A Celebration of ‘Second Baptism’

Thursday December 23, 2004

I write not as a theologian but as a pastor. My reflections are based on my experience as a pastor for over forty-two years. I claim no special privilege or power but I do testify to the power of God’s grace living within the faithful Catholics ‘in the pew.’ It is they who taught me how to pastor and how to respond to their spiritual needs.

On the evening of December 20th at St. Joseph Church in Mendham, I experienced one of the most joyful and heartwarming experiences of my life as a priest. It’s not that I haven’t had many such experiences over the course of my forty-two years as a priest. To be honest, it has happened numerous times as I have connected with people of faith and with those desiring to be faithful. The priesthood is not a gift given to someone because he is worthy. It is given to some, to men and, I believe also to women, though the vocation of the latter are not yet recognized in our Roman Catholic tradition, not for our own aggrandizement but for the service of humanity—not just ‘Catholic’ humanity.

I also believe that all baptized Christians have a share in the ‘priesthood’ of Christ and when the ordained priest connects with the common priesthood of the faithful at worship, something happens. I suppose Saint Thomas would call this ‘happening’ an “ontological reality,” i.e., something real even if it is not always explainable.

Twice every year, on Monday evening before Christmas and on Monday evening of Holy Week, we have celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation in a communal manner, during which the presiding priest administers General Absolution.

Far from being an aberration of the traditional celebration of this beautiful sacrament, this is truly a restoration of the practice of the early Church, a ‘second baptism’ if you will, which is how this sacrament was called at its inception. No, this is not to suggest that sins that mortally wounded the soul of the Christian and alienated them from the bond of communion within the Christian community such as apostasy, adultery and murder, were summarily dismissed through a general declaration ‘in globo.’ Such public sin and public sinners were ‘escorted’ through a lengthy penitential discipline, which concluded in a full restoration to ‘grace’ and to Eucharist. However, other sins, even serious though not mortal were declared forgiven at the Eucharist, which was considered by the Fathers of the Church and early liturgists as a ‘reconciling sacrament,’ which in effect meant that it was food for sinners as well as for saints. Of course, participants in the Eucharistic banquet were expected to dispose themselves for the ‘feast’ by reconciling themselves to God and neighbor prior to the ‘agape.’

The history of the penitential discipline of the Church is worth perusing and I recommend further reading. For a very cursory treatment, read Doors to the Sacred by Joseph Martos, paperback published by Image Books, 1982, Garden City, NY. I think it was Teilhard de Chardin who stated that nothing can be explained or understood outside the context of history.

In any event, I only wish every bishop in this country and in the world could have been present last Monday evening for this very moving ceremony. The description which follows will be inadequate at best but I believe it will serve to convey the sense of healing that this sacrament can bring to the souls of believers conscious of their sins but so eager to live their faith more fully. The only word that comes close to describing the sense of God’s compassionate presence is “empowerment.”

Although the ceremony started at 8:00 PM, people began to arrive at 7:30 PM. By 8:00 the church was almost filled. The congregants were solemn but not somber. Anticipation and expectancy was in the air; they were disposed for something wonderful to happen. They were heartfelt believers disposing themselves for worship. They were present freely but were not sinners looking for a freebee or a shortcut to God’s mercy. They intended to be there, to express their repentance and to celebrate God’s forgiveness in a very demonstrative way in response to God’s very demonstrative love epitomized in the life of Jesus.

The silence was broken by a short prelude, a festive hymn sung by our cantors. A solemn reading of a reflective verse, “Winter Solstice” (cf. Notes, Quotes & Commentary on this website) followed the prelude. The ceremony opened with the hymn, “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say…” followed by the opening prayer:

Gracious and compassionate God,
your eyes are open, day and night,
ever watchful and always attentive to our needs
those we acknowledge and those we fail to recognize.
We have come to worship you as we near the feast
that reversed tide of evil in our world
and unleashed the power of goodness.
We come as sinners,
in need of forgiveness.
We come stressed and stretched to the limit,
in need of refreshment and renewal.
We come with woes and worries,
in search of your wisdom..
Free us first from negative attitudes
that prevent us from seeing good within and around us.
Take from us all harsh thoughts
and any hardness of heart
that would keeps us from hearing your word of truth more fully,
and receiving your grace of healing more fruitfully.
Awaken in us a longing to do what is right and just.
Make us aware of the great company of believers—past, present, and to come—with whom we join to worship this evening.

We pray through Jesus the Lord. Amen.

The first reading was taken from the prophet Isaiah 40:1-5; 9-11; 41:10, read very carefully by the lector.

A sung response was taken from Psalm 98:3 “All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.”

The ‘Alleluia’ was proclaimed in song. Everyone responded.

The gospel was proclaimed, word for word without text from Matthew 7:1-12.

The homily attempted to explore the meaning of the texts but also intended to engage the congregants in a quiet dialogue within their soul. The message was serious but not severe. There was a touch of humor to protect us all from the absurd.

“If you want to avoid judgment, stop passing judgment …” How easily we slip into judging others by external appearances or through the lens of our own prejudice and biases. Some of the greatest artists were dismissed after their first audition. Ronald Coleman was told to go out and earn his living as a cook or waiter. The list of successful failures is endless.

“How can you say to your brother or sister, ‘Let me take that speck out of your eye’ while all the time the plank remains in your own eye? You hypocrite! Take the plank out of y our own eye first and then you will see clearly enough to take the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Passing judgment on others is symptomatic of the will to power or overpower others. In truth, such rash judgments contribute little to our self-esteem. Data based decisions are much more effective than power based decisions, to be sure. Unfortunately, it takes too much time to collect the hard and soft data necessary to make an enlightened decision. We don’t have the time and we don’t have the patience. It’s easier to jump to conclusions. But how many times do we have to eat our words only to prove the point? The best lessons are those that are the most difficult to learn.

“Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. For those who ask shall receive; those who seek shall find; those who knock shall enter.”

The problem is that we ask for what we want, not for what we need. On receiving the word that her cancer would take her life, my mother asked us to pray not for a cure but for the grace to accept each day graciously. That was our prayer and that prayer was graciously answered. Every day is a blessing when we are open to God’s rhythm and when we ‘seek ‘God’s way, we find God’s wisdom and swim in the sea of God’s grace. God’s door is always open. In fact, it is God who is more apt to knock on our door, so be alert. This evening is one such occasion.

“Who among you would give your son a stone if he asks for a fish? Or a serpent if he asks for a fish? If you with all your sins know how to give what is good to your children, how much more will the Father give good things to those who ask.”

God wants us to be at peace with God and with others and with ourselves. The children remember the mantra on my ‘magic board,’ “Reconciliation is: making peace with God, with others and ourselves!” They will never forget it. Neither should we. On the reverse side of the ‘magic board’ it states, “Good people make mistakes but good people say they are sorry and keep trying to do their very best.”

Is there room for healing in your heart this evening? God is knocking on your door.

******

The homily was followed by the great traditional hymn, “O God our Help in Ages Past,” all six verses! It was a true prayer of the congregation, an acknowledgment of God’s greatness and of our total dependence on God’s mercy, God’s help and God’s protection. “Our God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, be thou our guard while troubles last, and our eternal home.” Amen!

The congregation was then invited to reflect on their sins of commission or omission: sins against God’s goodness and sins of negligence against justice and sins of selfishness, sins that belie the virtues of faith, hope and love and that belie the fruits and gifts of the spirit. No one of us without fault in this regard. The deacon led a guided examination of conscience:

Presider: Loving God, you are just and compassionate. Be with us this evening. We look to the future, to the days ahead of us, and yet we know already that we have need of forgiveness and healing.

Deacon: We ask forgiveness of you, our God, and the forgiveness of those gathered here, for using words as weapons that injure rather than words that promote understanding and peace. (pause) Lord, have mercy.

We ask forgiveness for acting unjustly against rather than acting in the best interests of others; and we ask pardon for the times that we have refrained from participating in works of justice and charity. (pause) Lord, have mercy.

We ask forgiveness for harboring negative thoughts that lead to unkind words and deeds and for allowing prejudice or bias to influence our thoughts and actions. (pause) Lord, have mercy.

We ask forgiveness for allowing ourselves to think and act with the crowd when our conscience challenges us to act independently with moral integrity. (pause) Lord, have mercy.

We ask forgiveness for bearing grudges against others and for turning a deaf hear to inspirations of the heart that lead to healing. (pause) Lord, have mercy.

We ask forgiveness for taking life for granted and for demanding more from life than what we contribute to it, (pause) Lord, have mercy.

We ask forgiveness for taking our faith for granted and for allowing worship to become part of a routine rather than a habit of the heart. (pause) Lord, have mercy

We ask forgiveness for any lack of appreciation for the gift of sexuality—our own and others and for the times we have allowed sexism to influence our decisions at work or at home. (pause) Lord, have mercy.

Presider: Loving God, you know our weakness and the extent of our failure to love you and one another. You see the sincerity of our efforts as well. Look upon us who have been offended and lift up our hearts. Look upon us who have given offense and help us to heal the hurt we have caused. As we forgive one another, we ask you to forgive us and fill us with your healing power and grace. Amen.

Help us to see and admit all our faults
and make amends where we can.
May we be so secure in the knowledge of your forgiveness and love
that we become free to forget our pride,
let go of resentments, and be at peace with you,
with other people, and with ourselves.
Through Christ the Lord. Amen.

At the conclusion of the examination and prayer, I offered this brief explanation for the use of the general formula of absolution:

For sound theological, spiritual, and psychological reasons,
the Church has held fast
to the tradition of personal and individual confession of sins
as part of the sacrament of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Through personal contact with the confessor,
penitents have the opportunity to converse in depth
about the disposition of their souls before God
and to receive the personal reassurance of God’s mercy
and abiding grace in a very personal way.
However, in circumstances such as this
when the number of penitents is so large
and the number of priests so limited,
as well as in other extreme situations in which the faithful might experience
an excessive delay in the assurance of forgiveness,
the Church provides for a more general celebration of the sacrament.
Although administered in a general way,
it is the same Sacrament of Reconciliation
and confers the healing grace of God through power of Christ
and the ministry of the priest.
Therefore, I ask you to kneel
and confess your sins in the words of the Confiteor:

I confess to almighty God
and to you my sisters and brothers
that I have sinned in thought, word and deed;
in what I have done and in what I have failed to do;
and I ask Blessed Mary ever virgin
all the saints and to you, my sisters and brothers,
to pray to the Lord, our God for me.

At the conclusion of this ‘confession’ of sin, I administered the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The ‘penance’ attached to the sacramental forgiveness was the reading of the entire Gospel of St. Matthew “as it every word were true.” (cf. the article of John Kavanaugh, SJ in AMERICA magazine, December 20-27, entitled, “Christmas Conscience, ‘Read as if you believed it.’” If possible, before Christmas; if not, anytime this year!

The congregation exchanged a sign of peace and the service concluded with the singing of the traditional Advent hymn, “Lift Up Your Heads…”

The service lasted forty-five minutes. No one left early and many remained up to a half hour in conversation and social exchanges. The effect of the sacrament was genuine.

This is the way the Sacrament of Reconciliation should be celebrated. The congregation applauded spontaneously.

My mother was a very traditional Catholic, a daily communicant. She was aware of her sinfulness and her imperfections but she never really liked to ‘go to confession,’ She never explained why she found it so difficult. I suspect, however, she had been turned off early in life by a negative experience. My mom was not unfamiliar with some ‘priestly’ faults that while not turning her away from the faith or diminish her respect for the priesthood, did not endear her to priestly confidence in every respect. You may recall that in the ‘old days’ we used to go to confession at the church on the other side of town where the priests did not know us. It was even better if he didn’t speak English! At any rate, on a particular occasion, she and my dad had arrived very early for a wedding at a church somewhere in the Archdiocese of Newark. It was a Saturday afternoon and the confessional light was on. My mom decided to take advantage of this opportunity for the individual celebration of the sacrament. She began her confession in the usual manner, “Bless me father, for I have sinned, it is a year since my last confession.” In due course, the priest asked her if she made her ‘Easter Duty.” For those of you who do not recall, the “Easter Duty” was the obligation to receive the Holy Eucharist at least once a year and that is during what was called “Easter Time,” a period extending from Easter to the Feast of the Holy Trinity.” It also included the obligation of going to confession during that period should one be ‘conscious’ of mortal sin.

My mother replied to the priests, “Father, I am a daily communicant.” She stated that not to boast of her sinlessness but as an indicator that she was indeed attempting to be faithful to the gospel and to the dictates of her conscience. He said it wasn’t asking her about her daily practice, etc. Well, it was all downhill from that point on. Finally, she told him that her son was a priest and a canon lawyer too! Then she got up and walked out. He may not have realized it but he only turned her off further on the individual celebration of the sacrament by turning it into a tribunal. To my knowledge, that was her last experience with the private celebration of Reconciliation.

On another occasion one of her friends asked her if she goes to confession to which she replied, “Yes. I go to my husband every night!” She wasn’t being ‘smart’ or cynical. She and my dad were tied together at the hip and they knew each other’s faults. Their love for each other enabled them to expose their vulnerability before the Lord and it brought healing and God’s mercy.

I realize that most confessors have come a long way from the days of the rote recitation off our sins, some of which we made up as kids in order to have enough to confess in the darkness of the black box. However, most Catholics who are sincere in the practice of the faith and who are conscious of their failures do not require the private and individual celebration of the sacrament on a regular basis. There are many ways to be reconciled with God and neighbor through our recitation of quotations from the gospels and from the psalms. “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; look upon me with compassion.” “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Etc.

The penitential litany at the beginning of Mass is another opportunity to dispose us for celebration of Eucharist. The ‘Lord’s Prayer’ and the exchange of peace are splendid opportunities to acknowledge our sinfulness and our sincere desire to reach out to our neighbor.

This is in no way to denigrate the beauty of the individual encounter with the forgiving Christ through the individual celebration. The experience of personal forgiveness through the personal encounter with a compassionate priest confessor can be awesome indeed. I have witnessed the power of the sacrament on too many occasions to denounce the value of this personal encounter. No way!

However, I believe the communal celebration with general absolution should be accepted as the ‘ordinary’ norm and the private celebration as the ‘extraordinary.’ This is not to suggest that the private be reserved only for serious or what are still referred to as ‘mortal’ sins but also for those special times when we simply want to chat about sinful patterns in our lives, which inhibit our holistic growth as ‘observant’ Christians.

That having been acknowledged, there are serious reasons why the communal celebration, including general absolution, should become normative in the life of Catholic sacramental practice.

First, the practical.

1.There simply are not a sufficient number of priests for the individual celebration of the sacrament in a reverent and meaningful way. Reconciliation should not be celebrated by the calendar but at the invitation of the heart. This can happen spontaneously or it may take place in the midst of a personal or family crisis. While I do not disparage the scheduling of ‘confessions’ on a Saturday afternoon or evening, it is not the optimum time for most people. Some parishes offer the opportunity for private confession before Mass. In my opinion, this is not the best time. It may be more convenient for some penitents but it sets an unhealthy precedent as an immediate preparation for Mass and hearkens back to those days when Catholics felt that confession was a condition for a worthy celebration of the Eucharist. Of course, there are rare occasions when a person may seek absolution before Mass and such a request must be honored without hesitation. The disposition of a person’s soul before God takes precedence over every other obligation of the priest.

2.Incorporating individual confessions during a communal penance is not practical either. As significant as a personal exchange of words and touch may be, the length of quality time necessary for such an encounter is disproportionate to the time necessary for a quality celebration of the communal dimension of the liturgy. It is not possible to gather a sufficient number of priests to ‘hear’ such a large number of individual confessions without a long delay which delay deflates the power of the whole celebration.

In order to accommodate large numbers, some liturgists have attempted to abbreviate individual confessions by suggesting that penitents mention one sin and that the priest confessor administer the words of absolution without counsel. But this is nothing more than another version of the old practice of the rote recitation of sins in the box with a mechanical recitation of the words of absolution by the priest. Quite frankly, I find this a desecration of the sacred and more of an aberration of sacramental practice. Writing sins on a piece of paper and placing them in a fire is not much better. It smacks of gimmickry.

3.There is no reason why the presider together with other priests can’t make themselves available following the communal service for those who might like to take advantage of the individual celebration of the sacrament. In fact, it has happened on many occasions that the communal celebration has been a door opener for the individual celebration.

The theological dimension:

1.Catholic theology has always held that a perfect act of contrition results in the forgiveness of sin. A perfect act of contrition is nothing more or less than the internal disposition of sorrow within the heart of a person who is conscious of any sin and in truly sorry not out of fear but out the genuine desire to make amends for wrongdoing. The sacrament adds an ecclesial dimension to divine forgiveness celebrating the reality of what has taken place within the soul of the person and symbolically restores the person to full communion with the community of faith.

2.There are solid reasons-theological, spiritual, psychological and pastoral reasons for a penitent to discuss a serious matter of conscience with a confessor at an ‘opportune time’ after an act of perfect contrition followed by general absolution but for the life of me, I can’t conceive of a God who puts forgiveness ‘on hold’ or makes it dependent on the juridical act of confessing a sin to a priest. I can conceive of a God who withholds forgiveness from a sinner who blows smoke in God’s face through a perfunctory expression of sorrow with no intent to right the wrong as in the case of abusive persons who will not admit their abuse nor seek help for their moral illness. The same may be said of the addicted person whose addiction has led to destructive behaviors and other moral failures.

3.The psalmist was correct; God has probed us and knows what is in the depth our hearts. The God who knit us in our mother’s womb knows our coming and going and knows when we sit and when we stand. [Psalm 39:1]

The Liturgical Dimension

Sacraments effect what they signify; so do effective sacramental celebrations. Father Gene Lauer, newly appointed director of the National Pastoral Life Center in New York in his address to a gathering of VOTF (Voice of the Faithful) at St. Margaret Church in Morristown last month spoke about ‘experiential theology. Top down theology does not work without the acknowledgment of a bottom up experience. In other words, theology should not dictate pastoral practice but our human experience of God within the community of faith. His point was an overstatement to make the point. Theology evolves from the analysis of divine revelation filtered through human experience. But even there, revelation cannot be said to happen within a vacuum but though human events within an historical context. Dogmas and doctrines as well as ecclesiastical disciplines and dictates are sterile without reflection on the human face of God in Christ mirrored in the community of faith we call the Church, the ‘people of God.’

So there you have it. This is my case and cause for a broader acceptance by our bishops of the communal celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation including general absolution.

I am hopeful but I’m not optimistic. Hopeful, because I truly believe this development is the work of the Holy Spirit. Not hopeful because I don’t think our bishops are listening.

In a private conversation with an elderly parishioner, he stated loud and clear, “Father Lasch, I hope the bishops don’t think we are going back to the old practice of the Saturday line-up for confession. He may forbid the practice of general absolution but we’re not going back. There will be fewer people going to confession and that will be too bad.”

Ironically, this is not a ‘liberal’ v ‘conservative’ issue. It’s my impression that many liberals have abandoned sacramental Reconciliation, even the communal version. I may be wrong about that assumption. However, I am not mistaken about the large number of ‘traditional’ Catholics who have asked for a continuation of the practice of general absolution within the context of a communal service.

This has been verified in several parishes where individual confession was restored. I was invited to one such ‘celebration’ that was anything but a celebration. In a church that could accommodate close to 450 congregants there were seven of us priests for approximately forty ‘penitents.’

It was a real downer not because of the numbers but because the ceremony was the antithesis of the celebratory nature of the sacrament. The service was ‘read’ stoically. The Gospel was ‘read’ not proclaimed. There was no homily. The music was flat. Then the people were asked to ‘go to confession.’ The confessions were sincere but rote.

Not a good case or omen for the return to the former practice.

The discipline will remain the same unless and until faithful Catholics make their mind and heart known to our bishops and unless they make the minds and hearts of the Catholic faithful known to the Holy Father and to his college of bishops.

In the meantime, don’t forget to read the entire Gospel of Saint Matthew as if it were true!

Your feedback and observations will be welcome via my email at the bottom of this article.

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