Shawn,

You asked several questions:

Matthew 5:26 is also commonly cited regarding purgatory, when Jesus says in a parable:

Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Regardless of what is explicitly stated in the Bible, God has revealed His word to us through Sacred Tradition as well. Scripture and Tradition comprise God's word, both authoritatively by the Magisterium. Much of what we know about God is through sacred Tradition, including Purgatory. The idea that something is only true if it is explicitly found in the Bible is not Catholic, nor was it Christian at all until the time of the Reformation.

Committing a mortal sin without repentance is a rejection of God, and those that reject Him until the end of their lives continue that rejection into eternity. That means hell. The Church has always taught this; it's not something new coming from a particular Catechism.

You can and should ask for forgiveness immediately after committing sin; but Jesus set up the sacrament of Confession for Him to absolve you of them. God often works through people to do His work, and He gave the apostles, who represent clergy, the authority and ability, through the sacrament of Holy Orders, to forgive all sins in His name. If we ignore this, we ignore Christ and disrespect His established way of forgiving sins. That is not good.

Hence, a Catholic must take all serious (mortal) sins to Christ in the Sacrament of Confession in order to receive forgiveness.

Peace,

Paul

OK Shawn, try asking Christ for a million dollars and see how far that gets you!

Jesus was using hyperbole to encourage his followers to trust in him. It should be evident from experience that not everything we ask for is granted. In John 20:22, Jesus said to the Apostles:

"Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Thus he gave the Apostles the authority to forgive, and to hold unforgiven, sins. Implicit is the idea that they hear what they are: How do they know whether to forgive the sins or hold them unforgiven, unless they know what they are? The ability of priests (elders) to forgive sins, and verbal confession of sins, is also mentioned in James 5:15-16.

"Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

The problem is that sin is not an individual issue: It's a corporate issue. It affects the whole Church. When Paul spoke of the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:25-27) and said,

"If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."

this applies to sin as well; when one person sins, the whole body is affected.

Thus, forgiveness of sins is not a me-and-Jesus issue. It involves the whole community.

Eric