Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Mon, 28 Sep 1992 02:35:36 EDT
From:         JEK@NIHCU.BITNET
Subject:      grace and confession

Bernice,

Steve writes that one of the advantages of going to Confession is
the grace that one receives through the Sacrament, in addition to
forgiveness.

You write:

 > [Steve says that] we [Protestants] are forgiven but not saved.
 > We are saved by Grace, are we not?
 > Steve says that it can only be given by a priest.

I think there is a problem here about the use of the word "Grace."
The word refers to good things that God gives us, not because we
have earned them or deserve them, but as a free gift resulting from
his generosity and goodness to us. When Paul says that we are saved
by Grace, this means that we do not earn salvation. God gives it to
us as a free gift. But you will notice that he also gives sunshine
and rain as free gifts, to those who are thankful and to those who
are not. Every man receives his life, receives every mouth of food
and every breath of air, as a gift from the generosity of God. Thus,
all of us, Christian, Hindu, and atheist alike, have received the
grace of God.

In addition to this, some persons have received the particular grace
of being reconciled with God, of responding to God's outpouring of
love in His willing Offering of Himself at Calvary, the love of God
awakening an answering love in the creature, so that by the free
gift (grace) of God we are transformed from rebels into gladly
obedient children.

Even after we have entered into a new relationship with God, we are
still far from perfect.  You may have seen the slogan (T-shirts,
bumper stickers, wall posters), "Please be patient. God isn't
finished with me yet." A child of human parents, even after he has
decided that he wants a good relationship with his parents, even
when he does in fact have such a relationship, will still from time
to time forget or skimp on his household chores, will quarrel with
his siblings, will be unreasonably angry with his parents, and so
on. We need God's help (grace) to live as we ought. We need God's
help (grace) to become perfected saints, beings totally dedicated to
the service of God, beings whose will is totally conformed to His.
Please note that when I say "perfected saints," I am not referring
just to the persons like Saint Peter and Saint Paul and Saint Teresa
of Avila and Saint Francis of Assissi. ALL Christians are destined
to become perfected saints. Some have made more progress to date
than others.  Whatever progress we make USUALLY involves some trying
on our part, and ALWAYS is ours as a gift of God.

So, although we sometime speak of "grace" when we mean "saving
grace" in particular, it is also true that someone who is not saved
has nevertheless received some graces from God, and that someone who
has been saved still has additional graces to look forward to.

Steve mentions the grace that one receives through the Sacrament of
Penance, in addition to forgiveness. It is standard Catholic belief
that we have God's promise that, when we confess our sins to a
priest truly desiring to forsake them, God will not only forgive our
sins through the words of assurance spoken by the priest, but will
also give us special asistance in ammending our lives, a spiritual
boost toward the perfect holiness that is God's goal for us.

That is one reason why the priest assigns the penitent a "penance."
Typically, when I confess, I am given a passage of Holy Scripture
(such as the 32nd Psalm) and told to read it thoughtfully. I have
never considered this a punishment, or a good deed that is supposed
to balance out some of my bad deeds and help to balance the ledger.
The idea, as I understand it, is that I have repented of my sins and
my disobedience, and I have asked God's help in living rightly
hereafter. When the priest assigns me a good deed to do, and I do
it, I am starting out on the right foot.  I am doing something good,
and doing that particular good thing under the direction of the
priest, as a sign of my desire thereafter to walk aright, and to do
so under the guidance that God has given me through Holy Scriptures
and the Catholic Church.

I hope this helps to make the idea a little clearer.

 Yours,
 James Kiefer
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia