'Father, forgive me' - The Biblical Basis for the Sacrament of 'Confession' at the Benedictine Monastery

The cult of 'emotionalism' and the protestantization of the Church in the west has blinded us from the power of God's Grace given through His Church. How frequently we forget the great power of the sacraments, the visible and outward sign of God's invisible and inward Grace. Penance is one of these sacraments. The fact is that the priestly forgiveness of sins is a far great miracle than even raising the dead because it restores our sanctifying grace and can restore us into communion with the Church saving us from eternal hellfireHere is a link of a lecture I had the honor of doing recently at the Benedictine Monastery in Wailua on the island of Oahu on the Biblical basis of Confession.

* In Summary it says that we must confess our sins to God (1 Jn 1:9). We are to confess to 'one another' in the presence of the presbyters (priests)(Jas 5:16). The OT prepares us for the process of confessing to priests (Lev 5:5-6). We see that Christ has the authority to forgive sins (Mt 9:6-8), gives the authority to his disciples (John 17:18, John 20:21-23) who now are ambassadors for this ministry of forgiveness (2 Cor 5:18 -21)* Listen to the Bible study on the biblical basis for the sacrament of Confession.

image from the 'Public domain' via wikimedia commons. St. Benedict, From a fresco by Fra Angelico