Priest: A Minister of Reconciliation
[Priests] in the confessional, open your heart to poor sinners and show your loving desire to help their needs. (OCL, II, 348, p. 79)
The priest is a minister of reconciliation. By virtue of his office, a priest is called to reconcile the people to God. Reconciling people to God means that they turn away from their sinful living and turn to God. It implies that they put off the sinful man and put on the virtuous man made in God’s own image. Thus, ministry of reconciliation entails the forgiveness of the sins of the people. The ministry of reconciliation, which includes the power to forgive people’s sins, is a ministry Jesus directly granted to the apostles. In one of his appearances after his resurrection, Jesus gives them the power to forgive as well as retain the sins of the people of God. The apostles passed on this ministry through the imposition of hands to their successors. In this manner, the ministry of reconciliation continues in the Church until our time. Like the Eucharistic ministry, the priest exercises the ministry of reconciliation in the person of Christ. St. Vincent Pallotti accomplished this ministry reconciliation with great fervor and dedication. Every day he would spend many hours at the confessional. People flocked to him to be reconciled to God through his mediation because of the manner in which he gave himself to the people. While he was firm in calling them to the change required in their lives, he was compassionate and helped them in every way possible so that they could open themselves to a relationship with God again. He asked the priests of the Society he founded to open their hearts to the poor sinners at the confessional. They were expected to show their desire to help people in their sinfulness by their dedication to this ministry of reconciliation.
Do I recognize the role of the priest as the minister of reconciliation? Do I acknowledge the importance of this ministry in the life of the Church? How dedicated am I to this ministry of reconciliation? Do I set aside a good bit of my time for this ministry?
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. (Jn. 20: 23)