Communal Penance Service

Tuesday, December 17, starting at 12:10pm, many priest confessors including confessors in American Sign Language and Spanish will be available. No 11am Confessions or Eucharistic Adoration, or 12:10pm Mass. All are welcome to experience the love and mercy of Christ through the Sacrament of Penance.

What is the Sacrament Called?

We refer here to Reconciliation and to Penance, but the sacrament has many names. Understanding the various names helps in our understanding of the tremendous benefits that this sacrament brings to those who open their hearts to receive it.

It is called the Sacrament of Conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus' call to conversion, the firt step in returning to the Father from whom one has strayed by sin. It is called the Sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner's personal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction. It is called the Sacrament of Confession since the disclosure or confession of sins is an essential element of this Sacrament. In a profound sense, it is also a "confession"—acknowledgment and praise—of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man. It is called the Sacrament of Forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution, God grants the penitent "pardon and peace." It is called the Sacrament of Reconciliation because it imparts to the sinner the love of God who reconciles: "Be reconciled to God" (2 Cor 5:20). He who lives by God's merciful love is ready to respond to the Lord's call: "Go, first be reconciled to your brother." (Catechism of the Catholic Church,1423-24, citing Mt 5:24)