Explain the importance of reconciliation.

Answer 1

I know you asked this questions several months ago, but I'll do my best. I assume you're talking about the sacrament of reconciliation and confession within the Catholic Church. The purpose behind it is to bring us back into perfect relationship with God. When we see, we create a barrier between us and God that prohibits God's grace from freely being given to us. The reason we know this is because any time we sin, it is in direct disobedience of God's desire for us. So, just as Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden for their Original Sin of eating from the forbidden tree, so does us sinning create a similar barrier. This is barrier is completely created by us and is a barrier God is willing and able to take down, so long as we allow Him. We put up the barrier after all, so for Him to take it down it takes an action on our part to show that we are willing for Him to do so. This is where reconciliation comes into play. By going to a priest and confessing these sins, we are in fact confessing them to God and asking for forgiveness. Forgiveness is freely given to us by Him, so reconciliation is less of asking God to forgive us and more of God showing us that we are already forgiven and assisting us forgive ourselves (again, we put up the barrier, we have to forgive ourselves). This is a bit of sporadic and short explanation as you can go much deeper with it and understanding each aspect of this (Adam and Eve, us creating a barrier, venial/mortal sin, etc etc etc), but this is that's the jist of it.