1. The sacraments have matter and form.
The matter for baptism is water. And the form is the words uttered “I baptize you….” as the water is poured on the forehead. The matter and the form must more or less go together. If the water is poured and the words said 10 minutes later, there is doubt that the Sacrament is valid. That is how important the matter and the form are for the validity of the Sacrament.
The matter and the form make up the solemn act whereby something is so done that we may understand it to signify the holiness which it confers, writes St. Thomas of Aquinas.
The matter in the sacrament of Penance are the acts of the Penitent, while the form is the act of the absolving priest. The Penitent, by word and deed, shows his heart to have renounced sin. The priest by his deed and word with regard to the penitent, signifies the work of God Who forgives his sins.
Penance, like Baptism, is a Sacrament with matter and form.
While in Baptism the matter are corporeal things like water, in Penance external sensible actions are the matter. The matter in Baptism is applied by a minister of the Church who shows that the power by which the Sacrament operates is from Christ. In Penance, the matter is human actions which comes from human inspirations, whereby the matter is not applied by the minister but by God working inwardly. The confessor only furnishes the compliment of the Sacrament when he absolves the penitent.
2. The Sacrament in Penance.
The Sacrament in Penance are the acts performed outwardly both by the repentant sinner and by the priest in giving absolution.
That which is reality and Sacrament are
the sinner’s inward repentance
That which is reality and not sacrament is the forgiveness of sin.
The former, which is the outward acts of the repentant sinner (knowing one’s sin, sorrow for having sinned, promise not to sin again and reparation for one’s sins) and the sinner’s inward repentance are the cause of the latter, the forgiveness of one’s sins.
As St. Thomas clearly explained, the absolution of the confessor will only be effective if the sinner had undergone his outward and inner repentance. The latter is most dependent on the former.
3. The confessor.
The words and deeds of the Penitent makes up the matter of the this Sacrament. The part of the confessor takes the place of the form. The matter is perfected in the form. The matter in Baptism is perfected in the use of the matter. In the Holy Eucharist the matter is perfected by the consecration of the matter.
The perfection in the Sacrament of Penance is not in the use of the matter nor in the consecration of the matter but in the removal of the matter, i.e. sin. This is done by when the priest says; ‘I absolve thee……’which is the form of this Sacrament.
4. The ‘misereatur.’
The ‘misereatur.’ or ‘May Almighty God have mercy…..May God grant thee abolution…etc….are not Sacramental absolutions and are recited before the Sacramental absolution. It is a preparatory prayer to dispose the penitent to have the matter ready for this Sacrament which consist of acts and deeds which are absent in Baptism and Confirmation. This prayer is recited before the confessor gives the absolution; it is also recited at the foot of the altar at the beginning of the Mass and before giving Holy Communion. It seldom recited today and this could prevent the penitent from having the proper matter for the Sacrament.
‘God alone absolves from sin and forgives sins authoritatively; priests do both ministerially, because the words of the priest in this sacrament work as instruments of the Divine Power, as in the other sacraments; because it is the Divine power that works inwardly in all the sacramental signs, be they things or words.’
5. The matter of Penance.
The matter in Penance is the desire of the penitent to have his sins forgiven. The form in Penance is the actual forgiving of his sins by God and ministrally by the confessor. The matter are the acts of the penitent by which he knows his sins, he is sorry for his sins, he promises not to sin again and for him to make reparations for his sins. These four acts makes up the matter for the Sacrament of Penance. It is completed by the form by which God forgives the sinner through the ministry of the Confessor. God is the one who forgives since He is the One being offended while the confessor is merely the minister of the act of forgiveness. And being the minister, he cannot do otherwise except to minister the dictates of the Primary author of forgiveness.
6. The present situation.
Both sinner and confessor, since 2012 were ignorant of the matter of the Sacrament of Penance due to the neglect of the Secretary of the Bishop’s Synod of that year who worked on the erroneous assumption that all Catholics know now to repent and, therefore, doesn’t have to be taught the matter and form of the Sacrament of Penance. It was a serious neglect because since that time knowledge on the matter and form of Penance never appeared again in the language of the Catholic Church specially during the following Bishop’s Synod. Together with the disappearance of the knowledge of the matter and form, the concept of the virtue of Penance and the life of repentance, also, disappeared. Pope Benedict and the International Theological Commission noticed this serious neglect but seems to have been able to do nothing to remedy it. Today, in the Papacy of Pope Francis, absolutely nothing on the virtue of Penance, the life of repentance, the matter and form of Penance had ever been mentioned again.
This is a disaster because the rest of the teachings of the Catholic Church is founded on this foundation. Without this foundation the whole Catholic edifice had collapsed.
7. Because of this omission these are the consequences.
Because most of the Bishops in the Synod of 2012 were ignorant of ‘repentance’ most of the faithful had not been taught the proper matter for the Sacrament of Penance, hence, therefore, the form that will be given by the super confessors will be invalid.
Since most of the super confessors are, also, ignorant of the form for Penance, therefore, they have no power to forgive.
It is God who forgives not the confessor. The confessor only have a ministerial role. God commands, the confessor just obeys. So he cannot be a super confessor really who can absolve serious sins. Because the power to forgive is in God and not in him. Sadly, the super confessors are just heretical Pelagians who claim they can do what only God can do. The power to forgive is from God and not from the Pope. Even the Pope cannot forgive sins if there is no matter in the penitent.
Confessors are ignorant regarding the matter of Penance because it was never taught in the seminary or theological schools since the 18th century. Even if they knew it they would not be able to teach it to the penitent in the confessional because it takes 30 years to teach this as shown by the ‘hidden life’ of Christ. The super confessors are false advertisements. There is no such thing. The problem in the Church today, among others things, is that penitents do not have the matter for confessions, and the confessors do not have the form of the sacrament. A pure problem of ignorance.
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