Can I make up for past Mortal sins?

[dizzy_dave]

Is there any way I can make up for past (already forgiven) mortal sins I have commited in my sinful past? If so how?

 

[threej_lc]

Depends what you mean by “Make up for” and “forgiven.”

All sins, no matter how grievous, are fully absolved and have all penalties removed after:

1. You repent of it in confession.
   and 2. You recieve a plenary indulgence.

To feel that you need to “make up for you sins” beyond these two exhibits a lack of faith in God’s mercy as extended through confession. However, that is not to say that we can’t learn from our past mistakes and remember them to make us stronger, holier people.

If I’m misunderstanding you, please explain further.

Josh

 

[dizzy_dave]

I mean I heard when we go to confession and our sins are forgiven, we still have a stain of sin. For example: I break the window with a rock at the Rectory, the priest comes out and I say I am sorry and he forgives me, I’m forgiven but the window is still broken. How do I fix the window? I think I’ve heard to referred to as temporal punishment, unless I am misunderstanding this.

 

[space_ghost]

Indulgences!..

This is proved by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states, “An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishment due for their sins.” The Church does this not just to aid Christians, “but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity” (CCC 1478).

 

[loyola_rambler]

If you broke the window, I would expect you to work out its repair/replacement with the priest and do whatever you could to pay it off or work it off.

Now not knowing just how bad your sins were, I’d say the place to start is to work it out with whomever you harmed. Hopefully you didn’t kill anyone, but whatever you did do is something to own up to. Speak with the people you’ve harmed and see what kind of impact your sins had on them. If you find out you led someone into bankruptcy, then I’d say you need to help them through it and help them get back on their feet. If you aborted a baby, then I’d say you need to devote yourself to helping men and women facing crisis pregnancies so that they find a non-abortive way to work through it. You also owe it to the person with whom you were supposed to parent to apologize for whatever you did and to work through any issues with him/her.

If you stole something, then give it back or pay for it. If you broke someone’s heart, then do your best to fix it. If the people you’ve harmed are here anymore, then find someone who needs your help and give it freely and without hesitation.

But most of all, be very attentive to the needs of the people around you and quietly do whatever you can to make their lives better. When you start to live the gospels, you’ll find that stain fades away.

 

[Bizob]

Obtaining an indulgence is not hard. Many many many prayers have indulgences attached to them. I normally find it distasteful to talk about how many days prayers “get you”, but as an example, making the sign of the cross and saying “in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit” is a 3 year indulgence, 7 with Holy Water. (At least, so says my Baltimore Catechism for Children No.1)
Thats a partial indulgence. Hopefully it’ll make up for that broken window

 

[Joan_M]

Do not forget Mercy Sunday - the Sunday after Easter, every year. We can obtain the grace of being purified of all temporal punishment due to sin each year! How wonderful!

Even if your parish does not celebrate Mercy Sunday, you can still avail of this Amazing Grace!

 

[Mandi]

threej_lc:

Depends what you mean by “Make up for” and “forgiven.”

All sins, no matter how grievous, are fully absolved and have all penalties removed after:

1. You repent of it in confession.
   and 2. You recieve a plenary indulgence.

To feel that you need to “make up for you sins” beyond these two exhibits a lack of faith in God’s mercy as extended through confession. However, that is not to say that we can’t learn from our past mistakes and remember them to make us stronger, holier people.

If I’m misunderstanding you, please explain further.

Josh

This is not true, This is one of the misconceptions that anti-religious hold over Catholics. They thinks Catholics can do what ever they want and then just go to confession and voila! all is good again.

When we go to confession we save ourselves from the fate of mortal sin and of course God in His mercy forgives us. But God is also all just. There always has to be punishment to equal the scales. We have to make reparation for our sins, sometimes we are unable to make an exact reparation e.g. like returning a stolen bike. But God has given us many ways to make reparation, sacrifice, penance, prayers, acts of charity, and of course Indulgences are attached to these things.

One other thought on reparation of sins, not only are we called to make reparation for our own sins, we as Catholics are called to make reparation for the sins of man-kind, sins against The Holy Catholic Church which are too numerous to mention.

Our Lady of Fatima told the 3 children that they must make reparation for the sins of man-kind. That many souls are going to Hell just because no one is praying for them!

We have a serious obligation because we love God and we know better!

Lord have Mercy on us!

 

[Bizob]

Mandi:

This is not true, This is one of the misconceptions that anti-religious hold over Catholics. They thinks Catholics can do what ever they want and then just go to confession and voila! all is good again.

But…what he said is true. You just said the same thing yourself.

Unless I’m misreading either of you in a big way…

 

[Mandi]

Bizob:

But…what he said is true. You just said the same thing yourself.

Unless I’m misreading either of you in a big way…

OK, now I’m confussed!

This is what I understood from threej_lc’s post -

That God’s mercy is enough!

This was my point -

God is not just mercy, He is also just. So in other words He expects reparation for sins.

God Bless!

 

[greglani]

The Church indicates there are two ways to “pay the price for the broken window, ie mortal sins” We can wait until we die and pay for the effects of our mortal sins in purgatory, or we can offer sacrifices while we are still alive in reparation for our past sins. An example of a sacrifice is to fast on bread and water one day a week or to make a sacrifice such as attending Mass on the 9 first Fridays.

 

[Bizob]

Mandi:

OK, now I’m confussed!

This is what I understood from threej_lc’s post -

That God’s mercy is enough!

This was my point -

God is not just mercy, He is also just. So in other words He expects reparation for sins.

God Bless!

Yes, He does expect reparation. Which is what I understood threej_lc’s post to mean by making a confession (IE Penance and change of heart). And then he mentions gaining an indulgence to absolve one of the time left over in purgatory. (Which is also paying reparation)

So, as I was reading it, you said the same things. Right?

 

[Mandi]

Bizob:

Yes, He does expect reparation. Which is what I understood threej_lc’s post to mean by making a confession (IE Penance and change of heart). And then he mentions gaining an indulgence to absolve one of the time left over in purgatory. (Which is also paying reparation)

So, as I was reading it, you said the same things. Right?

Well I would like threej_lc to come back and straighten this out because to me his post meant. That by going to confession you receive a plenary indulgence and that is your reparation. If that is what he meant then he is wrong, it is simply not enough. Reparation has to be equal to the sin. That is justice.

Not all reparation is as easy as say returning a stolen bike. For many sins we will not know what reparation was needed until we die. And by then there is nothing we can do about it but count on the prayers of the living - so please pray for the souls in purgatory, when they are released they are your friends for life.