^According to some, it appears we no longer needsacramentaltheology.weebly.com/.../2/6/...healing.pdf · (C.f. Johannes Quasten, Patrology, Vol. 1, Westminster, MD, Newman 1951, pp

“According to some, it appears we no longer need acknowledge the enduring absoluteness of any moral value. All around us we encounter contempt for human life after conception and before birth; the ongoing violation of human rights; the unjust destruction of goods minimally necessary for human life. Indeed, something more serious has happened: man is no longer convinced that only in the truth can he find salvation. The saving power of truth is contested, and freedom alone is left to decide by itself what is good and what is evil.”

(Veritatis Splendor, 84)

“Once the idea of a universal truth about the good, knowable by human reason, is lost, inevitably the notion of conscience also changes… There is a tendency to grant to the individual conscience the prerogative of independently determining the criteria of good and evil and then acting accordingly.”

(VS32)

“If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

(2 Cor 5: 17-21)

God, the Father of mercies, Through the death and resurrection of his Son

Has reconciled the world to himself And sent the Holy Spirit among us

For the forgiveness of sins. Through the ministry of the Church

May God give you pardon and peace

And I absolve you from your sins In the name of the Father, and of the Son,

And of the Holy Spirit.

“Sin is essentially the free and deliberate disobedience of a creature to the known will of God. It is primarily a religious and theological reality, a symbol which expresses our alienation from God. Though it involves moral fault and moral evil, it is much more. It is a mysterious phenomenon whose roots escape human understanding.”

(Noll p113)

“By redemption is meant that Jesus Christ, as the redeemer of the whole human race, offered his suffering and death to God as a fitting sacrifice in satisfaction for the sins of men, and regained for them the right to be children of God and heirs of heaven.”

The Baltimore Catechism

2 Cor 5: 17-21 “17If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;19 that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

“...we doubt that there is sufficient evidence to confine the power of forgiving and holding sin in John 20:22-23 to a specific exercise of power in the Christian community, whether that be admission to Baptism or forgiveness in Penance. These are but partial manifestations of a much larger power, namely, the power to isolate, repel, and negate evil and sin, a power given to Jesus in his mission by the Father and given in turn by Jesus through the Spirit to those whom he commissions.”

(Raymond Brown, The Gospel According to John, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1970, vol 2, p. 1044).

“Attempts to deal with this reality were not a matter of following predetermined rituals or patterns of behaviour but of balancing the mission to forgive ‘not seven times but seventy times seven times’ (Mt 18:22) with the call of Jesus to ‘be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect’” (Mt 5:48).

“The Order of Penitents”, Joseph Favazza

“A man who does a thing like that, ought to have been expelled from the community. I, for my part, although absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as if present, pronounced judgement in the name of Jesus, on the one who has committed this deed: when you have gathered together and I am with you in spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.”

(1 Cor 5:2-5).

“In the Assembly, you will confess your sins and not come to prayer with a bad conscience (Didache 4,14).

“And on that day of the Lord, assemble for the breaking of bread and the Eucharist, after having first confessed your sins, so that your sacrifice may be pure (14,1).”

“Therefore, you who set up the faction, submit yourselves to the presbyters, and be disciplined to the penitence. Bowing the knees of your heart, learn to be in subjection, putting away the assertive and overweening arrogance of your tongue; for it is better for you to be found small and of no account in the flock of Christ, than while seeming to have eminence to be torn away from his hope.”

Hermas was a layman of the Church of Rome who wrote the Shepherd around 150 AD. Around that

time, many Christians had apostatised under persecution. The question arose about how to deal with sinners who had so violated their baptismal promises. Hermas promoted a rigorist policy that

lasted until the 6th Century.

“I have heard, Sir, said I, from certain teachers that there is no other repentance than that one when we went down into the water and received remission of our former sins. He said to me, you have heard correctly, for so it is. He who has received remission of sin ought never to sin again, but to live in purity…For those who have already believed or are about to believe have no repentance of sins, but have remission of their former sins. For them that were called before these days, the Lord appointed repentance, for the Lord knows the heart…The Lord, therefore, being full of compassion, had mercy on his creation and established this repentance. But I tell you, said he, after that great and solemn calling, if a man should be tempted by the devil and sin, he has one repentance. But is he sin repeatedly, it is unprofitable for such a man, for hardly shall he live.” (C.f. Johannes Quasten, Patrology, Vol. 1, Westminster, MD, Newman 1951, pp 97-98; Mandate 4: 3:1-6).

1. There is a saving repentance after Baptism. This was taught by the New Testament and the early Church writers before 150 A.D. What is new in Hermas’ doctrine is that there is only one opportunity to be forgiven for sins committed after Baptism.

2. No repentant sinner is excluded, regardless of the gravity or nature of the sin involved.

3. Due to Hermas’ expectation of the imminent end of the world, he insists that penance must be prompt and must produce an amendment of life, otherwise the sinner risks incurring eternal damnation. There can be no sinning and repentance after confessing one’s serious sins.

Johannes Quasten summarises the important points of Hermas’ teaching:

4. The sinner must enter into a complete metanoia, a complete conversion, and reform his or her life. This is manifested in the willingness to make atonement by voluntary chastisement and fasting, and by praying for the pardon of the sins committed.

5. Such justification from sin through penance is not only a purification, but also a positive sanctification.

6. The Church is intrinsically necessary for salvation. The good Christians along with the Bishop and presbyters are to pray for sinners. What the formal rite of reconciliation was to be is not developed.

“Celtic Churches of the sixth and early seventh centuries recognised the Popes as leaders of the Church and successors of Peter, yet they did not give up their powers of independent judgement. The British refused to accept Augustine of Canterbury, appointed by Gregory the Great, and Columbanus did not hesitate to argue and rebuke the Popes.”

(K. Hughes, The Celtic Church and the Papacy”).

Canonical Penance: •Church practice became such that mortal sins could only be forgiven once after baptism and even so after a very long and complicated process of penance involving a confession before the bishop and some witnesses; they were then excluded from the Eucharist and required to perform public acts of penance (the order of penitents). These were separated from the rest of the community. •Stage 2: carrying out the penance imposed by the bishop. Lengthy prayers on their knees; fasting; almsgiving; wearing goat’s hair shirts or wearing chains (tied to sin). During this time, they had to lead a life separate from the world: no outings, no fun, no permission to marry. •For some, this period would last weeks and others years, usually ending at the end of Lent.

Tarriffed penance: •Most common by 6th Century; •Confession to a soul friend, a type of Spiritual Director; •Confession, penance, absolution; •Tarriffs applied to every sin and contained in penitential books; •A repeatable form of confession.

“Let everyone of the faithful of either sex, after reaching the age of discretion, faithfully confess in secret to his own priest all his sins, at least once a year, and diligently strive to fulfil the penance imposed on him, receiving reverently, at least during paschal time, the sacrament of the Eucharist, unless perchance on the advice of his own priest he judges that he should abstain for a time from its reception; otherwise, while living let him be denied entrance in church and when dead let him be deprived of a Christian burial.” Lateran Council IV 1215 (Osborne, 91)

•“What is essential to forgiveness and reconciliation in this sacrament?” •“What is the role and importance of the priest?”

“Although a person who commits a venial sin does not actually refer his or her act to God, nevertheless, he or she still keeps God as his or her habitual end. The person does not decisively set himself or herself on turning away from God, but from over fondness for a created good falls short of God. He or she is like a person who loiters, but without leaving the way.”

St. Thomas Aquinas

“Scripture does not specify anyone to whom we should unburden ourselves and so it leaves us free to choose from among the faithful someone who seems worthy to hear our confession.”

Calvin

“If anyone says that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation, but that they are superfluous; and that without the sacraments or the desire for them men obtain from God the grace of justification through faith alone, although it is true that not all the sacraments are necessary for each person, anathema sit. (to be set apart/ banished)

If anyone says that the sacraments of the New Law do not contain the grace which they signify or that they do not confer that grace on those who do not place an obstacle in the way, as if they were only the external signs of the grace or justice received through faith and a kind of mark of the Christian profession by which among men the faithful are distinguished from the unbelievers, anathema sit.”

•The sacraments were instituted by Christ

•They are signs of sacred things

•There are 7 sacraments: conferring grace, 3 conferring an indelible character. (Indelible= imprinted on the soul, cannot be repeated)

•God’s action does not depend on the minister.

•Protestant sacraments were invalid, with the exception of baptism (since it was performed according to the New Testament understanding with Trinitarian formula).

If anyone shall deny that sacramental confession was instituted by divine law or is necessary for salvation; or shall say that the manner of confessing secretly to a priest alone, which the Catholic Church has always observed from the beginning and still observes, is at the variance with the institution and command of Christ and is a human contrivance, anathema sit.

“The rite and formulas for the Sacrament of Penance are to be revised so that they give more luminous expression to both the nature and effect of the sacrament”.

SC72

“It is to be stressed that whenever rites, according to their specific nature, make provision for communal celebration involving the presence and active participation of the faithful, this way of celebrating them is to be preferred, as far as possible, to a celebration that is individual and quasi-private.”

“Liturgical services are not private functions, but are celebrations of the Church, which is the ‘sacrament of unity’, namely, a holy people united and organised under their bishops.”

“Those who approach the Sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from the mercy of God for offences committed against him. They are at the same time reconciled with the Church, which they have wounded by their sins, and which by charity, example, and prayer seeks their conversion.” (LG11)

•To show its relationship with Jesus’ paschal mystery

•To point out its ecclesial dimensions •To give proper place to God’s word

•To make the rite more expressive, understandable, and to increase participation

•To be a celebration of faith

•To leave room for adaptation to various cultures and situations •To bring out the nature and effects of this sacrament more clearly.

“Care must be taken to ensure that the faithful do not confuse these celebrations with the celebration of the sacrament of penance. Penitential services are very helpful in promoting conversion of life and purification of heart. It is desirable to arrange them especially for these purposes: - to foster the spirit of penance within the Christian community; - to help the faithful to prepare for individual confession that can be made later at a convenient time; - to help children gradually form their conscience about sin in human life and about freedom from sin through Christ; - to help catechumens during conversion. Penitential services, moreover, are very useful places where no priest is available to give sacramental absolution. They offer help in reaching that perfect contrition that comes from charity and that enables the faithful to receive God’s grace through a desire for the sacrament of penance in the future.”

RP37

Rite I: Rite of reconciliation of individual

penitents Rite II:

Rite of reconciliation of several penitents with individual confession and absolution

Rite III: Rite for reconciliation of several penitents with general confession and absolution.

God, the Father of mercies, Father Through the death and resurrection of his Son Son/Pasch myst Has reconciled the world to himself he does the reconciling

And sent the Holy Spirit among us Holy Spirit For the forgiveness of sins; Through the ministry of the Church Eccelsial dimension

May God give you pardon and peace, And I absolve you from your sins Judicial element In the name of the Father, and of the Son

And of the Holy Spirit.

“In obedience to this command, on the day of Pentecost, Peter preached the forgiveness of sins by baptism: ‘Repent and let every one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins’ (Acts 2:38)”.

RP1

“This victory is first brought to light in baptism where our fallen nature is crucified with Christ so that the body of sin may be destroyed and we may no longer be slaves to sin, but rise with Christ and live for God. For this reason the church proclaims its faith in “the one baptism for the forgiveness of sins”. RP2

“In the sacrifice of the Mass the passion of Christ is made present; his body given for us and his blood shed for the forgiveness of sins are offered to God again by the Church for the salvation of the world. In the Eucharist, Christ is present and is offered as “the sacrifice which has made our peace” (Euch. Prayer III) with God and in order that “we may be brought together in unity” (Euch. Prayer II) by his Holy Spirit.” (2)

“Since every sin is an offence against God which disrupts our friendship with him, “the ultimate purpose of penance is that we should love God deeply and commit ourselves completely to him” (5)

“Sin is also a community act. We cannot ignore the sins of governments, large corporations, or of the Churches. We cannot divorce ourselves from our share in these, at least by our silence or by turning a blind eye to such crimes.”

“By sinning, man lies to himself and separates himself from his own truth. But seeking total autonomy and self-sufficiency, he denies God and he denies himself. Alienation from the truth of his being as a creature loved by God is the root of all other forms of alienation. By denying or trying to deny God, who is his Beginning and End, man profoundly disturbs his own order and interior balance and also those of society and even of visible creation.”

Canon 961: “General absolution without prior individual confession, cannot be given to a number of penitents together, unless: •danger of death threatens and there is not time for the priest or priests to hear the confessions of the individual penitents; •there exists a grave necessity, that is, given the number of penitents, there are not enough confessors available properly to hear the individual’s confessions within an appropriate time, so that without fault of their own the penitents are deprived of the sacramental grace or of holy communion for a lengthy period of time. A sufficient necessity is not, however, considered to exist when confessors cannot be available merely because of a great gathering of penitents, such as can occur on some major feast day or pilgrimage.

Canon 962: •For a member of Christ’s faithful to benefit validly from a sacramental absolution given to a number of people simultaneously, it is required not only that he or she be properly disposed, but also that he or she be at the same time personally resolved to confess in due time each of the grave sins which cannot for the moment be confessed. •Christ’s faithful are to be instructed about the requirements set out in #1, as far as possible even on the occasion of general absolution being received. An exhortation that each person should make an act of contrition is to precede general absolution, even in the case of danger of death if there is time.

“Jesus, however, not only exhorted people to repentance so that they would abandon their sins and turn wholeheartedly to the Lord, but welcoming sinners, he actually reconciled them with the Father.” (RP1)

13 “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 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; 15 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. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.”

“For he has been made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

Ephesians (1: 9-10)

“For the ordinary person, the diagnosis of serious illness precipitates an experience of loss: the loss of the future. Whether the illness is terminal or temporary, his life will no longer flow unimpeded along whatever course he had foreseen. The future as he had imagined it recedes into unreality; the future as it actually awaits him he cannot imagine. The now becomes eternal. As the horizons of the present close in around him, perhaps spatially as well as temporally, he finds himself withdrawn from the world of the familiar, with its definitions of identity and relationship, into a marginal wilderness characterised by alienation and confrontation.” Jennifer M. Glen, “Sickness and Symbol: The

Promise of the Future.”, Worship 54 (1980, 5) 399.

“There is little doubt that the Reformation strengthened theology’s sadistic accents. The existential experience developed in [later medieval] mysticism that God is with those who suffer is replaced by a theological system preoccupied with judgement day....The situation is not viewed from the standpoint of the sufferer; rather it is through God’s eyes that things are seen and, above all, judged.”

Dorothee Sölle

"a means of removing every sickness and disease, of warding off every demon, of routing every unclean spirit, of keeping away every evil spirit, of banishing every fever, chill and fatigue,…a medicine of life and salvation bringing health and soundness of soul and body and spirit, leading to perfect well being"

"There is no doubt that the passage speaks about the faithful who are sick and who can be anointed with the oil of chrism that is prepared by the bishop. Not only priests but all Christians may use this oil for anointing, when either they or members of their household have need of it"

(Letters 25, 8)

"How much better and more helpful it would be if they ran to the church and received the body and blood of Christ, and reverently anointed themselves and their family with holy oil! According to the words of the Apostle James they would receive not only health of body but also pardon of sins"

(Sermons 279).

From Anointing the Sick

to Anointing the Dying

"'Extreme unction,' which may be more fittingly called 'anointing of the sick,' is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence, as soon as any of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the appropriate time for him to receive this sacrament has already arrived"

(SC 73).

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, On Death and Dying, (London: Routledge, 1970).

5 stages of death and dying:

1. Denial and isolation

2. Anger 3. Bargaining 4. Depression 5. Acceptance

“It (anointing) is used to signify the assurance of God’s presence and forgiveness, wholeness of life, reconciliation and surrender.” Maureen Palmer, “The Oil of Gladness for Wholeness: Hospice Ministry and Anointing”, in Martin Dudley, Geoffrey Rowell (Eds), The Oil of Gladness: Anointing in the Christian Tradition (London: SPCK, 1993). 163.

“The resurrection is of the flesh which died; for the spirit does not die. The soul is in the body, which cannot live without a soul. The body, when the soul departs from it, is not. The body is the house of the soul; and the soul, the house of the spirit. These three, in those who have a genuine hope and unquestioning faith in God, will be saved.”

St. Justin Martyr, De Resurrectione 10, in William A. Jurgens, The Faith of the Early Fathers ,Vol. I (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1970) 64.

“No soul whatever is able to obtain salvation, unless it has believed while it was in the flesh. Indeed, the flesh is the hinge of salvation. In that regard, when the soul is deputed to something by God, it is the flesh which makes it able to carry out the commission which God has given it. The flesh, then, is washed, so that the soul may be made clean. The flesh is anointed, so that the soul may be dedicated to holiness. The flesh is signed, so that the soul too may be fortified. The flesh is shaded by the imposition of hands, so that the soul too may be illuminated by the Spirit. The flesh feeds on the Body and Blood of Christ, so that the soul too may fatten on God. They cannot, then, be separated in their reward, when they are united in their works.”

Tertullian, De Carnis Resurrectione 8:2, in William A. Jurgens, The Faith of The Early Fathers, 149.

“...man has to die his death in freedom. He cannot avoid this death imposed upon him as the work of his freedom. How he dies his death and how he understands it, depends on the decision of his freedom. Here he does not carry something imposed on him, but what he chooses himself.” Rahner, 86.

“That is why, since baptism, companionship with Christ in suffering is the realistic accomplishment of companionship in death during life and both therefore have their root in baptism.” Rahner, 76

“In the Eucharist, according to his command, we announce his death, which is our death and our life, again and again until he comes once more and it is no longer revealed in ritual sign but in the radiance of his visibly manifested glory, that in his death our death is swallowed up by the victory of life.” Rahner, 76

General Introduction to the Order of Christian Funerals 27:

“A brief homily based on the readings is always given after the gospel reading at the funeral liturgy and may also be given after the readings at the vigil service; but there is never to be a eulogy. Attentive to the grief of those present, the homilist should dwell on God’s compassionate love and on the paschal mystery of the Lord, as proclaimed in the Scripture readings. The homilist should also help the members of the assembly to understand that the mystery of God’s love and the mystery of Jesus’ victorious death and resurrection were present in the life and death of the deceased and that these mysteries are active in their own lives as well. Through the homily, members of the family and community should receive consolation and strength to face the death of one of their members with a hope nourished by the saving word of God.”