Sacrament of Penance

The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, who forgave the sins of the paralytic and restored him to bodily health, has willed that his Church continue, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation, even among her own members. This is the purpose of the two sacraments of healing: the sacrament of Penance and the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. (CCC § 1421).

Even after baptism, all of us are capable of committing sin. Sin is the deliberate violation of God’s law. As much as we would like to think that it only has an effect on us as individuals, the fact is that sin ruptures our relationship with God and our brothers and sisters, no matter how private or secretive we may think we are being.

There are two kinds of sin: mortal and venial.

Mortal sin is a deliberate and free choice of something known to be seriously wrong that destroys our friendship with God and separates us from Him. All of the following conditions must be met for a sin to be mortal: (1) it must be something serious; (2) it must be done with sufficient knowledge of its gravity; and (3) it must be done with sufficient freedom of the will.

Venial sin is a minor offense against God’s law that hurts our relationship with God but does not destroy it. We are required to confess mortal sin and encouraged to confess venial sin. The Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation is offered to us by Christ to heal the wounds and division that sin causes in our lives.

The Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation is offered every Saturday at 5:30 pm by appointment. 

ACT OF CONTRITION

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you. I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell. But most of all because they offend you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin.  Amen.