Why go to a priest
if you can go straight to God?
The day's readings can be found here.
As Catholics, how many times have we been asked this question: “Why do you go to confession to a priest when you could just confess straight to God?” At first, this objection seems difficult to answer as a Catholic. It seems so easy, right? Just go straight to God for forgiveness. Why go through a priest? The answer to this question, however, is quite simple: Because Jesus Christ prefers to forgive sins through the sacrament of confession — the sacrament that He Himself instituted in order to show His Divine Mercy!
So, where is this in the Bible? Today in the holy gospel from St. John, chapter 20, we see the resurrected Christ revealing Himself to the apostles. He sends them out, but before doing so, He breathes on them (John 20:22). This is no accident. The last time that God breathed on man was at creation. Therefore, with this gesture, God is communicating the awesome power of creation — of re-creation — to the apostles. But for what purpose? Jesus says, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (John 20:22-23). This is shocking! Jesus is giving the authority to forgive sins – the authority that was previously only God’s authority – to mere men! And why? So that these men (apostles) can work to reconcile sinners to God, to share Jesus’ ocean mercy with those who need it most.
It is very important to note that the Catholic Church did not invent the sacrament of confession. In fact, there is evidence from both Christian and non-Christian sources of the confession of sins to priests (and open confessions in church assemblies). It is also important to realize that going to a priest is not somehow avoiding God. When we go to a priest for confession, we have already acknowledged our faults in God’s presence. By going to a priest, we learn humility and we are strengthened in our resolve to not sin again. We also receive an abundance of grace, we are immersed in God’s ocean of mercy, we receive advice to help us avoid sin in the future, and we are assured of God’s forgiveness!
During this Easter Season, we rejoice in the Divine Mercy that has been won for us through the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Even though Lent is over, we might make a commitment to our risen Lord to make devotional confession a bigger part of our spiritual life. We might be surprised at how our lives will be changed, that sin will decrease, and that our call to holiness will be less of an idea and more of a reality.
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