Reconciliation

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is also known as the Sacrament of Penance or Confession and is a Sacrament of Healing.  Our Christian life is an ongoing journey -- a journey in which we often wander off course.  In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we celebrate God's mercy and God's willingness to forgive our sins and failures.  The confession of our sins recognizes our honest acknowledgement of our need for God's mercy and our desire for ongoing conversion in our lives.  The Good News is that God never stops loving us! 

 Immaculate Conception Reconciliation/Confession Schedule:     Saturday,8:40am -10am and 3:30 - 4:15 pm prior to 4:30 pm Mass. Also on Tuesday evenings from 4:30 -5:15 pm prior to 5:30 pm Mass

St. Patrick Reconciliation/Confession Schedule:  Thursday, 4:30 - 5:15 pm prior to 5:30 pm Mass. Sunday mornings confessions are available before Mass upon request.

Individual Reconciliation/Confession is also available by contacting the Parish Office (815-589-3542) to make an appointment with Father.

Diocese of Rockford Sacramental Requirements

Biblical  explanation of the Sacrament of Confession:

For the forgiveness of sins, Jesus says, "Full authority has been given to me both in heaven and on earth..." (Mt 28:18). Furthermore; In Mark 2:5 Jesus forgives the sins of the paralytic. But people questioned how He could do that. To say on ones own authority to forgive sins would be "blasphemy! Who can forgive sins, but God alone" (v7). To prove He does have authority to forgive sins, Jesus heals the paralytic, "'That you may know that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins' (he said to the paralytic) 'I command you to pick up your mat and go home'" and immediately the man did so and was healed. This was an astonishing event to those who were there at the time. To us believers, we now that Jesus is God and does indeed have that authority. This is not so much debated. 

The debate comes in is where does the authority of the Church have the power to forgive sins. The answer to this question is in the fact that the authority comes from Jesus who delegates His such authority to the church. We might start with where does this teaching begin. Why would the Church even think this way? In Matthew 16, Jesus tells Simon, "I will entrust to you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you declare bound on earth shall be bound in heaven; whatever you declare loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Mt 16:19). Notice very similar language as in Matthew 28 in referring to "heaven' and "earth". Jesus here is letting peter, with his new name have authority to forgive sins. Jesus says this in front of the others who will become His Apostles. But Jesus says, "will", not "have" as of yet. Jesus is teaching them and preparing them for the gift of the Holy Spirit that will come at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13). Once they receive that gift of the Holy Spirit, they would receive the gifts to exercise these gifts according to God's plan. But as of yet, Jesus did not give them that power to forgive sins.

After the resurrection, but before Jesus ascends into heaven, Jesus appears to the twelve and says to them all, "peace be with you"..."as the Father sent me, so I send you" (Jn 20:21). So Jesus is prepping what He is about to say with the purpose of being "sent". When God sends us to do a mission for His sake, He empowers us for that mission. In other words, He gives us authority to do it. But does He send them to forgive sins? Yes. Let us read a little further before we get there. Verse 22 says, "Then He breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit'".  This is the moment where Jesus gives them the authority to fulfill their mission as being sent to do. What defines this mission of being "sent"? Verse 23 defines the authority of this mission, "If you forgive men's sins, they are forgiven them; if you hold them bound, they are held bound".  Taking God's word for what it is, we act on this reality. Jesus is reiterating the authority He gave in Matthew 16. It follows the logical progression.  Now is the time it would take place. Any other understanding of these texts can only be an interpretation based on their own understanding.

Why would Jesus give this authority? This is not a Biblical question, but a question of the heart.

When it was Jesus walking around, the forgiveness of sins was bound to the one person walking around. There was a limitation to the experience of the forgiveness of sins with such strong certainty. Only in the one man walking around could people hear Jesus say, "your sins are forgiven". Since we are humans, we need to hear those words. Today, we do not see Jesus walking around, forgiving sins. Therefore, Jesus gives us that opportunity to hear the words of Jesus working through the priest. It helps us put our sins in the past, be healed and move on to live our lives for Christ. Forgiveness of sins in such a concrete way also frees us from shame and guilt, whereas the devil wants us to be bound. But this is not just psychotherapy to make us simply feel better so we can have a better self-image. Confession allows us to look at our sins, know the evil we have done with all honesty, ask forgiveness, and actually receive it with real authority. We do not have to white knuckle our faith and try to convince ourselves of God's mercy. rather, we simply receive that mercy, moving beyond the gridlock of shame. It is not a stirring up of emotions, hoping for the best. What Jesus offers in the sacrament of confession is true freedom.

Ok. So the Church has this authority, but why do we have to go to confession?  This question misses the point that we get to go to confession to be free. Everything else is a grasping at straws with no certainty. It is also an avoidance of dealing with the reality of our sins and in the process, we remain in our sins. That nagging memory doesn't go away. John 20:23 says it quite clearly that the Church has authority to forgive sins, but also to bind a person to their sins; "if you hold them bound they are held bound". Matthew 16 also states as such (v19). If the Church does not have this authority to bind, then the authority to forgive means less and would take away from it's meaning. This shows true authority and can give us more confidence in the power of this sacrament. Jesus wants to strengthen our faith, not leave us weak in faith. He wants us to have the strong foundation by which we can work from. Once we have a certainty through the sacrament of confession, we are strengthened to become that light to the world He calls us to be.

We do not have the authority to declare ourselves forgiven, let alone saved. Only God has that authority.   Jesus says in Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven."  Judas Iscariot, an Apostle himself, did "many miracles" (v22) in His name. The fact is, we are judged on our works; "Out of my sight you evildoers" (v23). This message is repeated again and again in Sacred Scriptures. In Matthew, chapter 16, verse 27, Jesus states that God will, "repay each man for what he has done". Jesus himself gives this teachings many times over. Paul reiterates this teaching in Rom 2:6, "Render to every man according to his works" and backed up by 1 Peter 1:17, "Invoke as Father him who judges each one impartially according to his deeds". When we look at the book of Revelations written by John, another Apostle under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it reads, "The dead were judged...by what they have done" (20:12). This is at the last judgement. From these scripture quotes from three different Apostles, it is evident that works are a necessary part of our judgement.

But we are not judged by works alone. James 2:14-18 expresses this perfectly with the right balance of faith and works. James reads;

"My brothers, what good is it to profess faith without practicing it? Such faith has no power to save one, has it? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and no food for the day, and you say to them, 'Goodbye and good luck! keep warm and well fed' but do not meet their bodily needs, what good is that? So it is with faith that does nothing in practice, It is thoroughly lifeless. To such a person one might say, 'you have your faith and I have my works--is that it? Show me your faith without works and I will show you the faith that underlies my works."

When you read the text carefully, you will see that the interior disposition of faith is the catalyst for the exterior expression of faith. So faith, in reality is both an interior disposition and the works we do. But the works we do is only an evidence of faith when motivated by the interior disposition. If we do works not motivated by faith, then they become empty works. But faith without works is incomplete faith, "It is thoroughly lifeless". So faith and works must be integrated. This has always been the teaching of the Catholic Church based on this reading.

As Catholics, we do not have to know we are saved; we just trust in Gods mercy. If we think we operate on an absolute knowledge of salvation, this would contradict faith and we would not have faith at all. But we cannot be saved without faith.