Does the Bible Really Say That?: Discovering Catholic Teaching in Scripture by Patrick Madrid Read Free Book Online Page A

so.”
    Colossians 4:6   “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer every one.”
    If you have a problem with profanity or blasphemy (or both), repent to the Lord with sincere contrition, go to sacramental confession, and firmly commit to rely on God’s loving grace to help you avoid this sin in the future. It may not be easy at first, but in time and with God’s help you can unlearn that bad habit. And just think, besides being a more enjoyable person to be around, the payoff for you will be eternal. Remember what Christ said: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). The converse is also true: Those who are not pure in heart shall not see God.
    Which group will you be in?
     
    Further Reading: Psalm 59; 109:17–18; Hosea 4:1–3; Matthew 15:19–20; Mark 7:21–23; 1 Corinthians 6:12–20; 1 Thessalonians 4:1–10; 1 Timothy 4:11; Titus 2:8; Revelation 21:27

CHAPTER 13
    Why Confess to a Priest?
    Why should I confess my sins to a priest ?” the young woman at the microphone demanded of me. “As a Christian, I confess my sins directly to God .” Her question, raised at one of my recent parish apologetics seminars, is common among Protestants.
    While there is no explicit statement in Scripture that says, “Confess your sins to a priest,” there is a wealth of implicit evidence that leads to this conclusion.
    Remember, it’s not an “either-or” proposition—either one confesses his sins directly to God, or he confesses them to a priest. Rather, it’s a “both-and” situation—no Catholic can make a good sacramental confession without first confessing directly to God. Only then can one properly receive the sacrament of confession, receiving sacramental absolution from the priest, who ministers in persona Christi (in the Person of Christ) (Luke 10:16; 2 Corinthians 5:18–20).
    Ultimately, God alone can forgive sins (Mark 2:7). Christ, who is God, possesses this authority (Matthew 9:5–8; Mark 2:8–11), which he conferred in a subordinate way upon his Apostles when he said, “‘As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” (John 20:22–23). The special authority was not merely to declare sins to be forgiven, but to actually forgive them, in the name of Christ.
    Second Corinthians 5:18–20 says,
     
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
     
    Notice that Saint Paul says this ministry was entrusted to “us,” and that “we” are ministers of reconciliation, and that God is appealing through “us.” Then he switches to “you,” saying “we beseech you to be reconciled to God.” This indicates that Saint Paul was speaking about two distinct groups here: those who are ministers of reconciliation, and those who are reconciled to God through their ministry.
    This priestly ministry of forgiving sins is linked to Christ’s promise: “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me” (Luke 10:16; see Matthew 10:40); and “[W]hatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18).
    James 5:14–16 says, “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.