Examination of Conscience by Cardinal Stafford

An excellent text, answers some contemporary objections to confession:

Cardinal Stafford's Homily at Penitential Liturgy
With an Examination of Conscience

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Today the Church urges us to two actions prior to confession.

First. We are urged to pray for forgiveness. The penitent asks for mercy from Jesus who "humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on the cross" (Philippians 2:8). But it is indisputable that today many find forgiveness difficult.

Several yeas ago, I encountered some young Americans who argued against the possibility of forgiveness. They said, "It is impossible to forgive what has happened in the past. How can prior events be undone? No one can contend with the stubborn resistance of the past."

They further insisted that certain human acts are so evil, like violence against children or mass killings of the innocent, that they cannot be forgotten, and, if remembered, they cannot be forgiven. Those young people believed that forgiveness is impossible.

Moreover, they claimed that one question was absolutely unanswerable, "Who is to forgive? Certainly not the innumerable victims. Because of the contagion of evil the victims of one sin are so numerous that it is impossible to locate all the victims. It likewise seems impossible to discover any power, divine or human, capable of offering complete forgiveness."

Holy Week alone answers their objections to the possibility of forgiveness. God Incarnate has become our sovereign victim and eternal Priest. In the Gospel today, Jesus said, "For the Son of man came to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). In the crucified Son of man the heavenly Father laid bare the mystery of his love. Only Jesus was sent as victim to carry out the wrathful judgment upon all human sin, past, present and future.

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