Feb

15

Angelus: Rediscovering the Sacrament of Penance

February 15, 2009 | 1 Comment

At midday today, Benedict XVI appeared at the window of his study overlooking St. Peter’s Square to pray the Angelus with faithful gathered below.

Commenting upon the Gospel reading from today’s Mass, in which St. Mark recounts Jesus’ miraculous healing of a leper, the Pope explained how “according to ancient Jewish Law leprosy was considered not just as an illness but as the most serious form of ‘impurity’. It was the priest’s task to diagnose it and declare as unclean the sick person, who then had to leave the community … until his recovery, if any, a recovery that had to be properly certified. Leprosy, then, constituted a kind of religious and civil death, and its cure a sort of resurrection.

“In leprosy”, he added, “we may see a symbol of sin, which is the true impurity of the heart and has the power to distance us from God. It is not in fact the physical sickness of leprosy, as established by the ancient laws, that separates us from Him, but guilt, spiritual and moral evil. … The sins we commit distance us from God and, if not humbly confessed with trust in divine mercy, they go so far as to produce the death of the soul”. The Holy Father then observed how Christ during His Passion “would become as a leper, made unclean by our sins, separated from God: and He would do this for love, in order to obtain reconciliation, forgiveness and salvation for us”.

“In the Sacrament of Penance the crucified and risen Christ, through His ministers, purifies us with His infinite mercy, He restores us to communion with the heavenly Father and with our brothers and sisters, He makes us the gift of His love, His joy and His peace”.

Benedict XVI concluded by inviting the faithful “to make frequent use of the Sacrament of Confession, the Sacrament of Forgiveness, which we must increasingly rediscover today in the value and importance it has for our lives as Christians”. – VIS


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  1. Br. Michael Anthony on February 15, 2009 8:21 pm

    Sin is what puts distance between the believer and God, and it’s the sacrament of confession that brings the two back together, says Benedict XVI.

    The Pope said this today in a Gospel reflection on Mark’s account of the healed leper, which he delivered before praying the midday Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

    In the Gospel account, recalls the Pontiff, the leper “gets on his knees and says: ‘If you wish, you can make me clean!’ Jesus, moved, stretches out his hand, touches him and says: ‘I do wish it. Be made clean!’”

    “According to the ancient Jewish law,” the Holy Father explained, “leprosy was not only considered a sickness but the gravest form of ‘impurity.’”

    He continued: “Leprosy thus constituted a kind of religious and civil death, and its healing was a kind of resurrection. We might see in leprosy a symbol of sin, which is the true impurity of heart, distancing us from God.

    “It is not, in effect, physical malady that distances us from him, as the ancient norms supposed, but sin, the spiritual and moral evil.”

    Benedict XVI reflected: “The sins we commit distance us from God, and, if they are not humbly confessed, trusting in the divine mercy, they will finally bring about the death of the soul. This miracle thus has powerful symbolic value.

    “In the Sacrament of Penance Christ crucified and risen, through his ministers, purifies us with his infinite mercy, restores us to communion with the heavenly Father and our brothers, and makes a gift of his love, joy and peace to us.”

    “Dear brothers and sisters,” he concluded, “let us invoke the Virgin Mary, whom God preserved from every stain of sin, that she help us to avoid sin and to have frequent recourse to the sacrament of confession, the sacrament of forgiveness, whose value and importance for our Christian life needs to be rediscovered today.”

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