Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
March 14, 2001
God is willing and ready to forgive
On the Holy Father's Lenten message, "Love is not resentful"
By Father Andreas Höck
In his Lenten message this year, Pope John Paul II emphasizes that the only way to peace is forgiveness, both received and given. God is the first to forgive. He forgives us of our sins. Since it is God who is offended in sin, the forgiveness of it must always come from Him. In the Sacrament of Penance this occurs through the mediation of the priest. That God is willing and ready to forgive all sins is clear from both the Old and New Testaments.
Sin in the Old Testament is understood as a personal offense and revolt against God. By it, the personal bond of the covenant is broken, so that man separated himself from God and provoked His wrath. To reestablish this personal relationship and appease God's wrath, man offered gifts and sacrifices in the Old Testament. Annually on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) the covenanted people confessed their sins. Also through the intercession of His favored ones, like Moses for instance (Exodus 32:32-34), God forgave His people. God forgave directly, too. Thus, David was absolved of the sentence of death after his humble acknowledgment of guilt (2 Samuel 12:13). The prophets called for repentance, conversion, and return to the covenant of God in order to obtain forgiveness (Hosea 14:2-7; Isaiah 1:18-20; Jeremiah 3:22-23). Certain psalms extolled contrition and interior submission to God as a means to forgiveness (Psalms 50:18-19; 25:7-11,18; 31:1-6; 37:2-9,18-19; 129; 143:1-2).
With the coming of the Kingdom of God in Christ a new people is created, freed from sin and reconciled with God (Romans 5:1-11) through the expiation of Christ (Romans 3:21-26). Forgiveness was proclaimed in the Gospels by Jesus Himself in His role as Servant of Yahweh (Matthew 9:1-7.10-13). He gave His life as a ransom for the multitude (Matthew 20:28). His blood was poured out for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28). After His resurrection, Jesus declared that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all the nations, beginning with Jerusalem (Luke 24:47).
The pardon of sin is also emancipation from slavery. God not only pardons the sinner but brings him into the resurrected life of Christ through His death (Romans 6:1-11). To be redeemed by Christ means to be a new creature (Galatians 6:15), a new man (Ephesians 4:22-24), in contrast with the old man subject to sin. The motivation for this transformation is, simply, God's love for us (Romans 5:8-9).
Since Jesus is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), He could rescue us from darkness and death. As a result of His glorification He gave the Spirit to His Apostles that they might forgive sins (John 20:23). The Apostles and their legitimate successors in the Sacrament of Reconciliation exercise Christ's forgiveness.
A condition for pardon in this sacrament is contrition. This sorrow for sin must involve a certain love of God, for it is impossible that a soul should receive grace if one does not love God. This love of God cannot conceivably exist without the sinner being prepared also to love other children of the same heavenly Father (2 John 4:20-21). In the "Our Father," divine forgiveness parallels the forgiveness that one gives to those offending one (Matthew 6:12). In the Christian way of life, therefore, one's willingness to forgive injuries is a ready test of the grace of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In it, we first receive God's pardon, and are enabled to forgive others. It is a sacramental path toward communal peace.
