In the Gospel for this Sunday, we witness Jesus’ apparition to the Apostles in the Upper Room on that first Easter night. They are in the Upper Room, with the doors locked, hiding, because they fear that those who arrested and murdered Jesus would come for them next.
   
Suddenly, Jesus was in the room, in the midst of them. He said, “Peace be with you” (actually the word He said was “Shalom,” the Jewish word meaning, “Peace, well-being, fullness of blessings.”) He showed them the wounds in His hands and side, and said, again, “Shalom!” This reconciliation with His disciples was important, because the last time He had seen them, they had abandoned Him as He was being arrested, and Peter denied Him as He was being tried before the Sanhedrin.
   
Then, breathing on them, He said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you shall forgive are forgiven them. And whose sins you shall retain are retained.” In these words, Jesus gave to His Apostles, and through them, to the bishops and priests who would succeed them, His own authority to forgive sins in His name.
   
This is the institution of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (also called confession, or the Sacrament of Penance). Remember that a sacrament is an outward sign, instituted by Christ, to give grace. The outward sign is the holding out of the priest’s hand over the head of the penitent, as he says the words of absolution. In this Gospel account, we see Jesus instituting the sacrament. The graces given are the forgiveness of sins and the strength to battle with sin in the future.
   
I have heard many people deny that it is necessary to go to confession to find forgiveness and reconciliation. They are deluding themselves, which in this matter can have disastrous consequences. I ask them where in the Scriptures Jesus gives us a Plan B, for those who do not choose to go to the sacrament. Plan B does not exist.
   
The Church teaches that all serious sins must be confessed, and until they are, the individual should not go to communion. Receiving the Eucharist with a serious sin on our souls is a sacrilege, adding another serious sin. St. Paul warns us that if we go to the Eucharist when we are not in a state of grace, we eat and drink condemnation on ourselves, and that many will get sick, and some will even die.
   
If you have not gone to confession in quite some time, I strongly encourage you to do so as soon as possible. Come and experience the mercy of our God.