Cardinal Piaceza Highlights Sacramental Confession and the Eucharist for Peace in the World, the Heart and the Church

LETTER FROM CARDINAL MAURO PIACENZA, MAJOR PENITENTIARY, TO MINOR PENITENTIARIES AND ALL CONFESSORS ON THE OCCASION OF THE SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS 2023

In the imminence of the solemnity of All Saints, and of the Commemoration of the faithful departed, it is dear to me to address the penitentiaries and all the brother confessors, well aware that these days are particularly heartfelt by the people of God, in the devout memory of those who they preceded us, with all the emotional and memory burden that this entails, and in the hope of Heaven and eternal life.
In this sense, we are called to recognize the profound unity between the liturgical rhythm of the Church's faith and the pastorality of this same rhythm.
If on the one hand we know that it is never permissible to reduce the liturgy to a "pastoral occasion", since the liturgy is worship of God, and in it the celebration of the sacraments, including the sacrament of Reconciliation, becomes an act of glorification of God through living man, that is, the man who returns to live in grace, on the other hand we must always recognize how the very unity of the priestly ministry, which cannot experience any dichotomy between what he believes and what he celebrates, shows how the exercise of the ministry , humble and faithful, may always become a great opportunity to meet people, to embrace, to exercise pastoral charity, precisely.
The solemnity of All Saints, and with it the memory of the faithful departed, forcefully recalls that necessary inclusiveness, to which Pope Francis so often calls us.
It, far from being an anonymous or generic typification of the Church, is, in reality, the same nature as her.
The Church, the announcement of the Gospel, the mystery of Christ himself are, by their nature, inclusive, in the sense that faith, and with it salvation, is offered to all.
The Cross of Christ, which is sacramentally re-presented in the Eucharist and whose fruits extend to the sacrament of Reconciliation, is for everyone, and his gifts are poured into hearts through the Spirit. The Church offers all men the possibility of being embraced by the Mystery. The Church is for everyone, everyone, everyone, because she is Catholic, universal, and because she is One.
In fact, only the unity of the Church guarantees its catholicity and, even more so, only the unity of the Church guarantees its openness to all.
The solemnity of All Saints reminds us, in the wake of the great Saint Augustine, that the "all" of the Church is always to be understood according to the perspective of the Christus totus, of the total Christ, interpreted both in a synchronic and diachronic sense.
The diachronic sense, that is, the historical and temporal one, is usually clear to us, in the sense that we all know well that the Church is not only the one visible before our eyes, but is also the one "triumphant" in Heaven, according to communion of the saints, and the "purgative" one, on the way towards full communion with God, for which we pray in the commemoration of the faithful deceased. It is always good to remember that the "invisible part" is always the vast majority, compared to the visible one.
But the theology of the total Christ, the Church "all for all", must always also be considered in its synchronic dimension: the total body of Christ has a head, which is Christ himself, while his body, visible, tangible and audible, it is made by the concreteness, sometimes shocking, of the brothers and sisters, who are next to us and who live the same belonging to the Mystery.
This awareness pushes us first and foremost to great generosity in listening to sacramental confessions, since in them the indispensable bond with Christ is strengthened, and in the case of serious sin, recreated, who, especially in the Eucharist, makes the Church, constitutes it. in its essence.
While the miracle of forgiveness occurs, with the grace of reconciliation, the entire body of Christ is strengthened, that "everyone" of the Church is strengthened, which opens up to everyone in the world.
With this transcendent and supernatural gaze, the liturgy combines, on successive days, the festivity and the commemoration, pushing pastors and faithful to penetrate, with greater conscience and awareness, the mystery in which they participate.
These are days, for the whole Church, of affectionate remembrance for those who preceded us, and above all, in these tragic times of war, for all the innocents who, without knowing why, continue to die and in which Christ still and always dies .
At the same time, however, let these days be illuminated by hope, or rather by the certainty that the arms of Christ, wide open on the cross, powerfully invite all humanity to reconciliation, mercy and peace.
We Christians know, with Saint Paul, that "Christ is our peace" (Eph 2:14) and starting from this awareness, we feel the bliss that the Lord pronounces resonate in our minds and hearts.

Image: 2017 Mauro Piacenza with Pope Francis
: CC-BY-SA-4.0 -Bartolomeo Villa 
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