On 13 October the lesson on confession of the faithful opened. Cardinal Piacenza, president of the Church of Santa Innocenzo, gave a speech underlining three main aspects related to the sacrament of confession and the three super virtues.
(Vatican news network) “I speak directly with God”; “I have had bad experiences”; “The priest is not as good as me”; “I am too shy to talk about my sins”: these are the reasons why many faithful oppose the sacrament of penance. To help the faithful understand this sacrament better, the seminar for priests organized by the Holy Innocent Church began on the afternoon of October 13 with the theme “‘Your sins are forgiven’: today the Sacrament of Confession”.
At the opening ceremony, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, President of the Church of the Innocente, gave a speech. The cardinal emphasizes three main aspects of the sacrament of confession, all linked to the three super virtues. In the first place, confession is an act of trust in God. The cardinal emphasizes: “If the sacrament of confession is truly lived as an act of faith, there is no discomfort, because in this sacrament the soul of man is called to stand before God, before his Creator, before him before He who knows everything about us “.
This act of faith means, on the one hand, knowing that “Christ commands his Church to forgive our sins” and, on the other, “placing trust in the arms of the Father”. Cardinal Piacenza pointed out the faithful and said: “We know very well that you did not come for us, but for Christ”. In this sense, the priest who heard the confession also made the act of faith. To the testimony of the confessor’s faith. It goes without saying that confession is also “the act of God’s trust in man and in each of us”, trusting in his Church and his priests, entrusting them with the care of his flock.
Secondly, confession is also an act of hope. Through confession, the cardinal explained, each of us hopes to be helped by the Lord, and that this sacrament “continues to help the penitent to open his mind to new life”. This act of hope also looks to immortality. Because «in a secular environment, the supernatural vision is abandoned in the context of subjective convictions, with an almost total loss of awareness of the importance of one’s actions, or even of entering immortality. Therefore, if the sacrament of reconciliation is not intended, it is not surprising that it even appears useless on the surface ”.
Finally, confession is an act of charity. Card. Piacenza argues that if we take God’s love for man for granted, this is not the case when we look at “man’s love for himself and for God”. What could be better than “unloading the burden of guilt and seeing reality and yourself with new eyes”? Confession helps people to “know each other, truly love each other and take control of themselves, thus giving themselves to God and to others”.
Furthermore, it is also an act of loving God: confession is a way to show God “our love, our remorse for sin and our return to Him”. Through confession one can “review the glory due to God”. Card Piacenza speaks of all the absurd wars that overwhelm the world and of the arms traffickers who feed it; that thousands of lives are being killed every day, even in the arms of their mothers; food; many innocent children have been brutalized, etc. Aren’t they all sins against the Creator?
Confession is actually a fee. The last aspect emphasized by the cardinal is to show the brothers and sisters their willingness to repent through the sacraments. Card. Piacenza concluded: “The glory of Christ on earth, in fact, coincides with the expansion of his kingdom, with the zeal of those who know him, love him and serve him”.
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