Today we are expected to live very holy lives just as Christians did in the early Church. Christians were expected to live very holy lives and were often martyred. Given our current culture and societal values, we too, may become martyrs by shedding our blood in witness of our love for Christ.

To this day, the Colosseum and the catacombs are proofs in stone to the faith which was stronger than death and monuments to the sanctity of those who took Jesus literally when He told them to "become perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." Understandably, therefore, the sacrament of Confession was not so frequently received by persons whose lives were a living martyrdom. Yet, even in the early Church, sinners were reconciled after they had confessed their sins, received absolution and performed what to us must seem like extraordinary penance for the wrong they had done.

The emphasis in those days was on confessing mortal sins. And there were bishops who had to be reproved by the pope for excessive severity, either in demanding public confession of grave crimes or even refusing to give absolution for such sins as apostasy, adultery, fornication, or willful murder.

One document issued by Pope St. Leo the Great in the middle of the fifth century, deserves to be quoted in full. He is writing to the bishops of Campania in Italy, reproving them for demanding a public confession of sins before receiving absolution in the sacrament of Penance. “I have recently heard that some have unlawfully presumed to act contrary to a rule of Apostolic origin. And I hereby decree that the unlawful practice be completely stopped. It is with regard to the reception of penance. An abuse has crept in which requires that the faithful write out their individual sins in a little book which is then to be read out loud to the public.”

All that is necessary, however, is for the sinner to manifest his conscience in a secret confession to the priests alone ...It is sufficient, therefore, to have first offered one's confession to God, and then also to the priest, who acts as an intercessor for the transgressions of the penitents (Magna Indignatione, March 6, 459).

It is a matter of history, therefore, that private, individual confession of one's sins to a priest goes back to apostolic times. Christ Himself prescribed confession in the sacrament of Penance, and His directives were followed since the first century of the Christian era.

To be continued.... 

As we have seen, the key word in becoming an Apostle of Holy Communion is conviction. We learned that we must be absolutely convinced of two things: that the Eucharist is Jesus Christ, and that in receiving the Eucharist we receive what no one else can provide, the light to see everything in the world through the eyes of God.

Just as we are encouraged to have conviction to be Apostles of Holy Communion, so too, we must have the same conviction to approach the Sacrament of Confession when we transgress God’s commandments and laws.

Jesus Christ instituted the sacrament of confession on Easter Sunday night. As St. John describes the event, "the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them "Peace be with you," and showed them His hands and His side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord. And He said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you." After saying this, He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven. For those whose sins you retain, they are retained" (John 20:19-23).

As the Catholic Church explains these words, Christ gave the Apostles and their successors the right to forgive sins if they so judge the penitent worthy and the corresponding right to retain sins or refrain from absolving if the sinner is not sincerely repentant.

The implications of this power of judging whether to absolve or not are at the heart of the sacrament of Penance. By these words, Christ indicated that before receiving absolution, the sinner must disclose his sins. He must confess what he did wrong.

This means that auricular confession, where the penitent speaks his sins and the priest hears his sins, is of divine origin. The Church did not invent the confession of sins. It is a divine law from which no one on earth has the right to dispense. Auricular (or audible) confession is part of divine revelation. It is an unchangeable article of the Catholic faith.

In the early Church, Christians were expected to live very holy lives. And they did. To become Christian meant to expect to become a martyr. Every pope for the first three hundred years of the Church's history was murdered for the faith. Countless thousands shed their blood in witness to their love for Christ.

To be continued....