The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-11

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to the paralytic and said: BE of good
heart son; thy sins are forgiven thee
And the multitude marveled and said: He
blasphemeth.' And He made Use of the
only evidence that they would accept, the
evidence of the senses, and worked mira
Gle: Which is easier to say thy sins are
forgiven thee, or 10 say rise ana walk but
that We may know that the Son OF man
hath power on earth TO forgive sins. arise,
take up thy bed and go into thy house.
And he arose and went into IS house
Another supplementary instance IS found
in St. Matthew'S gospel. Our Lord is seat
ed at table in the house of simon. whom
He had probably cured from leproSy, and
who is spoken of in the Scriptures as 81
mon the leper. This man was person OF
distinction in that locality, and he had
gathered a coterie of friends Pharisees like
himself. TO the surprise of every one eX-
cept our divine Lord, the door opened and
woman rushed in and fell at the feet Of
Christ. She anointed His feet and wiped
them with her hair. To the Pharisees 1t
knew the secret of her heart. knew that
she was there in penance for her sins, and
e said to her 9 tba Se ey sans ad ar re
amazement: Who is this that says thy,
sins are fOrgiven?
POWER CONFERRED ON APOSTLES.
ION another occasion, when the apostles
were gathered in upper chamber, He
conferred on them the power of forgiving
sin, which, as man, He had exercised. He
stood in their midst, and, with all solemni-
ty, invoked the Holy Spirit and said: DO
not doubt the power which 1 going to
bestow upon you. All power is given me
in heaven and on earth He breathed on
them and said: Whose sins you shall for
give are forgiven them; whose sins you
shall retain are retained The circum-
stances of this divine commission are
found in detail not only in our own Script
ures but in those of noncatholics- The
church has always understood these words
only in the sense in which we now under
stand them. They are susceptible OF no
other translation. Did He intend that the
power of the forgiveness of sins should be
handed down in His church for all time?
He certainly did. That power became an
Institution of the church. That church was
to last forever. He said i am with you
all days. even unto the end of the world.
Remission of sin was to be part of the
church, and the sacrament would endure
as long as there was sin. And there VIII
be sin as long as the world lasts. Penance
is part of the sacramental system, No
one has a right to reject penance and re-
tain baptism and the eucharist; Why do
those outside the church baptize? Because
Christ told His apostles and their success
sors to go and preach the gospel they say:
WHY do they baptize? Because Christ COM
manded it. Why so logical on one side and
so illogical on the other? What right have
they to throw out one sacrament and re-
explicitly instituted than that of penance.
Open the pages of history and find confess
sion in the early history of the church.
In recent excavations in Rome have been
found sculptured pictures which go back
to the time of Tiberius and Nero, and
which show priests of the church with
penitents knceling before them in an atti-
tude of penance, showing that confession
was praeticed at that time. In other
tians carrying out the injunction of Christ.
The early fathers of the church in the
third and fourth centuries wrote of con-
fession in treatiSes, some of which give
formulas for making confession.
THE early schismatics who broke away
from the tr',e church took with them this
divinity of Christ, some OF them denied
the supremacy of the Pontiff, but all re-
tanned the sacrament of confession. In the
Greek Church, the greatest of all the schis-
matte churches, the sacrament is kept in
tact Penance is to-day practiced in every
part of the Russian empire. The sacrament
was in undisputed possession of tho
church until the sixteenth century, when
the standard of rebellion was set up, and
then and not until then. was it impugned.
But it came too late The sacrament had
been in possession of the church for 1900
How can a man forgive sin? ask those
not of the faith. 1t is not man, but the
power of God invested in man. who abb
solves in Gods name; and it is ratified in
heaven. The President Of the United
States when giving a decree in a distant
part of the country, acts through his rep
resentative, who acts in the name of the
President 1t is a delegated power IT is
delegated from the people to the President;
nevertheless it is there, and must be re-
spected when brought properly into play
There are two practical conclusions to
be drawn from to-day's gospel That this
sacrament which has been in existence 800
years is divine in origin. divine and pro-
foundry significant in power. The works
of God are all for purpose. The purpose
of this sacrament is the sanctifcation OF
souls. If men fall, and the majority OF
men do fall what hope is there without
fI1a prnr mr. n2ngnCAY
ton will we not make and how many miles
will we not travel in the effort 10 regain
lost health? Should we not be as reasOna-
BILE where our souls salvation is con-
cerned? l speaking TO those who have
experienced the peace and satisfaction that
IS found in the sacrament of penance. II
you would find rest, make use Of the sacra-
ment and hear those cOns0ling words, Nv
child, thy sins are forgiven thee"