Any advice for Daily Confession?

[Lily_Bernans]

Oh absolutely there are Saints among us, no doubt about it. Father Relyea said the “I don’t think so” quote. I’m not judging Father Relyea, I think he’s a very good man, probably a saint himself. But I didn’t understand really what he was getting at. I felt like he was pushing towards daily confession, but I’m honestly not even sure. I can link the video to this forum but it’s like an hour long. Very good talk though.

And for another thing, I know Saint Padre Pio called himself the worst sinner in the world and meant it wholeheartedly. If THAT MAN considered himself the worst sinner while constantly hearing the confessions of people who cheated on their spouses and got abortions and even killed people, then what am I?

And what many of you have been saying about turning in towards yourself, I completely understand and that’s what I was afraid of. But what I’m trying to tackle is the fact that if I learn something new with every confession, then I can be a better person. I know priests who go to confession every month or two, some who go every two weeks. I think Father Relyea actually recommended weekly confession.

But anyways, what I was trying to get at was the quote. What would Saint Boniventure have had to confess everyday? Or Saint Joan of Arc? Or Pope Pius XII? Also, I’ve heard that Saint Padre Pio had actually achieved the degree of perfection while he was alive. If he had achieved perfection and didn’t sin, what would have been the point of him going to confession?

Listen, I know I sound really confusing but I’m just trying to get to the bottom of this. I talked to a priest about this as well but he didn’t seem to have an answer. I know that multiple priests have different views. Thanks again all.

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it. I think it’s good you’ve sought the advice of a priest. Besides the fact that they are priests, they know you, and they can talk to you face-to-face. That’s so much better.

God bless on your pilgrimage to Christ.

 

[GoodMorning]

I don’t think any human being could ever know this.

Yeah well now that you say it…I never thought about it that way. I’ve heard people say that it’s possible to attain a degree of perfection. I heard Father Chad Ripperger even say that he met a woman who was possessed who he had only venially sinned once while he was working on her (he’s an exorcist).

 

[Don_Ruggero]

*But anyways, what I was trying to get at was the quote. What would Saint Bonaventure have had to confess everyday? Or Saint Joan of Arc? Or Pope Pius XII?
*
The way in which a Bonaventure or a Joan of Arc or a Pius XII or a man or woman who has attained an exceptional height of sanctity will make use of and receive the sacrament of penance will be distinctly different from someone who is at the beginning of their journey of faith or, indeed, anyone who is not at such a level.

Someone who has attained, for example, the grace of the transforming union, to speak of only one aspect of the interior life, will have a completely different sensitivity to, for example, infidelities and conformity to the Divine Will than one who has not the grace of having attained that gift. A very poor analogy for this would be the experience of prayer for someone who is beginning to pray, and whose prayer is primarily ascetical, as they approach meditation and mental prayer, as opposed to one who has been granted by the Holy Spirit the gift of infused contemplation.

While holding up the example of a saint for edification and inspiration is indeed good, one must be cautious about emulation. Rose of Lima is a wonderful example of one who lived an exceptional life of prayer and penance as a solitary – but one should not readily undertake to precisely replicate her life with its penances and vigils and solitude as a normative part of one’s own spiritual exercises without having also her level of holiness. To do so is to put the proverbial cart before the horse.

In other words, returning to the question of the post, the saints who are going to confession every day did not become saints because they went to confession every day…it is rather because they had become saints that their holiness and nearness to God ultimately impelled them to this sacrament every day. That can seem counter-intuitive because of how we normally think of sin and grace relative to the operation of the sacrament of reconciliation and how it is ordinarily received. But that is part of the lived differences between the ascetical and the mystical in the ages of the interior life.

As the other priest said in a post not far back in this thread, there are legitimate occasions for one who is not at the height of sanctity to be approaching confession daily…they are relatively rare but they do exist. Certainly and without doubt, the sacrament can rightly and fruitfully be used for the confession of venial sins, for focusing on aspects of growth in one’s spiritual life in the pursuit of virtue and in seeking grace…sacramental and sanctifying as well as actual. Frequent confession is indeed good.

But one thing concerning to me as a confessor is that in several posts there is the thought expressed as if it is wholly and entirely the penitent who should unilaterally decide the frequency of confession – most especially when it is extremely frequently – without accounting that over-frequent recourse to confession can actually be ill-advised.

In reality, the confessor rightly has a voice and an obligation to speak concerning the frequency of reception since it relates to the welfare of the soul who is confessing. It is for good reason that the term “physician of souls” is applied to priests above all in the administration of this sacrament. A soul who is approaching the sacrament consistently on a daily basis, such as to receive it 365 times per year, should, without question, have the benefit of spiritual direction.

One can wonder what those who are at the height of sanctity could possibly have to confess when, in reality, those who are at the height of sanctity have no such question about what they need to say when they confess. For them, it is actually as clear as the brightness of the noonday sun.