Rite of Reconciliation

Invitation to Reconciliation
"Reconciliation of a Penitent, or Penance, is the rite in which those who repent of their sins may confess them to God in the presence of a priest, and receive the assurance of pardon and the grace of absolution"
- The Book of Common Prayer, p. 859

A letter from our Rector on the Rite of Reconciliation:

Dear People of Grace:

As a way of opening ourselves to the Paschal Mystery we will experience together, which begins somberly on Maundy Thursday and ends gloriously on Easter Morning, I ask you to consider confessing your sins, aloud, to another person, and hearing God’s Word of pardon and forgiveness.

There is never a “wrong” time to confess our sins and hear assurances of God’s forgiveness. Lent, however, is an ideal time to do so. In fact, on Ash Wednesday the Church invites us to "self-examination and repentance" as part of our Lenten observance.

Bonhoeffer, who we’ve been studying this Lent, writes about the goodness and healing God accomplishes in us when we confess our sins to another Christian:

          “In confession there takes place a breakthrough to community. Sin wants to be alone with people. It takes them away from community…Sin
          wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light…In confession the light of the gospel breaks into the darkness and closed isolation of the heart…
          Sin that has been spoken and confessed has lost all of its power…The sinner has been relieved of sin’s burden. Now the sinner stands in the
          community of sinners who live by the grace of God in the cross of Christ Jesus….” (Life Together, 89).

Through confession, we move from the bind of shame to the freedom of forgiveness, from isolation to reconciliation. Our prayer book says, “The ministry of reconciliation…is exercised through the care each Christian has for others, through the common prayer of Christians assembled for public worship, and through the priesthood of the Church and is ministers declaring absolution.”

I am setting aside time during Monday through Wednesday of Holy Week to offer the Rite of Reconciliation. You can see how we would spend our time together by reading over the rite in our Prayer Book (available here). What is shared during this time is strictly confidential.

To sign for a time, click here. For help in self-examination in preparation for the rite, this resource from the St. Augustine Prayer book is very helpful.