The absolution prayer in English is a scriptural passage offering God’s forgiveness for all sin.This prayer is also known as the confessional prayer, the universal prayer of forgiveness and petition, the prayer of pardon and penance, or simply the absolution. The absolution prayer was used by the Christian church during its formative periods.
What is the prayer of absolution?
This is the prayer that is offered by the priest during confession also known as the sacrament of reconciliation or penance.
After one confesses their sins, the priest might give some advice to them and then give them a penance–an act of making amends, usually a few prayers offered to God. They then ask them to say the formal prayer the act of contrition. When that is done they then offer the prayer of absolution which formally forgives their sins ritualistically.
Here are the words, some of the most beautiful in all of Catholic tradition:
God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Absolution prayer in english
Dear Lord, we come before you today to ask for absolution.
We have sinned against you and our fellow man, and we humbly ask for your forgiveness.
Forgive us for the times we’ve been greedy or selfish. Forgive us for the times we’ve been lazy or prideful. Forgive us for the times we’ve taken advantage of others or hurt them without thinking of their needs first.
Forgive us for not taking care of our bodies, mind, and spirit as well as you would have wanted us to do so that we could be more responsible stewards of this beautiful earth that you created for us all to enjoy together as one human family in peace and harmony with each other at peace with ourselves first then others around us within our families then community then nation then world wide then universe wide then cosmos wide then universal wide then divine (eternity) wide… etcetera ad infinitum into eternity itself from infinity into infinity-infinity-infinity-infinity-infinity-infinity-infinity etcetera ad infinitum into eternity itself from infinity into infinity-infinity-inf
I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear God, I confess to you that I have sinned.
I have taken the name of the Lord in vain by using profanity.
I have not loved my neighbor as myself by gossiping about others.
I have not forgiven those who have wronged me by harboring anger toward them.
For these and all the sins I have committed against you, Father, please forgive me. Amen
God, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted by God.
We give you thanks for the many blessings you have given us. We thank you for our lives, for the air we breathe, for our health and strength. We thank you for this day, and for every day of our lives.
Forgive us, O Lord, for our sins against you and others; for whatever wrongs we have done or failed to do; and grant us grace to amend our lives according to your will.
Grant also that we may be made worthy of your heavenly kingdom by a lively hope through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Prayer of Absolution
God, the Father of Mercies,
through the death and resurrection of his Son,
has reconciled the world to himself
and sent the Holy Spirit among us
for the forgiveness of sins;
Through the ministry of the Church
may God give you pardon and peace,
and I absolve you from your sins
In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit, Amen
(Rite of Penance)
New translation of absolution prayer
“God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his son has reconciled the world to himself and poured out (currently, sent) the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the church may God grant (currently, give) you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, (+) and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
“Poured out” will replace “sent,” while “grant” will be said rather than “give.”
To be sure, this latest formula of absolution is not a new prayer. Rather, the translation will be different in just two places. And the essential words of sacramental absolution, “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, (+) and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” will remain unchanged.
If, once the new translation goes into effect, a priest would revert back to “sent” and “give” instead of “poured out” and “grant,” then the absolution will still be valid. In this case, the penitent may rest assured.
As someone who regularly hears confessions and goes to confession as a sinner, I think that the advent of this new translation will be valuable to both confessors and penitents.
Penance is generally the only sacrament in which a priest often doesn’t use the Ritual (the book with the various formulae and prayers for each sacrament) because he has memorized the formula of absolution and many of the other prayers used in this sacrament — and he uses them repeatedly.
Over the years as a penitent, I have listened to various renditions of the Prayer of Absolution, including the essential words mentioned above. I have heard: “I absolve you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”; “I absolve you from your sins Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”; “I absolve you from your sin in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”; “God absolves you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”; “God bless you.” In each case, the correct form of the essential words was not used.
We priests will need to look again at the Prayer of Absolution, shoring up our understanding of what it really means and committing ourselves to its faithful recitation.
And we penitents will need to savor anew this pledge of Christ’s merciful forgiveness offered to us, no matter the kinds of our sins and how many times we committed them.
How grateful we are to go to confession and to have priests to absolve us from our sins. Jesus Christ, the son of God and son of Mary, has provided for us this way to salvation.