Over the years of his ministry, a priest hears many thousands of confessions. It is one of his great privileges, to pronounce the words of absolution which free a penitent from those chains which have bound him. There is perhaps no other time that the priest feels so deeply the sense of that fatherhood which gives him his title. A child of God speaks the words, “Bless me, father, for I have sinned…” and in the quiet of the confessional the power of Christ is stirred for the renewal of the soul. That which was broken is healed. What was so heavy at the time of coming is lifted. It is its own magnum mysterium as new birth is once more imparted to the penitent. The Divine hears through the human ear. The fruits of Calvary are applied, and it is as though the waters of baptism flow once again over the sullied soul.
In the confessional we are made young again. Just as a child is brought to the font, so the soul is presented to our Lord for Him to do His work. And when it is done, those happy words: “Go in peace, for the Lord has taken away your sins.”
The Sacrament of Penance is an area where I fear as Anglicans we may have had a long practice of what might be called in the medical field – malpractice.
We have known of the saving remedy, but have not alway emphasized it in our teaching as well as we could have.
I always shudder when I hear people repeat the little ditty about Anglicans and confession :All may, none must, some should.
I have long thought the advise should simply be, while none must, all should. The soul does not exist on earth that can not benefit from this Sacrament.
I look forward to our being able to place a proper and balanced emphasis on the Sacrament as we go forward in the Ordinariate.
Sean W. Reed
As a Catholic, let me assure you who are coming home that confession, despite the negative press it has gotten over the years, is one of the most liberating things you can do.
To go to God, with a heavy heart, pour your sins out to Him in prayer and penitence, and then receive the absolution from the priest is just absolutely amazing.
As Fr Phillips said, to be free from those chains that have bound you is a wonderous thing.
You seem to be assuming that we are new or unfamiliar to Confession or need to "come home" to find out what it is about?
There are problems in some parts of Anglicanism about how the Sacrament is taught, but at the same time, in many parishes such as ours, this has never stopped being taught and administered, and its saving benefits are cherished.
Sean W. Reed
The Anglican aphorism should be restated as especially on the need of a individual confession to a priest is
"All may, none must, all should"
especially when the permission for general absolution in the Catholic Church was abused in some countries.
Fr. Phillips's reflections accord very well with my own experience of Confession. It is the most undervalued Sacrament of those given to us by Christ for "frequent" reception. To make this "visit to the Doctor" to have the wounds cleansed, and then later in the Eucharist, to receive the "medicina immortalitatis": there's nothing so "healing", i.e., Yeshua-like!
One of the pieces of my priesthood stands out in this area. My niece (aged bout 39 and mother of 3) was in the last stages of cancer. She had never been married and was angry at everyone … until my visit with her in the nursing home. I administered the last rites, kissed her good-by and left.
Her mother, my sister, reported that her LIFETIME attitude had changed from that point. She died less than a week later.
Don't tell me it doesn't work!