The Forgiveness Of Sins
By DON FIER
In concluding an extensive examination of the ninth article of the Creed — our firm belief in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church — it was quite appropriate to end by scrutinizing the place that devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is to hold in the life of the faithful. As Mother of God, Mother of the Redeemer, Mother of the Church, the new Eve, and so many other majestic titles too numerous to name, our Lady truly is, as portrayed so movingly by the 19th-century English poet William Wordsworth, “our tainted nature’s solitary boast.”
In light of her Immaculate Conception and unique collaboration in the salvific mission of her Son, the transition made by the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) from Marian devotion to its next topic, the forgiveness of sins, can be seen as most fitting. As the sole human person to be preserved from stain of sin, it is the holy Virgin who most efficaciously leads us to Jesus.
Who can serve as a better guide and model than she whose will was always united to that of the Father, than she who never once withheld her fiat? The richness of the number of Marian feast days on the liturgical calendar provides generous evidence of the great honor reserved by the Church for Mary. “Glorified in body and soul in heaven, [she] is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come” (Lumen Gentium, n. 68).
And so the Catechism now segues to a brief and partial catechesis of article 10 of the Apostle’s Creed: “I believe in…the forgiveness of sins.” Why the brevity for this critically important topic? It is because a more exhaustive examination will follow later in Part Two of the Catechism when the seven sacraments are individually discussed in detail.
An immediate connection is made by the Catechism to articles 8 and 9 of the Creed: “The Apostle’s Creed associates faith in the forgiveness of sins [art. 10] not only with faith in the Holy Spirit [art. 8], but also with faith in the Church and in the communion of saints [art. 9]” (CCC, n. 976).
Why is this significant? It is precisely because it was only after they received the gift of the Holy Spirit (and the Church, the Body of Christ, was inaugurated) that the power to forgive sins in Jesus’ name was conferred upon the apostles: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22b-23).
It is fascinating to note that just prior to saying these words to His apostles, Sacred Scripture indicates that Jesus “breathed on them” (John 20:22a). When else does the Bible indicate that God breathed upon man? It was during the creation account when He imparted the breath of life to Adam: “The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7).
Might not this fact as recorded by the Beloved Disciple be seen to symbolically represent the immense importance of the Sacrament of Penance? In figurative language, might it not signify that just as God gave physical life to the first man by breathing on him, He likewise gave the apostles (and their successors) — by breathing on them — the power to restore spiritual life to those who are dead through sin?
The words for this article of faith are expanded upon in a small but significant way in the Nicene Creed so as to emphasize that Baptism, as it were, is the gateway to life in the Spirit and the indispensable door which allows access to the other sacraments (cf. CCC, n. 1213): “I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” It is with these words that we acknowledge that “Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ” (CCC, n. 977). So fundamentally important is this sacrament of initiation that our Lord said: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16).
Citing the Roman Catechism (RC), a fruit of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the Catechism elaborates on the wondrous efficacy of Baptism: “The forgiveness we received then was so full and complete that there remained in us absolutely nothing left to efface, neither original sin nor offenses committed by our own will, nor was there left any penalty to suffer in order to expiate them” (RC, I, 11, 3; as cited in CCC, n. 978).
In other words, so cleansing are the saving waters of Baptism that if a hardened criminal, having never been baptized, experienced a deathbed conversion and sincerely received Baptism just prior to taking his dying breath, he would go straight to Heaven. Not only would his sins be forgiven, but all temporal punishment would be remitted (i.e., no Purgatory).
One is reminded of Dismas, crucified alongside Jesus, who is warmly known as the thief who stole Heaven. How wonderful to his ears must have been the consoling words of the dying Savior: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
Lest one, however, presumptuously be tempted to put off Baptism until the last moment, he would be well-advised to heed Jesus’ stern warning: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matt. 25:13).
The Catechism goes on to instruct us, however, that “the grace of Baptism delivers no one from all the weakness of nature” (CCC, n. 978). As discussed much earlier in this series, man’s nature has been wounded by original sin and he is continually subject to wayward inclinations.
As expressed later in the Catechism: “Certain temporal consequences of sin remain in the baptized, such as suffering, illness, death, and such frailties inherent in life as weaknesses of character, and so on, as well as an inclination to sin that Tradition calls concupiscence” (CCC, n. 1264).
Each of us, then, in varying degrees, is subject to the condition experienced by St. Paul: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate….For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Romans 7:15:20).
As stated by Dr. Peter Kreeft in Catholic Christianity (CC): “We are not determined, but we are conditioned — led, pulled, influenced — by our sinful nature and instincts” (p. 121).
And as expressed by the Vatican II fathers in Gaudium et Spes: “What divine revelation makes known to us agrees with experience. Examining his heart, man finds that he has inclinations toward evil too, and is engulfed by manifold ills which cannot come from his good Creator” (n. 13).
Yet we do have free will, and it is possible — through cooperation with God’s grace — to resist our sinful inclinations, for “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength” (1 Cor. 10:13). Yet our common human experience tells us that, all too often, we succumb to our passions and self-love.
It is for this reason that Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Penance, for “in this battle against our inclination towards evil, who could be brave and watchful enough to escape every wound of sin?” (CCC, n. 979). It is through this sacrament “that the baptized can be reconciled with God and with the Church” (CCC, n. 980).
This power to bind or loose sins, conferred by Christ, “has rightly been called by the holy Fathers ‘a laborious kind of baptism’ (St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oratio 39, 17). This sacrament of penance is necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after baptism, just as baptism itself is for those who have not yet been regenerated” (Denzinger, Enchiridion Symbolorum, n. 1672; as cited in CCC, n. 980).
Another illustrious Church father, St. Augustine, says of this ministry of reconciliation: “The soul dead through sin comes back to life in order to live with Christ, whose grace has saved us” (Sermo 214, 11; as cited in CCC, n. 981).
Eternal Liberation
Is there any sin that is unforgivable? The Catechism categorically teaches that there “is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive” (CCC, n. 982). Once again citing the Roman Catechism, it continues: “There is no one, however wicked and guilty, who may not confidently hope for forgiveness, provided his repentance is honest” (I, 11, 5). Only impenitence, or man’s refusal to believe in and accept the gift of God’s mercy, can prevent the forgiveness of sins.
As expressed by Dr. Kreeft: “God never withholds His forgiveness, but we sometimes withhold our repentance” (CC, p. 123).
To close this brief catechesis on article 10 of the Creed, let us once again reflect on words spoken by St. Augustine: “Were there no forgiveness of sins in the Church, there would be no hope of life to come or eternal liberation. Let us thank God who has given his Church such a gift” (Sermo 213, 8; as cited in CCC, n. 983).
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(Don Fier serves on the board of directors for The Catholic Servant, a Minneapolis-based monthly publication. He and his wife are the parents of seven children. Fier is a 2009 graduate of Ave Maria University’s Institute for Pastoral Theology. He is doing research for writing a definitive biography of Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)
