Jesus knows well our weakness and frailty. That is why he instituted the sacrament of Penance. He wanted us to be able to straighten our steps, as many times as necessary; he had the power to forgive sins and he exercised it repeatedly: with the woman caught in adultery,1 with the good thief suspended on the cross, with the paralytic from Capernaum . He came to seek and save what was lost4 , even now, in our days.
The Prophets had prepared and announced this entirely new reconciliation of man with God. This is reflected in the words of Isaiah: Come and let us understand," says Yahweh. Even if your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they be red like purple, they will become like white wool.5 This was also the mission of the Baptist, who came to preach a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.6 How can some be surprised that the Church preaches the necessity of Confession?
Jesus shows his mercy, in a special way, in his attitude towards sinners. "I have thoughts of peace and not of affliction" (Jer 29:11), God declared by the prophet Jeremiah. The liturgy applies these words to Jesus, because in him it is made clear to us that God wants us in this way. He does not come to condemn us, to reproach us for our poverty or our meanness: he comes to save us, to forgive us, to apologize, to bring us peace and joy. And he not only wanted those who met him on the roads and in the cities of Palestine to be forgiven, but also those who would come into the world over the centuries. For this reason he gave the power to forgive sins to the Apostles and their successors down through the centuries. In a solemn way, the Lord promised Peter the power to forgive sins when he recognized him as the Messiah. A short time later, we read in today's Gospel, he extended this promise to the other Apostles: "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. The promise became a reality on the very day of the Resurrection: Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you forgive shall be forgiven them, whose sins you retain shall be retained. It was Christ's first gift to his Church.
The sacrament of Penance is a marvelous expression of God's love and mercy towards men. "For God, even when he is offended, remains our Father; even when he is angry, he still loves us as his children. He seeks only one thing: not to have to punish us for our offenses, to see that we convert and ask him for forgiveness. Let us thank the Lord in our prayer today for the great gift of being able to be forgiven for our errors and miseries; now, in prayer before him, we can ask ourselves: are our confessions deep and well prepared?