by Amber Deleni

Created on: November 28, 2007

Confessing your sins is "taking the Lord's Name in vain"? I hear a lot of ignorant comments about Catholicism. But that one takes the cake! Taking the Lord's name in vain means using His name for a purpose other than to invoke Him in all His glory. His mercy is pretty glorious!
Let's take a look at what happens when a person receives the sacrament of reconciliation.

1. Examination of conscience: Have I separated myself from God in any way?
2. Prayer to the Holy Spirit asking for help to make a good confession. This means, "Help me know my sins in a way that makes me profoundly sorry for my offenses."
3. Confession: This is kind of important. God made us with 5 senses. We are expected to use them. We verbalize what we've done and we hear our own voices acknowledging our faults.
4. Act of Contrition: Yeah, you have to say that you are sorry.
5. Absolution: Again, 5 senses. God made us to need to hear the words of forgiveness.
6. Penance: When you pull a nail out of a wall, it leaves a hole. You can fill it with another nail or you can fill it with plaster and paint over it. When you pull a sin out of your life, it leaves a hole. You can fill it with another sin or you can fill it with something holy (like an act of kindness or a prayer.)

Anybody who would say that this process is "taking the Lord's Name in vain" has one (or both) of two issues.
1. He's ignorant. He has never asked a Catholic priest to explain the sacrament to him. So he regurgitates the ignorant comments that other people have made in front of him. This is spiritual infancy. Infants can't think for themselves. They learn their first language by repeating the sounds other people make. It's not good when the first language of your spirit is the one of blind hate and condemnation of others.
2. He doesn't like being held accountable for his actions or being told what to do. This is one of the deadly sins, pride. It's easy to say that Jesus died on the cross and relieved me of my responsibility for my own behavior. I believe in Him and I don't have to do anything to get to heaven. WRONG! If you don't feel an incredible amount of spiritual agony every time your behavior is part of what He died for, you do not worship Him. You worship yourself. Guess what; there is a God and it isn't you.

Jesus gave the responsibility of absolution to the Priesthood through the apostles. "The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.(Jesus) said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the holy Spirit. Those sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.' The Gospel According to John. When you deny this and take absolution into your own hands, you are taking the Lord's name in vain.

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