Why do Catholics go to a priest to confess their sins when they can just confess directly to Jesus?
“And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22-23). Jesus himself established the Sacrament of Reconciliation, as he did all of the other Sacraments. When we confess our sins to a priest, we are in the presence of Jesus himself. “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16). No mere man can forgive sins; only God can (Mark 2:7), which is why the priest perfo
