1. Does Jesus have the power to forgive sins?
Yes, Jesus has the power to forgive sins because He is God.
“Jesus said: Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and Pharisees began to think, saying: Who is this who speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”
(Luke 5:20, 21).
2. How did Jesus prove He had the power to forgive sin?
Jesus proved that He had the power to forgive sin when He cured the paralyzed man.
But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (He saith to the sick of palsy,) I say to thee, Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house and immediately rising up before them, he took up his bed on which be lay; and went away to his own house, glorifying God’s (Luke 5:24, 25).
3. Did Jesus forgive the sins of other people?
Yes, Jesus forgave the sins of other people, for example, the woman taken in adultery, Mary Magdalen and the Good Thief.
4. Did Jesus give the power to forgive sins to anyone?
Yes, Jesus gave the power to forgive sins to His Apostles after He had arisen from the dead.
“As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you. When He had said this, He breathed on them; and He said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained” (John 20:21-23).
5. What Sacrament did Jesus institute when He said these words?
The Sacrament of Penance, by which the sins committed after Baptism are forgiven.
6. Did Jesus want His Apostles to hand down this power to others?
Yes, Jesus wanted His Apostles to hand down the power of forgiving sins to others, because He died to save all men and He wanted all men to have the chance to have their sins forgiven.
“For this is good and acceptable to the sight of God, our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1st Timothy 2:3, 4).
7. How did the Apostles hand down the power of forgiving sins?
The Apostles handed down the power of forgiving sins by making other men Bishops and Priests. See Lesson 27.
8. After the Apostles died, how was this power handed down?
After the Apostles died, the Bishops continued to hand down the power of forgiving sins during the past two thousand years.
9. Do all Catholic Priests have the power to forgive sins?
Yes, all Catholic Priests have the power to forgive sins, received on the day they became Priests.
10. What must I do to have my sins forgiven?
To have my sins forgiven, I must be truly sorry for them and tell (confess) them to a Catholic Priest.
He that hideth his sins shall not prosper; but he that shall confess and forsake them, shall obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13)
11. Does the Priest only pray that my sins will be forgiven?
No, the Priest does not merely pray that my sins will be forgiven but by the power given him he actually takes the sins off my soul.
For, what I have pardoned … I have done it in the person
of Christ” (2nd Corinthians 2:10).
12. What else does Confession do for my soul?
Besides taking sins off my soul, Confession also
1) puts grace back into my soul
2) makes the grace grow in my soul, if I had only venial sins
3) gives me extra strength to stay away from sin in the future.
“Be not ashamed to confess thy sins” (Ecclesiasticus 4:31).
13. Why do I have to confess my sins to the Priest?
I must confess my sins to the Priest because this is the way Jesus wanted me to have my sins forgiven; otherwise, He would not have given His Church the power to forgive sins.
14. Can’t I go to God directly and ask Him to forgive my sins?
If I know that God wants me to confess my sins to the Priest, then I must do it the way He wants it done.
15. Can I be sure that my sins are forgiven in Confession?
Yes, if I have properly confessed my sins, I can be sure that they are forgiven.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us
our sins” (1st John 1:9).
16. Why does the Priest have to know what sins I have committed?
The Priest has to know what sins I have committed so that he may know whether he is to forgive or retain” them. If I am really sorry for them, he will forgive me; if I am not sorry, he cannot forgive them, he must retain them.
Jesus, being God, knew what sins were on the souls of the paralyzed man and of others whose sins He forgave while on earth. But the Priest cannot look into my soul. So, I must tell him what sins I have committed.
17. Give other reasons why the Priest has to know my sins.
The Priest has to know my sins so that he can give me a suitable penance (punishment) and advise me on how to overcome my sins.
18. Where does the Priest usually hear the confessions of people?
The Priest usually hears the Confessions of people in the church in a booth called a “confessional”.
19. Do all Catholics have to go to Confession?
Yes, all Catholics, even the Pope, Bishops and Priests, have
to go to Confession.
20. Why don’t I have to be afraid to go to Confession?
I don’t have to be afraid to go to Confession
1) because I can go to any Priest I want
2) because he can never tell another person anything he has ever heard in Confession. This is called the Seal of Confession.
21. What is meant by “being sorry for my sins”
“Being sorry for my sins” means
1) that I must wish that I had not committed the sins
2) that I sincerely promise not to commit those sins again
“Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee” (John 5:14).
3) that I promise to stay away from any person, place or thing which will easily lead me into sin. “He that loves danger shall perish in it” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27).
22. What kind of sorrow must I have to be forgiven?
To be forgiven I must have a religious sorrow, that is, I must be sorry because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell (imperfect sorrow) but most of all because I have offended God (perfect sorrow).
So, to have my sins forgiven, it is not enough to be sorry because my sins have caused me to lose my job or some money. The sorrow must be religious.
23. Can all of my sins be forgiven in Confession?
Yes, all sins can be forgiven in Confession if I am really sorry for them and promise to stay away from them in the future.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us FROM ALL INIQUITY” (1st John 1:9).
24. In Confession is all the punishment due to my sins taken away?
1) In Confession the eternal punishment due to my sins is taken away, that is, the punishment of hell
2) All of the temporal punishment due to my sins is not always taken away.
25. What is meant by “temporal punishment”?
“Temporal punishment” means that, even though all of my sins are forgiven in Confession, God still demands that I be punished either in this life or in Purgatory.
Thus, it is clear that Confession does not make sinning any easier. Although it is true that I will not have to worry about going to hell for sins properly confessed, yet I have to worry about the temporal punishment still due to those sins. See question 4, page 33.