Day 202: How Confession Heals (2026)
episode
The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
24 min
1 speaker
6 chapters
transcribed 2 months ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the purpose and scope of Day 202’s reading in the Catechism in a Year?
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in Scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 202. We're reading paragraphs 1468 to 1473. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes a foundations of faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version. of the Catechism of the sacrament of reconciliation and the great dignity, the great responsibility that is placed upon the priest who's working by extension of the bishop.
Yet today we get to talk about the effects of this sacrament. What happens when we go to confession? And not only do we experience forgiveness, of course, mercy, of course, it reconciles us with the church. And also it's an anticipation. I love this. It's an anticipation in a certain way of the judgment of which we all will be subjected at the end of our earthly lives. In some ways, it's practice of coming before God as we are with the full truth that he is love and also that we have failed to love and leaning into that. It's remarkable. We're also going to talk about something that a lot of people have a lot of questions about. We're talking about indulgences today. And so One of the questions is, wait, do you guys still believe in indulgences?
And the answer is, look at paragraphs 1471 to 1473. The answer is a big yes. And we'll talk about that today. Before we launch into today, let's take a moment and just call upon the name of Jesus Christ and pray in the Holy Spirit to God our Father. Father in heaven, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the great sacrament of reconciliation. We thank you for the mercy that comes to us through the ministry of your church, through the ministry of your priests. We ask that you please draw us closer to your heart. Please reconcile us to yourself. Help us, especially those of us who have hardened hearts to you, to your mercy, to your grace, to your love. Help us to have softened hearts that are open to your grace, hearts that are willing to race to you.
Lord God, draw all of us to take the next opportunity to say yes to you in confession. Help us to be purified from all of our attachments to sin. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is day 202. We are reading paragraphs 1468 to 1473. the effects of this sacrament. The whole power of the sacrament of penance consists in restoring us to God's grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship. Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of penance with contrite heart and religious disposition, reconciliation is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation.
Indeed, the sacrament of reconciliation with God brings about a true spiritual resurrection, restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the most precious is friendship with God. This sacrament reconciles us with the church. Sin damages or even breaks fraternal communion. The sacrament of penance repairs or restores it. In this sense, it does not simply heal the one restored to ecclesial communion, but has also a revitalizing effect on the life of the church, which suffered from the sin of one of her members. reestablished or strengthened in the communion of saints, the sinner is made stronger by the exchange of spiritual goods among all the living members of the body of Christ, whether still on pilgrimage or already in the heavenly homeland.
As St. John Paul II stated, "...it must be recalled that this reconciliation with God leads, as it were, to other reconciliations, which repair the other breaches caused by sin."
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the purpose and scope of Day 202’s reading in the Catechism in a Year?
0:05–5:53
2
What foundational question does Fr. Mike pose about the sacrament of Reconciliation?
5:53–14:16
3
How does Confession restore spiritual life and intimacy with God?
14:16–15:49
4
In what ways does the sacrament of penance reconcile us with the Church and others?
15:49–19:16
5
How is Confession an anticipation of final judgment and conversion?
19:16–21:34
6
What is an indulgence and how does it relate to temporal punishment of sin?
21:34–24:32