The imposition of hands.
The imposition of hands.
§ 24. From all this it is quite clear that neither the confession nor the other acts of the penitent nor the word of the absolving priest is the external symbol of this sacrament. But why is the imposition of the hand acknowledged as the external element in this sacrament, which is used in private Absolution even in our churches? Bellarmine (De poenit., 1, ch. 11, col. 1204) certainly alludes to this when he writes: “There is no lack of many visible signs in the sacrament of penance, whether you look at the priest who lays on his hand or at the abject penitent weeping at the knees of the priest.”
We respond. (1) Bellarmine himself adds in the same place: “Those things are seen very often, yet the sacrament of penance can exist without them.” Also he proves (De poenit, bk. 1, ch. 15) that this ritual does not belong to the essence of this sacrament; on this point he is following Thomas ([ST,] part 3, q. 84, art. 4): “This sacrament does not require the imposition of a hand, since this is done to indicate a copious effect of grace.” But the external symbol in any sacrament is so necessary that it is not a sacrament without it.
(2) For any sacrament a clear and explicit mention is made of the external symbol in the proper seat of [its] institution [in the Scriptures], as is evident from the institution of all the sacraments. But now, in John 20, which the Papists claim is the proper seat of this sacrament, there is no clear and explicit mention of the imposition of hands. Therefore it cannot be recognized as the external symbol of this sacrament.
(3) This ritual is used in private Absolution not for the purpose of making repentance a sacrament, in the most proper sense of the word, but to signify, first, that the truly repentant have received medication for a spiritual ailment in the way that Christ is said to have used this ceremony in healing physical diseases (Matt. 9:18; Mark 5:23; Acts 9:12; 28:8). Second, it is done to signify that they have become partakers of the heavenly blessing, as the patriarch Jacob (Gen. 48:14) and Christ (Matt. 19:13) use this ritual in conferring a blessing. Finally, it is done to signify that the Holy Spirit is being given to them, just as the particular gifts of the Holy Spirit were conferred on the baptized through the imposition of hands in the early church (Acts 8:17; 19:6). In addition, this ritual is the external testimony that forgiveness of sins is being announced to someone specifically.
** We do not concede that the penitent’s confession and the priest’s imposition of hands and absolution are the external signs of this sacrament, for neither is visible but rather audible; neither is an element but an action. How is it that absolution is the form in this sacrament? What, then, will occupy the place of an element, that is, of the material? Thus Bellarmine commits three absurdities: (1) He transfers something that is in the category of action into the category of substance. (2) He transfers something that is form into the place of the material. (3) And he transfers something audible into the class of visible signs, which is more than poetic license. (See Disputationes Gissens., vol. 3, disp. 5, thesis 18, p. 142.) **