This is how Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Confession: “He breathed on them and said, ‘receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.’” (John 20: 19-31).
This happened in one of the apparitions, seven days after His Resurrection.
So, only one week after His triumph over death, the devil and sin, the first thing Jesus does is to leave us the effective means to have our sins forgiven.
Confession if the “Tribunal of Mercy”, as Jesus Himself told Saint Faustina Kowalska. And what a Tribunal! Only Mercy acts there, not Justice. By justice, we should be condemned. But in Confession, we are not condemned… we are forgiven, no matter what we confess.
We appear before court, we plead guilty and we are always forgiven.
It only takes being really sorry and confess the offense. What more can we ask for! No matter how serious of the offenses, Christ said to Saint Faustina: “Were souls like a decaying corpse … the miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full (Diary 1448).
That is why He “breathed” over the Apostles.
After the creation of Adam (Genesis 2: 7), this is the second time God breathes upon man. Back then, God breathed over Adam to communicate human life. But when He breathed on the Apostles He gave them the power to communicate new life: to restore the life of the soul of those who, repented, confess their sins and, when forgiven by the Priest, they can again have the Life of God in their souls.
Jesus really wishes to forgive us. The Sacrament of Confession is the Tribunal of His Mercy: He invites us to confess our sins to the Priest, not to condemn us, but to forgive us. What a Tribunal!
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