Having discussed the Sacrament of Penance in general, then looked more closely at contrition, or sorrow for sin, we turn now to the first of two lessons from the Baltimore Catechism No. 2 that discuss Confession, the central act of the sacrament.
While Catholics today often use the terms "Penance," "Confession," and "Reconciliation" interchangeably to refer to the sacrament through which our sins are forgiven, there is something worthwhile in the older terminology that referred to the sacrament as the Sacrament of Penance and reserved Confession for act of confessing our sins.
The sacrament is more than recounting of our sins to a priest, humbly, sincerely, and in their entirety, in number and in kind. It begins with the examination of conscience that we discussed two lessons ago, through which we recall our sins and excite our sorrow for them. And it ends not with our absolution by the priest but when we complete the penance that he has assigned to us for the remittance of temporal punishment.
Confession, like Baptism, removes from us the eternal punishment due to sin, but unlike Baptism it does not remove the temporal punishment, which, after Baptism, can only be remitted through sacrifice. Knowing that we have offended God, we should perform our penance willingly and cheerfully, because it helps strengthen our resolve never to sin again.
Lesson Nineteenth from the Confirmation Catechism has 16 questions. Note that the lesson begins with Question 208, continuing with the numbering from Lesson Eighteenth.
The parallel lesson this week in the First Communion Catechism is Lesson Sixteenth. It includes 6 questions drawn from Lesson Nineteenth of the Confirmation Catechism.
Check out this week's lesson, and if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments or ask them in the Catholicism Forum!
Previous Lessons in Sunday School:- Welcome to Sunday School!
- On God and His Perfections
- On the Unity and Trinity of God
- On Creation
- On Our First Parents and the Fall
- On Sin and Its Kinds
- On the Incarnation and Redemption
- On Our Lord's Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension
- On the Holy Ghost and His Descent Upon the Apostles
- On the Effects of the Redemption
- On the Church
- On the Attributes and Marks of the Church
- On the Sacraments in General
- On Baptism
- On Confirmation
- On the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Ghost
- On the Sacrament of Penance
- On Contrition