Just as a physical remedy is a real gift to one who has brought some infirmity upon himself, so too is penance a mercy to the one who has sinned.
“Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian…” We hear the names of these early Christian martyrs every time that Eucharistic Prayer I is used at Mass, but do we know much, if anything, about them? Today we celebrate the joint feast of two of them: Saints Cornelius and Cyprian. Like many saints, their lives give witness to heroic virtue and fire-tried faith, and yet, because of their historical and cultural distance from our own lives, we may find ourselves wondering, “What can I take away from their example?”
Toward the end of the third century, a fierce persecution of Christians broke out across the Roman Empire. When these Christians were rounded up, they were given two options: deny your faith or be put to death. Those who denied Christ and offered sacrifice to pagan gods were referred to as “the lapsed,” and after the persecutions had calmed down, the question arose: “What do we do with the lapsed who now seek to return to the Church?”
Some thought they shouldn’t be given the opportunity for reconciliation at all. Why should they get to enjoy the gifts of the Church, which had been strengthened by the very martyrdom that they themselves had shunned? Others thought they should be readmitted into the life of the Church without any serious repercussions. After all, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Ps 103:8). But Cyprian and Cornelius took a middle way. They agreed that those who had lapsed and sought reconciliation with the Church ought to be welcomed back, but with the qualification that the offender be given a proportionate penance. But why? Is God’s forgiveness dependent upon our suffering? Or does he demand penance as a sort of justice, that we too should get a taste of the medicine which we dealt to him on the cross?
Not exactly, but there is truth in considering penance as medicine. When we sin, we turn away from God, and when we commit a mortal sin, we turn away from him entirely, cutting ourselves off from the life of grace and his body, the Church. Therefore, being healed and reconciled with God requires that he forgive the guilt of our sins. And this he does through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. So again, why the need for penance?
The reason is that our sins reveal deeper infirmities of the soul. In the case of the lapsed Christians, Cyprian considers possible reasons why they denied their faith, for “if the cause of disaster is recognized, there is at once found a remedy for the wound” (St. Cyprian, On the Lapsed, n. 5). Maybe it was fear of death or loss of property. If so, then the root cause of their sin becomes apparent. To deny Christ out of fear of death manifests a greater love for our own lives than for Jesus, and to deny him out of fear of losing property manifests a greater love for material wealth. But God did not become man so that man might continue to chase after anything less than God.
The whole point of penance is to uproot every vice and false love which gives rise to sin and draws us away from the love of God, our true and lasting happiness. Christ, being the good physician he is, peers into our hearts and asks us, “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:6). He does not want for us to just feel good, but to be good, and this may hurt. But we have no reason to fear, for although it may hurt to give up false loves, God continues to strengthen and console us along the way.
Just as a physical remedy is a real gift to one who has brought some infirmity upon himself, so too is penance a mercy to the one who has sinned. This is what Saints Cornelius and Cyprian teach us. And now, every time we hear their names as we prepare to receive him who is both Bread of Life and Doctor of Life, we can remember just how merciful a physician our God is.
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Republished with gracious permission from Dominicana (September 2025).
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Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. (used with permission)