituals and practice and superstitions, said,
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but but you know this, you worship God through creation,
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seeing the divine in nature. But God revealed himself in history,
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and this is the true meaning behind the visible and
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tangible that you worship.
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Speaker 2: You know, they were.
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Speaker 1: Worshiping idols that they thought were symbolic of these forces
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of nature to which they assigned divinity. But you know,
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God created all these forces of nature, I said, like
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the Sun. It gives energy that animates creation. But there's
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one who created the sun. Physics teaches us nothing can
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be created by itself, but is only created by an
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energy that existed before and outside of time. And you know,
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she thought that was interesting, she said, but I'm not
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a theologian. I don't understand all this, and if I'm
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going to worship anything, it would be the literal son.
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Speaker 2: Okay.
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Speaker 1: Now that's a very actually a very sensible position if
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one is not Christian, if one is on a monotheist,
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if you're not Jewish or Muslim either. You know, the
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sun is gives life to everything on Earth. Without the Sun,
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everything dies. Okay, So I mean from a very basic
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natural perspective, that makes sense, I said, you know, it's understandable.
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But again, turning back to physics, energy can neither be
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created nor destroyed. All that we see that is tangible
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is reflected from a source. Life on Earth is reflected
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energy from the Sun, the Moon, the atomic energy. That
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energy was created and is reflected from something outside of
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time and outside of all that we can see. You
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may say that the sun is formed of gases, but
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something created those gases. That order put in place all
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we can perceive and know, and it's very structured. It's
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not random, and that excuse me, and that is the creator.
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When that order is disrupted, there is decay, but not
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dissolution in a real sense, but reordering. The human eye
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can perceive beauty. Beauty is order. Consider fractal patterns, they're
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patterns still all creations, much like a clockworking in harmony,
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and the clock requires a clockmaker, otherwise planets would crash
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into each other. Consider water, the specific arrangement of hydrogen
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and oxygen apart, they're explosive and toxic. There we go,
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lost my place for a second, but put in proper order,
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an eloquent order that could not happen by random. They're
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absolutely essential for life. Said, you may worship water, and
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that's again a natural instinct. We're in all the sea.
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Ancient peoples worshiped a god of water, but also believed
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a supreme god created both the water and fire. Some
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worshiped oak trees, but the oldest tree and archaeological records
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still came from an acorn or a ginko seed? Where
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did that seed come from? Everything that is could not
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happen by chance. We know that five hundred million years
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ago approximately, the only life on Earth was mushrooms, But
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mushrooms come from sports. Science can't tell us how those
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spores were formed. Perhaps they came from bacteria, as some
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have suggested but not proven. But where the bacteria come from?
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What animated them? Even if science could answer that question biologically,
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there's still a life force in the smallest bacteria or fungui,
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and an intelligence that cannot be scientifically explained. Is the
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Sun animate or inanimate? Regardless, there was a time where
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the sun was not and there is a time where
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the sun will not be. If energy cannot be created,
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it must come from a source beyond the laws of
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our nature, because our nature is finite, and all we
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know in nature is finite.
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Speaker 2: I mean, that was my.
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Speaker 1: Ending argument, and she conceded no more argument. Now, and
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I've been debating or discussing a doctrinal topic or a
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theological topic with a Protestant, the person would be cussing
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and screaming at me right now. And perhaps even getting
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physically violent. That I think it is actually very useful.
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And maybe I convinced her. Maybe I didn't, you know,
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she was ready to wrap up the conversation. I countered
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all her arguments and it was the end of it.
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But I put that thought in that person's mind, and
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now she has to see that worshiping the sun is
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not logical. Like I said, there was a time before
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the sun existed, and there'll be a time when the
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sun ceases to exist. That can't be divine, that sort
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of an aspect of nature, something finite. So in many
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many ways I think that that dialoguing respectfully and intelligently,
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make sure you get your fact straight, make sure you
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know got a good book you can turn to for answers,
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have the Catechism on, and have a book like Bearing
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False Witness, so you can dispel the ridiculous historical arguments
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that they throw at you. But dialoguing with people of
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other religions is often much more productive than debating with
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Protestants because they are founded on protest They're very doctrine
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and religion and everything. They may say it's based on
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the love of God. Well that's great, that's great, But
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Somebody who hates Jesus' Mother is not imbied with the
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love of God. Somebody who hates Catholics just because they're
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Catholic is.
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Speaker 2: Not showing the love of God.
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Speaker 1: You know, think about when Saint Paul went to the
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Greeks what he say. He said, I see you're a
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very religious people, and I see there's an altar to
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an unknown God. I am here to speak for that God.
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That is the perfect way to approach it. Now, do
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you want to get into a debate with a Muslim
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who's going to cut your head off? Probably not. But
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they're not all like that. I've had some actually very
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good Muslim friends, so we were just, you know, treated
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each other with respect. You know, you have to remember
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that really in the first few hundred years of Christianity, Muslims, Jews,
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and Christians lived together in relative peace. I mean, there
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was a time of yeah, basically relative peace between the time.
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You know, after the time the Jews were persecuting the Christians,
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they had kind of worked things out. Christians had roam
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behind them now and they couldn't really do anything about
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it anymore. Rome was the leading power in the world,
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and the Muslims were not waging war at that time.
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They actually often encouraged Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land
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because they made money off of it. Then came a
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you know, right before the Crusades, came an era of
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extreme violence where Muslims were going around killing people, torturing people,
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taking slaves. And that's why the Crusades happened, was to
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protect Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land and the Christian
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holy sites. It was one hundred percent due to aggression
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by Islam, but there have been times, there have been
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centuries when everybody just kind of got along. I mean,
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you know, it's almost kind of hard to imagine right now,
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but you think about Iran in the sixties, before the
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early seventies, before the Islamic Revolution, they're sophisticated or vane, intelligent,
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educated people and they.
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Speaker 2: Were not.
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Speaker 1: Killing Christians and Jews at that time. Then the Muslim
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Brotherhood arose and it's you know, we've been in another
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jihad essentially since the seventies. But you know, again, a
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big part of that had to do with the fact
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that Christians were bringing tourism, money, Christians were bringing in,
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you know, the education that they were receiving at places
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like Oxford. Yeah, I mean, Iranians used to go to
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Oxford and become you know, like English people, very polite
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and you know, maybe not always with your best interests
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in mine, but they had an incentive to do business.
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Then things changed again, and you know, that's always going
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to be an issue. Every now and then you run
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into a Jewish person who really has a strong bias
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against Christianity, but.
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Speaker 2: It's so rare.
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Speaker 1: I mean, it's so very rare at least to be upfront.
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Speaker 2: About it like that.
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Speaker 1: But a Baptist. I'm actually a lot more worried about
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a Baptist becoming violent than I ever would be a Jew.
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Speaker 2: And I haven't really had any trouble with.
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Speaker 1: Pagans or Muslims or every now and then, you know,
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you meet it kind of a wacko Hindu, but you know,
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mostly you can have a respectful dialogue, you know. I mean,
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you can sit down an e Lebanese restaurant and say
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a prayer and cross yourself before you eat the delicious
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food and they're not going to beat an eye. Nine
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times out of ten, it's not going to bother them
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a bit. But you go to a Baptist household or restaurant.
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And trust me, I know from experience you say the
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blessing and cross yourself and they start screaming at you.
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And I mean, if there's a knife nearby, you better
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look out. Not all, certainly, not all. My good friend
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Jim McDermott, very respectful of Catholics, very evangelical Protestant. You know,
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I had no trouble with doctor Jerry Folwell. Now a
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lot of people at his school I had a great
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deal of trouble with. But you know, it's you can't
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make a blanket statement about anybody. But the difference in
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this conversation that I had a couple of days ago
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as opposed to say, the last ten Protestants who have
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just started attacking me online or in person, is really
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pretty stark. And I think people need to realize they
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need to think it through. Are you really representing Christ
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when you're insulting, screaming at, becoming emotionally violent, if not
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physically violent with a fellow Christian?
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Speaker 2: Probably not. And if your.
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Speaker 1: Denomination encourages that, maybe that's not a church that is
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necessarily godly. It may be a bit more demonic. Well, anyway,
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let's get on to a couple of questions and answers
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from radio replies. The classic work and this isn't falls
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right into this topic as far as Protestants. A person
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says Christ said that okay, Christ is said to have
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saved us. What does being saved mean? And they answer,
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a man is saved who is free from ever from
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the prospect of going to eternal misery of hell. The
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soul that is saved has necessarily been separated from this
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earthly life by probation, and has either gone to purgatory
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for a time or immediately to eternal happiness of heaven.
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And the person asked, do you deny that we Protestants
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are assured of salvation by our belief in Christ? And
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they answer, no, one can be sure of salvation until
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he is safely dead, finishing this life in a state
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of grace. During this life, a man, no matter how
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just he may be, is able to forsake the path
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of justice and lose all meriat of previous goodness. You
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may think this is hard, but a murder on Tuesday
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could not be excused on the score of almsgiving to
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a beggar on the previous day. Previous good actions do
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not justify subsequent bad ones. Thus God said, if the
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just man turn away from his justice and do iniquity,
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all his justices that he hath done shall not be remembered.
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From Ezekiel, person says, faith in Christ is the only
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thing that will save sinners, and they answer, all the
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faith in the world cannot save a sinner who intends
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to go on sinning. A man must repent of his
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sins and try to live a good life. The person says,
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he that believeth in me as everlasting life, and they
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answer faith in Christ is one condition of eternal life.
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If a man sees the fact, so will not believe
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he cannot be saved. If he does believe, he can
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be saved. But it does not follow that he must
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be saved by mere belief in Christ. No man has
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certainly a salvation. Saint Paul believed in Christ and yet
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had to write, I chastise my body and bring it
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into subjection. Less perhaps when I preach to others, I
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myself should become a castaway First Corinthians nine twenty seven.
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The following chapter, verse twelve, he warns all of us,
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he that thinketh himself to stan, let him take heed
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lest he fall. Person continues, Christ says, he who believes
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cometh not into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
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It's from John five twenty four. And they answer, this
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is not suppose an exemption from judgment. You must all
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be You must all be manifested before the judgment seed
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of Christ Tewo Corinthians five ten. Your text means if
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you have faith and all other necessary conditions, you will
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not meet with judgment of condemnation. And even now, if
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you be in God's grace, you have a title to
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this merciful judgment since you have passed from the death
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of sin to the life of grace, which is merciful, ok,
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which is intended to yield only eternal happiness. Thus Christ said,
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he who perseveres to the end shall be saved Matthew
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twenty four to thirteen. Those who do not persevere in
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God's grace will not be saved. Saint Paul says, with
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fear and trembling, work out your salvation Philip two twelve.
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Why if then we are already saved and had nothing
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to fear? Again, he speaks to those who were once
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illuminated and were already then fallen away in Hebrews six
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four through six. You claim to be assured of salvation
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and that you cannot fall away, while scripture tells us
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of some who were as believing and as you are,
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yet who did fall away. The person continues, we owe
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the great principle of justification by faith alone to the
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early Reformers and the presensor. All decent Protestants are getting
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rid of that principle as rapidly as possible. Faith alone
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without a good moral life is not enough. Everyone is
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disgusted with the man who professes a Christian life, yet
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who lives an evil life, and no one really believes
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that to be the road to salvation. Saint James tells
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us faith without works is dead in itself. Martin Luther
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knew this text, and Martin Luther knew that this text
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was the end of his doctrine, so he rejected the
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epistle James calling in an epistole of straw. But Protestants
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have had to accept that epistle. Far from owing gratitude
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to Luther for his principles of justification by faith only,
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most heart Protestants are hardly ashamed of it, and I'm
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word that they were true. Now it may be in
23:14
some denominations. But again, you have a conversation with a Baptist,
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and you can even show them where Martin Luther changed
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the words of Christ to say faith alone to support
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his false and actually demonic doctrine, and they won't believe you.
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You can show them the quote where Martin Luther bragged
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about doing that very thing. Actually, the one the Lutheran
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I was debating with about a week ago, the one
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that called me everything but a child of God, as
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my old friend Neil Bortch used to say. I started
23:50
quoting Luther to him, and he says, you're just quoting
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Martin Luther. Why don't you quote the Bible? Like aren't
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you a Lutheran? And didn't you just argue faith alone?
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And he didn't want to talk about that anymore. I
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can tell you that much.
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Speaker 2: Anyway.
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Speaker 1: Let's get into general confession. This is from Father Spirago's
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classic work, Exhaustive Catechism of the Catholic Church. By a
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general confession, he has met the confession of all the
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sins we have committed within a considerable period of time.
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Dwelling houses are swept and cleansed every week, but at
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longer intervals. A thorough cleansing is necessary. The ceilings are whitewashed,
24:31
the fores are scrubbed. It is the same with our soul.
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We cleanse it frequently during our lives by confession, but
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occasionally we purify it more fully by a general confession.
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A general confession is profitable because it produces in us
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greater self knowledge, deeper humility, increased tranquility of conscience, conscience,
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and obtains many graces from God. It produces greater self
24:54
knowledge because it brings many hidden sins to light. If
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we finish with a rod or a net, not many
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fishers are caught, for they shelter themselves under the banks.
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But if all the water is drawn off the pond,
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all the fish come to sight. The difference between ordinary
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confession and a general confession is much the same. It
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deepens humility. A small troop of soldiers attacking the enemy
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has not the same force as the whole army. So
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the sins we confess from time to time have not
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the same power to humbler our pride as the whole array,
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whom we disclosed. By a general confession. It increases tranquility
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of conscience. What a steward has to make up his
25:31
accounts to his master. He is afraid lest some error
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be detected. But when they are all looked over and
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found correct, his mind is at rest. So it is
25:40
with confession. It obtains great gracious from God. Just as
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a beggar excites more commiseration if he tells the full
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tale of his woes, so a man appeals more strongly
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to the compassion of God and obtains more gracious for
25:53
him from him if he humbles himself by acknowledgment of
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all his misery and frailty. With many persons a general
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confession it has inaugurated a life, a new life. Hence
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we may conclude that it is a means of attaining
26:07
a large measure of grace. A general confession is indispensable
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if an invalid confesses with an oh if an invalid,
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a general confession is indispensable if an invalid confession has
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been once made. It is also advisable in the case
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of persons who are entering upon a new stage of life,
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or who are in danger of death. What has already
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been said upon concealment of sins and confession.
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Speaker 2: Need not be repeated. Here.
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Speaker 1: People about to be married, or clerics on the eve
26:36
of ordination ought to make a general confession? What consolation
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for the dying to know that the affairs of their
26:44
soul are well ordered? Scrupulous persons should be forbidden to
26:47
make a general confession for them the practice of obedience
26:51
is more salutary, all right. Scrupulosity very misunderstood concept. It's
26:56
essentially when one is WHI shall we say, overly strict
27:02
with themselves or fault finding, so that every little thing
27:05
they think they've done wrong seems like a mortal sin.
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It's not to say we should excuse our bad behavior,
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but we shouldn't call it is not bad behavior bad.
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Speaker 2: Gosh. I can give you so many examples.
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Speaker 1: But in this one instance, the father liked to watch baseball,
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and the mother decided that that was.
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Speaker 2: A sin.
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Speaker 1: Now, there's nothing in the Bible that says watching baseball's
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a sin, is there? But no, he was spending too
27:42
much time watching sports, so she demanded that the cable
27:47
television be removed. He was no longer allowed to watch sports.
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And yeah, now, okay, from these are good Catholic people,
27:59
very good Catholic But from a Catholic perspective one, I'm
28:04
not making a judgment here. But that's scrupulosity. That's when
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you see something that is normal and good and because
28:14
someone is taking pleasure in it, or maybe because you
28:17
take pleasure in it, you decide it's sinvil And you know,
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we don't get to make up if it's not in
28:25
the Catechism, it's not a sin. We don't get to
28:28
just go around making stuff up. That's putting yourself in
28:32
the place of God in a way. That's a sin
28:35
against the Holy Spirit, because you know, the Holy spirit's
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the author of the Bible, and really the Catechism through
28:43
the Catholic Church. The author of the law is God.
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And we don't get to make up law as we go,
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at least we shouldn't. Somebody ought to tell our government
28:54
that we got a lot of laws on the books.
28:57
A lot of laws on the books, I think, I mean,
28:59
it was even more than one hundred years ago, I
29:03
can't remember. It was a legal scholar looked at it
29:05
and said there were so many laws on the books
29:07
of state, local, and federal that no one could get
29:11
through a day without breaking several of them. I mean,
29:14
it's just ridiculous. But that's you know, lawyers get paid
29:17
to write law and then hold people to judgment for
29:22
it and then find them and you know, it's ridiculous.
29:25
But in our religious life we should not be so
29:29
strict as to become scrupulous. That doesn't mean we can
29:33
be spiritually lazy. That doesn't mean we can excuse bad behavior,
29:36
but we should not make otherwise good behavior seem bad.
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I mean, like, you know, it's like in the Old Testament,
29:44
under the Laws of Moses. You know, early Christian writers
29:47
talked about how they'd been really taken out of context
29:50
exaggerate every time they said, you can only walk so
29:53
many steps on the Sabbath day. And you know, Jesus
29:57
was criticized by the Pharisees for taking disciples on walks
30:01
and allowing them to pick grain on the Sabbath. That
30:04
was scrupulosity. When he healed someone on the Sabbath and
30:07
they condemned him for it, that was scrupulosity, and he
30:11
called him hypocrites. And yeah, scrupulosity is a form of hypocrisy.
30:17
So anyway, just wanting to make that point clear. Confession
30:21
is a divine institution. Confession of sins was instituted by
30:25
our Lord and has been the practice of the Church.
30:27
In all centuries, confession was practiced under the old dispensation,
30:31
not indeed as a sacrament, but as a foreshadowing of
30:34
the sacrament. The first confession was made in Paradise. God
30:38
was the confessor, Adam and Eve were the penitence. God
30:41
called upon Cain to make a confession. He refused to
30:44
do soem was cursed. In consequence, David confessed his sin
30:48
and was forgiven under the Law of Moses. A certain
30:50
form of confession was customary among the Jews, and that's
30:54
reference to numbers five through eight or seven. I think
30:58
the people who came to John the b ab to
31:00
to be baptized confess their sins Mark one five. Christ,
31:03
who did not come to destroy the law, but to
31:05
fulfill it. Matthew five Po't seventeen confirmed and perfected the
31:08
existing practice of confession and attached many graces to it.
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On the day of his resurrection, our Lord gave the
31:15
Apostles and their successors the power to forgive and retain sins.
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It is obvious that in order that this power may
31:22
be exercised or right, it is necessary for the sinner
31:25
to reveal the state of his soul. The words of
31:28
our Lord, are these who sends you shall forgive they
31:31
are forgiven, And who sends you shall retain they are retained,
31:36
And who sends you shall forgive they are forgiven them
31:40
A left off the word those who sends you retain,
31:43
they are retained. So that's about the power to forgive
31:46
sins and to not John twenty twenty three. I told
31:52
you before a Protestant professor tried to say, oh, well,
31:57
that's just you know, from the Lord's prayer, forgive us
32:00
our trespasses as we forgive those of trespassing against us.
32:03
I said, okay, you're a professor of English. Can you
32:07
diagram that sentence, you know, like we learned how to
32:10
do in third grade and make it fit the meaning
32:12
You just gave it and they could not. No, I
32:16
mean asking God to forgive us as we forgive others
32:20
is completely different from the statement those who sins you
32:23
shall forgive, they are forgiven them. That's literally giving to
32:29
man the power of God. That's what God gives to
32:31
his priests, the power of God. And those sins you
32:34
shall retain, they are retained. It doesn't stay in that sentence.
32:38
And if you don't forgive them, I'm not going to
32:40
forgive you, which is the only way that you know
32:43
the our Father could be bent and shaped into fitting
32:47
the Protestant doctrine. It doesn't work that way anyway. It's
32:50
John twenty twenty three. Even in the Apostles times Christian
32:54
converts came to them confessing and declaring their deeds, for
32:58
they came to Saint Paul and fhis As nineteen eighteen.
33:02
Saint John also states that by confession of sin, pardon
33:05
may be obtained First John one nine. In the writings
33:09
of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church in the
33:11
first centuries, Christians are frequently exhorted to confess their sins,
33:16
many appropriate and beautiful similes being made use of. In
33:20
illustration Tertullian, Saint Basil, Saint Gregory the Great, and others
33:26
compare the center and I never know if I'm supposed
33:28
to pronounce that Basil or Basil, I always trip over it.
33:33
There were people in the community where I grew up
33:35
with the name Basil. It was an old English name.
33:39
Apparently some people say Basil as in the herb. That
33:45
kind of makes sense. Basil takes its name from the
33:48
same word we get balsam or balsamic having a sweet
33:52
pleasing odor. So anyway, I think you could go any
33:56
away with that anyway, and compare this center to a
34:00
sick man, who, if he would be cursed, must know
34:03
if he would be cured, of course, to a sick man, who,
34:05
if he would be cured, must declare his symptoms or
34:09
exhibit his festering sword to a skillful and experienced position.
34:13
So the sinner must apply the dispenser of divine mysteries
34:16
and confess his sins that he may obtain remission. Saint
34:21
Augustine says it is not enough that a man acknowledged
34:24
his sins to God, from whom nothing is hidden. He
34:26
must also confess them to a priest, God's representative. Popelia
34:31
the first censured the custom of public confession as it
34:35
was too rigorous, asserting that secret confession was quite sufficient.
34:40
It is noteworthy how often the followers warren Christians against
34:43
concealing a sin and confession. Even Protestants cannot contest the
34:46
fact that confession was practiced in the first centuries of
34:49
Christianity and in the Middle Ages. Well, most of them
34:53
I talk to deny that, but they have no reason to.
34:56
And in the first centuries of Crucianity in the Middle Ages.
35:00
Regard to the latter history affords abundant evidence for the
35:02
very names of the confessors of distinguished Christian rulers are recorded.
35:08
As Saint Newman said, if I remember correctly to be
35:14
deep in history as it ceased to be Protestant, you
35:17
will be amazed how rigorously Protestants, many, especially in the
35:24
Baptist Church and the Seven day Adventists and the Pentecostals, etc.
35:29
Strive to remain ignorant of history. It takes a concerted
35:35
effort to be that ignorant. Confession was also retained by
35:40
the earlier heretical sects which fell away from the Church.
35:44
This fact affords unquestionable proof of antiquity of confession. But
35:47
we find the practice in a perverted form among oh
35:51
secretaries sects. You know, for instances said that the Russian Church,
35:56
the priest is bound to informed against anyone who confesses
35:59
a crime of anhilistic character. Yes, that's right in the
36:03
Orthodox Churches at many points. I don't know if this
36:07
is universal. I don't know if it's among all churches.
36:10
But when the Greek Orthodox Church was under the Muslim Caliph,
36:13
under the Muslim rule, if anyone said anything that was
36:17
really in violation of Islam, he had to rat him out.
36:21
And in Russia, the Russian Orthodox priests would have to
36:25
tell the authorities if someone had committed a crime against
36:29
the state or a civil crime, or held anti Soviet beliefs,
36:36
anti Communist beliefs. And that's something Orthodox really don't like
36:41
to talk about at all. Anyway, says what a contrast
36:46
to the rules of the Catholic Church. It is impossible
36:49
to prove confession to be of human institution. The name
36:52
of the inventor or originator is generally attached to every
36:55
human institution or discovery. But those who deny the divine
36:59
origin of confession, and you cannot say in what land
37:01
and of what epoch this custom, than which none other
37:04
is so difficult and wearisome at the same time so
37:06
unrenunerative to the priest. Was first introduced Protestants, due it
37:11
is true alleged to was introduced for the latter in
37:13
Council in twelve fifteen, when confession once a year was
37:16
made obligatory for the faithful. But who would be so
37:18
foolish as to conclude that because if Father bade his
37:21
son to pay him a visit regularly once every year.
37:24
Until then, he had not been in the habit of
37:26
ever visiting him. In other words, just because it was
37:28
made a rule to go to confession once a year
37:31
in twelve fifteen doesn't mean that people didn't go to
37:33
confession before twelve fifteen. In fact, it's mentioned in the Bible,
37:36
and it's mentioned by all the early church fathers, and
37:39
not all of them, but you know, any of them
37:40
spoke on the topic. The institution of confession affords his
37:44
proof of the infinite mercy and wisdom of God. How
37:47
easy it is for us, who, on account of our sins,
37:50
are like criminals condemned to death, to obtain pardon from God.
37:53
He does not require of us severe sufferings and kilgrimages
37:57
to Jerusalem. In fact, you know we talked about the Crusades,
38:03
was very common in the Middle Ages for one's penance
38:08
to be to walk to Israel, seriously, to walk to Jerusalem.
38:14
Israel didn't exist at the time, but Jerusalem did, and
38:18
visit you know where Jesus was born or you know
38:21
where he was crucified. People took confession and penance really
38:26
very seriously in the Middle Ages, and when they Pilgrim
38:30
started being attacked on their way, that's why the Crusades
38:33
got going. Let's see, Or okay, the Pilgrim's Jerusalem were
38:40
thean like nothing but the confession of our sins to
38:42
anyone of his ministers, whom we may select, and who
38:45
was pledged to the strictest sick secrecy. No earthly monarch
38:50
was ever so indulgent to consgressors. What exertions a prisoner
38:55
can find in a subterranean dungeon will do to make
38:57
to regain his liberty for a whole year, he will
39:00
work at filing through a bar or loosening a stone.
39:04
The spiritual prisoner need take no such pains to recover
39:07
his freedom, such as the unfathomable bounty, and institution of
39:11
confession such as the unfathomfathomable beauty and mercy of God.
39:19
The infinite wisdom of God is also exhibited in the
39:22
institution of confession. The skill of an experienced physician is
39:25
shown by the fact that he not only releaves the patient,
39:28
by the employment of a remedy opposed to the disease,
39:32
eliminates its cause. Now we know that all transgressions come
39:37
from pride, as Saint Thomas Aquinas declares, the source of
39:41
all sin. Confession is diametrically opposed to pride. It is
39:45
humiliation for a sinner. Thus God manifests his wisdom by
39:49
appointing a practice easy and simple in itself, and yet
39:52
most painful to human nature, for confession requires no slight
39:56
conquest of self. In other words, you have to be
40:00
humble to give a good confession. So we're gonna wrap
40:04
it up there. Like I said, we should have one
40:06
more show on confession, reconciliation, penance, whatever you want to
40:09
call it, and we'll be able to move on to
40:12
the next topic. You all have a great week and
40:15
I'll talk to you next time.