THE CONFESSIONAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 41, 9 February 1894, Page 19

THE CONFESSIONAL.

(From the Sacred Heart Review.) There is, perhaps, no feature of the Catholic Church more repaßnant to Protestants, none that they are ao reluctant to accept, aa that of the confessional. It is one of the greatest boons Almighty God baa vouchsafed to mankind. We say that Almighty God has vouched to mankind, because it is manifestly a divine institution. The proof is very simple and conclusive. Our Lord knew the uecess.ties of human nature, hence in commissioning the Apostles to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature Ha endowed them especially with the divine prerogative of forgiving sins. In dome so He said : "Whose sins you shall forgive they are fjrgiven them' and whose sins you shall retain they are retained." But how shall the priest of God know what sins to forgive and what to ret»in unless they are made known to him ? Manifestly, a general absolution such as is practised in the regular service of the Episcopal Church will not "fill the bill." There no judgment i 8i 8 pronounced ; all B ini are professedly forgiven as it were by wholesale, but-none are retained Does not the very scope and meaning of the language imply the neces-' city of a judge sitting io judgment and pronouncing absolution or retention of sins, upon their being made known to him in such a manntr that he can form a correct opinion of their real deserts But our object now is not to prove that confession, which wia always exercised in the Church from the time of the Apostles to the present day ia a divine institution, but to apeak of its benefits eara cially its civilising tendency upon the mass of the people No one has a better opportunity of judging of the benign, elevatine and civilising effects of confeasi.n than those priests who go from nariah to parish giving missions. Take a large city parish, for instance, where a miscellaneous multitude is collected to listen to the burning eloquence of the preachers who are giving a mission there. It is safe to flay that a large proportion of these people have for some time past been leading very careless-, worldly lives. Some, perhaps, have never led aov other, even from childhood. They are young men and men in middle life, strong, robust, in the full tide of vigorous passion?, which bava been indulged almost without restraint. Thoughts, careless, head strong, tending constantly to vulgarity and the development of tha" brute nature within, they are all at once stopped in their career Tha spark of religious feeling which exists in every man ie enkindled in their hearts by the powerful presentation of the solemn and momen tons truths of the Gospel, and for a moment, at least, they are led to feel the va 8 t importance of living a different life from what they haw been living. * TW Now, suppose that were all, and that theae people were left to the effarvesence of feeling ordinarily attendant upon a ProteaUnfc revival. The effect has been well described by comparing such con verta to the driftwood left high and dry on the bank after a flood* But our Catholics understand perfectly that the test of the genuine^ ness of their conversion lies in their willingness to go to confession The very resolution to go to confesiion is a high and moral act it requiree faith in the supernatural ; it requires courage of no ordinary

degree. The penitent goes and kneels at the feet of bis confessor. What does that imply ? In the first place it implies an act of humility. The strong mai it bowed down. The hard heart is softened. The proud, rebellious nature is brought into subjection. The man looks over his past life ; he is obliged in conscience to do that ; no mere general confession will aniwei . He confesses his sins one by one with their considerable circumstances, and he makes a firm resolution of amendment. He knows if his repentance is not sincere his confession will do him no good. Above all, he must make reparation and restitution for any injustice he may have done to his neighbour, whether in regard tohia person, his property, or his good name. Tbit be promises to do. Then he receives absolution and he goes on his way rejoicing, Of course he does not end his good work until he has ieceived the Biead of Life — the Bread of the strong — at the altar of God to strengthen and confirm him in his good resolution of leading a new life. Here, it strikes us, is the solution of the vexed questions which occupy the attention and eicite the discussion of our modern sociologists, How shall the evils with which society is afflicted, and which threaten its very existence, be done away with, or even considerably ameliorated? What influence shall be brought to bear of sufficient power to purify human nature, to control passions, to restrain selfishness, encourage benevolence and charity, and develop a fealing of universal brotherhood 1 These are the questions which agitate the minds of our philosophers and philanthropists. It seems to ns the solution is a very simple one. Civilisation may, in one sense, be defined as the thorough development of all the powers and facilities. Morals and manners are intimately connected. When the tone of morality is low, then manners inevitably tend to vulgarity, to pride and selfisbnesß and imparity, and excessive indulgence of all the passions. There is, we do not hesitate to say, no power on earth so thoroughly competent to control the tide of human passion, subdue natural selfishness, and expand the heart with superior love of God and man as the conf« s■ional. The confessional is the connecting link between the soul and God, its Maker and Judge. It brings the soul into contact with the Divine authority of which the confessor is the authorised agent. It is not to man as man that the penitent opens his heart, but to God bis Father, who stands behind the man and sanctions bis acts when the requiiite conditions are all fulfilled . The very act of confession has a softening and subduing power. At the same time it tends to elevate and inspire with pure and noble thoughts and inspirations. There is no more powerful stimulant to the practice of all those virtues which contribute to thr highest style of character, and bence

the good citizenship, than the regular fnqueotation of the confessional. It encourages a spirit of obedience to law and a recognition of the right^of Jotbers. It represses selfishneßß and tends to promote harmony and good feeling in the community. In short, it touches and controls the conscience, and that tells the whole Btory. You cannot make men, upon the whole, good citizens without first making them good Christians. You cannot make them good Christians without reaching and controlling their consciences, and we do not hesitate to say that the most effectual way of controlling the conscience is through the confessional. It is when men forsake the confessional that their consciences become seared and they begin to degenerate, and too often become bad and even dangerous citizens.