A Priest's Account: "What Is It Like to Hear Confessions?"

[mdgspencer]

Confession must be the worst, an elderly lady once said to him. “It would be so depressing; hearing all about peoples’ sins.” In this uplifting account, he says rather what it is really like for him.
see bulldogcatholic.org/what-is-it-like-to-hear-confessions/

 

[DoGodsBidding]

A great read, thanks for sharing.

DGB

 

[Hatikvah]

I told them that it was the exact opposite. There is almost no greater place to be than with someone when they are coming back to God. I said, “It would depressing if I had to watch someone leave God; I get to be with them when they come back to Him.” The Confessional is a place where people let God’s love win. The Confessional is the most joyful, humbling, and inspiring place in the world.

Interesting.

 

[svid2]

Pax Christi.

Garbagemen! Wow!

God bless.

 

[jaimeleglise]

Wow, the priest actually does penance for everyone’s sins? He would be very hungry after hearing my Confession.

 

[wild_thing]

I love hearing a priest’s perspective. Thank you for sharing that.

 

[fisherman_carl]

That is great. I don’t have to worry about disappointing the priest.

I have two things to say to this.

He will not be disappointed! What your priest will see is a person who is trying! I dare you to find a saint who didn’t need to God’s mercy! (Even Mary needed God’s mercy; she received the mercy of God in a dramatic and powerful way at her conception. Boom. Lawyered.)
So what if the priest is disappointed? We try to be so impressive with so much of our lives. Confession is a place where we don’t get to be impressive. Confession is a place where the desire to impress goes to die. Think about it: all other sins have the potential to cause us to race to the confessional, but pride is the one that causes us to hide from the God who could heal us.

And I don’t have to worry about him remembering sins

So often, people will ask if I remember people’s sin from Confession. As a priest, I rarely, if ever, remember sins from the confessional. That might seem impossible, but the truth is, sins aren’t all that impressive. They aren’t like memorable sunsets or meteor showers or super-intriguing movies . . . they are more like the garbage.

And if sins are like garbage, then the priest is like God’s garbage-man. If you ask a garbage-man about the gross-est thing he’s ever had to haul to the dump, maaaaaaybe he could remember it. But the fact is, once you get used to taking out the trash, it ceases to be noteworthy, it ceases to stand out.