The Irish standard., 1909-10-16
A VERY IMPORTANT PR0N0UNCEMENT
BY HIS EM|NENCE Of BALTIMORE
Cardinal Gibbons Declares That the Confessional One of the
Most Powerful Moral Levers Ever Designed by aMerciu God
for Raising Man From the Pool of Despair and the Mie Of
Sin--Pr;ncipa Work of Christs Ministers.

The following sermon was preached
by Cardinal Gibbons on Sunday, Oct.
8, in the cathedral at Baltimore from
the text: "Thy sins are forgiven
thee" (Matthew 9:1s) He said IN
part:
I'm the Gospel of today man sick
of the palsy, lying on a bed. is brought
to Jesus to be restored to health. Our
Lord makes the healing of the body
subordinate to the cleansing Of the
soul. He performs a miracle palpa-
bile to the senses that He may win
the confidence of the spectators and
compel them to recognize Him as the
physician of the soul. He says to the
palsied, man: Son, be of good cheer;
thy sins are forgiven thee Some or
the Scribes said within themselves:
This man blasphemeth.' And Jesus,
!, knowing their thoughts, said: Why
think We evil in your hearts? But
that We may know that the Son Of
Man on earth hath power to forgive
/ SINS said He to the paralytic, arise
take up thy bed and go into thy
house, And he arose and departed
.nu.,to his. 4house, A..%s, 5<:....l F.
T '''As fnuch as our spiritual substance
iexxceis this flesh which envelops 1t. ~
much more did our Saviour value the
resurrection of soul from the grave
Of sin than the raising of the body
from the grave of death. Hence st.
j.. Augustin pointedly remarks that while
| the Gospel relates only three resurrec-
tions of the body, our Lord during His
mortal life raised thousands to the life
:of grace.
H"As the Church was established by
Jesus Christ to perpetuate the work
which He had begun, it follows that
the reconciliation of sinners from sin
to righteousness was to be the princi-
pal work Of His ministers on earth.
The mission of Gods priests is to pour
the balm of consolation into the bleed
ing, wounds of humanity, to lift man
from the mire of sin, to put him on his
/ feet and enable him to walk erect IN
the paths of Righteousness. ,..'
= "This commission is beautifully and
concisely expressed by the apostle IN
his Epistle to the Corinthians. God,
he says, hath ,reconciled us to Him
self through Christ. and hath given t.
us the ministry Of reconciliation. = q
For Christ, therefore, we are
ambassadors God, as 1t were, exhort-
ing through u.s. That~is to- say, Goa
sent Christ to reconcile sinners; Christ
sends us. We are His ambassadors
F.. reconciling sinners in HIS name.
"As the power given by Christ to
His apostles to forgive sins was an
extraordinary and unprecedented pre-
rogative, It is set forth in such clear
and unmistalsable terms as to preclude
any room for doubt or misconceptlon.
'In the Gospel of ST. Matthew our
Lord thus addresses st. Peter: Thou
art Peter, and on this rock will build
my Church. And will give
T! unto thee the keys Of the Kingdom OF
Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt
bind on earth shall be bound also in
heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt
loose on earth shall be loosed also IN
heaven And to all the apostles as
sembled together on another occasion
He extends the same power in the
same forcible language: Whatsoever
We shall bind on. earth. shall be bound
also irrss heaven, and whatsoever ye
shall loose on earth shall be loosed
also in, heaven. The soul is bound
/, and enchained by sin. give you pow
1 err says our Lord, TO release. the penl-
1 tent soul from it's calling letters and
/ to restore tito the liberty, Of a child
Of Cod :'..-.- -.>o5
"And in the Gospel OF st. John we
have still more precise and striking
declaration Of the absolving power
given by our Saviour to His apostles
I Jesus, after His resurrection, thus
addresses His disciples: Peace be, Is
you. AS the Father hati
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