7 Bible Verses Every Catholic Should Know (4 of 7)

SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION

“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. 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.’” Two sacraments are being established by our Lord: 1) Breathing and giving the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, constituting them as the priests of the New Covenant: Holy Orders and 2) the faculty to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation: to decide whether to forgive or retain sins of other believers. This presupposes that a believer would go to an Apostle and confess his/her sins, and with the power that is given to them through the Holy Spirit, through Jesus himself, to forgive sins. the Old Covenant, to whom did one go to receive forgiveness of sins? The King? A prophet? A sage? The sinner bring the appropriate animal commensurate with one’s income level and the gravity of the sin committed, and then the priest would take the animal offering and sacrifice it, and then one’s sin is forgiven. It was the priest in the Old Covenant who administered the forgiveness of sins. In the new Covenant, it is the Apostles and their successors who administer the forgiveness of sins. This is the priestly prerogative and responsibility of the Apostles and their successors. (Source: Dr. John Bergsma, St. Paul Center)