Why is the sacrament of reconciliation important to Catholics?
To get us justified again after we commit grave sin.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says in paragraph 1446 that, "Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as "the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace.""
According to Pope John Paul II the Catechism of the Catholic Church "is given as a sure and authentic reference text for teaching Catholic doctrine."
There are many reasons the Sacrament of Reconciliation is important to Catholics. In a nutshell, it’s because we are forgiven our sins and it brings us closer to God. There are several parts to this, though. First, Reconciliation requires the examination of conscience. Before you go to Confession, you sit and take a good hard look at your soul. I mean you really examine yourself, what are all the things you have been doing wrong? What are all the things you haven’t done but should have done? In what ways have you been distancing yourself from Christ? Big things, little things, thoughts, actions, everything. This sort of critical examination is something that just isn’t done during the normal course of life, but it really is necessary if you want to move closer to God, which is the ultimate goal. In addition, Reconciliation helps fulfill the commandment of John 5:16 which tells us to confess our sins to God and to each other. This is hard because it really makes us humble ourselves, tel
