The Catechism of the Council of Trent/Part 1: Article 10
ARTICLE X.
"THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS."
THE enumeration of this amongst the other Articles of the Creed, is alone sufficient to satisfy us, that it conveys a truth, which is not only in itself a divine mystery, but also a mystery very necessary to salvation. We have already said that, without a firm belief of all the Articles of the Creed, Christian piety is wholly unattainable. However, should a truth, which ought to bring intrinsic evidence to every mind, seem to require any other authority in its support; enough that the Redeemer, a short time previous to his ascension into heaven, " when opening the understanding of his disciples, that they might under stand the Scriptures," bore testimony to this Article of the Creed, in these words: " It behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day, and that penance and remission of sins, should be preached, in his name, unto all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." [1] Let the pastor but weigh well these words, and he will readily perceive, that the Lord has laid him under a most sacred obligation, not only of making known to the faithful, whatever regards religion in general, but also of explaining, with particular care, this article of the Creed. On this point of doctrine, then, it is the bounden duty of the pastor to teach that, not only is "forgiveness of sins" to be found in the Catholic Church, as Isaias had foretold in these words: " The people that dwell therein shall have their iniquity taken away from them;" [2] but, also, that in her resides the power of forgiving sins; [3] which power, if exercised duly, and according to the laws prescribed by our Lord, is, we are bound to believe, such as, truly to pardon and remit sins.
But, when we first make a profession of faith at the baptismal font, and are cleansed in its purifying waters, we receive this pardon entire and unqualified; so that no sin, original or actual, of commission or omission, remains to be expiated, no punishment to be endured. The grace of baptism, however, does not give exemption from all the infirmities of nature: on the contrary, contending, as we each of us have to contend, against the motions of concupiscence, which ever tempts us to the commission of sin, there is scarcely one to be found amongst us, who opposes so vigorous a resistance to its assaults, or who guards his salvation so vigilantly, as to escape all the snares of Satan. [4]
It being necessary, therefore, that a power of forgiving sins, distinct from that of baptism, should exist in the Church, to her were entrusted the keys of the kingdom of heaven, by which each one, if penitent, may obtain the remission of his sins, even though he were a sinner to the last day of his life. This truth is vouched by the most unquestionable authority of the Sacred Scriptures: in St. Matthew, the Lord says to Peter: "I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven; and whatever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed also in heaven:" [5] and again, " whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven; and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven." [6] Again, the testimony of St John assures us that the Lord, breathing on the Apostles, said " Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained." [7] Nor is the exercise of this power restricted to particular sins, for no crime, however heinous, can be committed, which the Church has not power to forgive: as, also, there is no sinner, however abandoned, none, however depraved, who should not confidently hope for pardon, provided he sincerely repent of his past transgressions. [8] Neither is the exercise of this power restricted to particular times; for whenever the sinner turns from his evil ways, he is not to be rejected, as we learn from the reply of our Lord to the prince of the Apostles, asking how often we should pardon an offending brother, whether seven times: " Not only seven times," says the Redeemer, " but even seventy times seven." [9]
But if we look to its ministers, or to the manner in which it is to be exercised, the extent of this power will not appear so great; for it is a power not given to all, but to bishops and priests only; and sins can be forgiven only through the Sacraments, when duly administered. The Church has received no power otherwise to remit sin. [10]
But to raise the admiration of the faithful, for this heavenly gift, bestowed on the Church by the singular mercy of God to- wards us, and to make them approach its use with the more lively sentiments of devotion; the pastor will endeavour to point out the dignity and the extent of the grace which it imparts. If there be any one means better calculated than another to accomplish this end, it is, carefully to show how great must be the efficacy of that which absolves from sin, and restores the unjust to a state of justification. This is, manifestly, an effect of the infinite power of God, of that same power which we believe to have been necessary to raise the dead to life, and to summon creation into existence. [11] But if it be true, as the authority of St. Augustine assures us it is, [12] that, to recall a sinner from the state of sin to that of righteousness, is even a greater work than to create the heavens and the earth from nothing, though their creation can be no other than the effect of infinite power; it follows, that we have still stronger reason to consider the remission of sins, as an effect proceeding from the exercise of this same infinite power. With great truth, therefore, have the ancient Fathers declared, that God alone can forgive sins, and that to his infinite goodness and power alone is so wonderful a work to be referred: " I am he," says the Lord himself, by the mouth of his prophet, " I am he, who blotteth out your iniquities." [13] The remission of sins seems to bear an exact analogy to the cancelling of a pecuniary debt: as, therefore, none but the creditor can forgive a pecuniary debt, so the debt of sin, which we owe to God alone, (and our daily prayer is: " for give us our debts," [14] ) can, it is clear, be forgiven by him alone, and by none else.
But this wonderful gift, this emanation of the divine bounty, was never communicated to creatures, until God became man Christ our Lord, although true God, was the first who, as man, received this high prerogative from his heavenly Father: " That you may know," says he to the paralytic, " that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, rise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house." [15] As, therefore, he became man, in order to bestow on man this forgiveness of sins, he communicated this power to bishops and priests in the Church, previously to his ascension into heaven, there to sit for ever at the right hand of God. Christ, however, as we have already said, remits sin by virtue of his own authority; all others by virtue of his authority delegated to them as his ministers.
If, therefore, whatever is the effect of infinite power claims The great our highest admiration, and commands our profoundest reverence; we must readily perceive that this gift, bestowed on the Church by the bounteous hand of Christ our Lord, is one of inestimable value. The manner, too, in which God, in the fullness of his paternal clemency, resolved to cancel the sins of the world, must powerfully excite the faithful to the contemplation of this great blessing: it was his will that our offences should be expiated in the blood of his only begotten Son, that he should voluntarily assume the imputability of our sins, and suffer a most cruel death; the just for the unjust, the innocent for the guilty. [16] When, therefore, we reflect, that " we were not redeem ed with corruptible things, as gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled;" [17] we are naturally led to conclude that we could have received no gift more salutary than this power of forgiving sins, which proclaims the ineffable providence of God, and the excess of his love towards us.
This reflection must produce, in all, the most abundant spiritual fruit; for whoever offends God, even by one mortal sin, instantly forfeits whatever merits he may have previously acquired through the sufferings and death of Christ, and is entirely shut out from the gate of heaven, which, when already closed, was thrown open to all by the Redeemer's passion. And, indeed, when this reflection enters into the mind, impossible not to feel impressed with the most anxious solicitude, and contemplating the picture of human misery which it presents to our view. But if we turn our attention to this admirable power with which God has invested his Church; and, in the firm belief of this Article, feel convinced that to every sinner is offered the means of recovering, with the assistance of divine grace, his former dignity; we can no longer resist sentiments of exceeding joy, and gladness, and exultation, and must offer immortal thanks to God. If, when labouring under some severe malady, the medicines prepared for us by the art and industry of the physician, generally become grateful and agreeable to us; how much more grateful and agreeable should those remedies prove, which the wisdom of God has established to heal our spiritual maladies, and restore us to the life of grace; remedies which, unlike the medicines used for the recovery of bodily health, bring with them, not, indeed, uncertain hope of recovery, but certain health to such as desire to be cured.
The faithful, therefore, having formed a just conception of the dignity of so excellent and exalted a blessing, should be exhorted to study, religiously, to turn it, also, to good account for he who makes no use of what is really useful and necessary affords a strong presumption that he despises it; particularly as, in communicating to the Church the power of forgiving sins, the Lord did so with the view, that all should have recourse to this healing remedy; for, as without baptism, no man can be cleansed from original sin, so, without the sacrament of penance, which is another means instituted by God to cleanse from sin, he who desires to recover the grace of baptism, forfeited by actual mortal guilt, cannot recover lost innocence.
But here the faithful are to be admonished to guard against the danger of becoming more prepense to sin, or slow to repentance, from a presumption that they can have recourse to this plenary power of forgiving sins, which, as we have already said, is unrestricted by time; for as such a propensity to sin, must, manifestly, convict them of acting injuriously and contumaciously to this divine power, and must, therefore render them unworthy of the divine mercy; so, this slowness to repentance must afford great reason to apprehend, lest overtaken by death, they may, in vain, confess their belief in the remission of sins, which their tardiness and procrastination have, deservedly, forfeited. [18]
- ↑ Luke xxiv. 46, 47.
- ↑ Isaias xxxiii. 24.
- ↑ Aug. homil. 49. cap. 3.
- ↑ Trident, Sess. v. can. 5 ; Aug. 1, 2, de pecoat. merit, c. 28.
- ↑ Matt. xvi. 19.
- ↑ Matt, xviii. 18.
- ↑ John xx. 23
- ↑ Ambros. lib. 1. de pornit. c. 1, 2. Aug. in Ench. c. 93.
- ↑ Matt. xviii. 21, 22.
- ↑ Trid. Sess. 14. c. 6. Hier. epist. 1. post med. Ambr. de Cain et Abel, c. 4.
- ↑ Trid. Sess. 6. c. 7. & Sess. 14. 1, 2. Arc. tract. 7. 2. in Joan.
- ↑ Aug. lib. 1. de pecc. merit, c. 23. 1. 50. horn. 23. Ambr. de Abel, cap. 4.
- ↑ Isaias xliii. 25.
- ↑ Matt. vi. 11.
- ↑ Matt. ix. 6. Mark ii. 9,
- ↑ Pet iii. 18.
- ↑ 1 Pet i. 18, 19.
- ↑ Aug. in Joan. Tract. S3. et lib. 50. homil. 41. Ambross. lib. 2. de premt. c. 1, 2. & 11