"In small ways too, Francis has made his passion for penance
clear. He’s made hearing confessions, for instance, a regular feature of his visit to Roman parishes, something that previous popes generally didn’t do.
On Wednesday, Francis was back at it, trying to stress the centrality of the Act of Penance to everything that follows in the Mass.
“What can the Lord give to someone whose heart is full of themselves, of their own success?” he asked. “Nothing, because the presumptuous person is incapable of receiving forgiveness, satisfied as they are with their presumed justice.”
Francis noted that while the Act of Penance at the Mass ends with absolution from the priest, it doesn’t have the same value as the absolution offered in the sacrament of confession.
“There are, in fact, grave sins, the so-called ‘mortal sins’ because they cause the eternal life in us to die,” Francis said. “For those sins, in order to be forgiven, confession and sacramental absolution are necessary.”
CRUX
On Wednesday, Francis was back at it, trying to stress the centrality of the Act of Penance to everything that follows in the Mass.
“What can the Lord give to someone whose heart is full of themselves, of their own success?” he asked. “Nothing, because the presumptuous person is incapable of receiving forgiveness, satisfied as they are with their presumed justice.”
“There are, in fact, grave sins, the so-called ‘mortal sins’ because they cause the eternal life in us to die,” Francis said. “For those sins, in order to be forgiven, confession and sacramental absolution are necessary.”
CRUX
vs.
For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God:
Not of works,
lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:8,9
