Confession and inspiration?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Marie5890
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Marie5890

Guest
I was just curious today after I went to confession (came into full communion 5 years ago and never heard this addressed or asked)

During confession when the priest is giving counsel or direction, is it taught that he, acting in his priestly faculties, is always giving guidance and instruction under the inspiration of the Spirit?

I am a former Mormon, and we were taught that the bishop (pastor) had the authority to receive inspiration on our behalf so you better listen to him.

Does such a teaching exist in Catholicism?

The reason I ask is that there was nothing wrong with the support and encouragement that my priest was giving me today, but I cant say that I felt he was “inspired”

Hope this makes sense. 🙂
 
Marie5890 said:
I was just curious today after I went to confession (came into full communion 5 years ago and never heard this addressed or asked)

During confession when the priest is giving counsel or direction, is it taught that he, acting in his priestly faculties, is always giving guidance and instruction under the inspiration of the Spirit?

I am a former Mormon, and we were taught that the bishop (pastor) had the authority to receive inspiration on our behalf so you better listen to him.

Does such a teaching exist in Catholicism?

The reason I ask is that there was nothing wrong with the support and encouragement that my priest was giving me today, but I cant say that I felt he was “inspired”

Hope this makes sense. 🙂
Click to expand...
Hopefully a priest is guided by God’s grace to give good council and direction. In some cases there may even be an extraordinary kind of guidance.

On the other hand, I’ve personally received “guidance” in confession that was clearly and directly contrary to the Church’s moral teaching. The priest still has free will, and can abuse his position if he chooses to do so.
 
Marie5890 said:
I was just curious today after I went to confession (came into full communion 5 years ago and never heard this addressed or asked)

During confession when the priest is giving counsel or direction, is it taught that he, acting in his priestly faculties, is always giving guidance and instruction under the inspiration of the Spirit?

I am a former Mormon, and we were taught that the bishop (pastor) had the authority to receive inspiration on our behalf so you better listen to him.

Does such a teaching exist in Catholicism?

The reason I ask is that there was nothing wrong with the support and encouragement that my priest was giving me today, but I cant say that I felt he was “inspired”

Hope this makes sense. 🙂
Click to expand...
Two thoughts come to mind:

No one is under any obligation to accept the private revelation of anyone else.

God may use a priest (or anyone else) to help guide you, but you must discern prayerfully, for yourself, whether advice given is inspired, or not. The Bible and the Magisterium (Catechism), are two good measuring tools.
 
RebeccaJ said:
Two thoughts come to mind:

No one is under any obligation to accept the private revelation of anyone else.

God may use a priest (or anyone else) to help guide you, but you must discern prayerfully, for yourself, whether advice given is inspired, or not. The Bible and the Magisterium (Catechism), are two good measuring tools.
Click to expand...
Thanks Rebecca.

That is very helpful. Very much so. Helps unwind some of the corrupt teachings of my past too. Thank you.
 
RebeccaJ said:
You’re welcome. 🙂 You got me thinking to Lumen Gentium. It is long, but I recommend it.
Click to expand...
Again, thank you. I went and read it and found it extremely helpful and enlightening.

I find myself stunned at the realization that, even though I have been out of Mormonism for over 20 years, I find myself from time to time still under the influence of it’s [edited] teachings. I find myself, from time to time, especially when I am struggling over something of a spiritual nature, having to take stock and see what kind of Mormon-think may be so ingrained that it’s confusing me.

Gratefully and by God’s grace and mercy, He always shows me and leads me to correcting it.

And I am seeing just how our culture at large is so confused because of all kinds of corrupt and distorted ways of thinking that is taken as “normal”, people being deceived just how corrupt those thought-patterns are…
 
Marie5890 said:
Again, thank you. I went and read it and found it extremely helpful and enlightening.

I find myself stunned at the realization that, even though I have been out of Mormonism for over 20 years, I find myself from time to time still under the influence of it’s [edited] teachings. I find myself, from time to time, especially when I am struggling over something of a spiritual nature, having to take stock and see what kind of Mormon-think may be so ingrained that it’s confusing me.
Click to expand...
It’s one of my favorite VII documents.

Time, patience, prayer, reading Scripture, studying good orthodox material, talking over and about everything…all help. Prayer especially. In Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict XVI teaches (quotes St. Augustine) that it is by prayer that we are cleansed of vinegar, and become one with the will of God.

“33. Saint Augustine, in a homily on the First Letter of John, describes very beautifully the intimate relationship between prayer and hope. He defines prayer as an exercise of desire. Man was created for greatness—for God himself; he was created to be filled by God. But his heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. It must be stretched. “By delaying [his gift], God strengthens our desire; through desire he enlarges our soul and by expanding it he increases its capacity [for receiving him]”. Augustine refers to Saint Paul, who speaks of himself as straining forward to the things that are to come (cf. Phil 3:13). He then uses a very beautiful image to describe this process of enlargement and preparation of the human heart. “Suppose that God wishes to fill you with honey [a symbol of God’s tenderness and goodness]; but if you are full of vinegar, where will you put the honey?” The vessel, that is your heart, must first be enlarged and then cleansed, freed from the vinegar and its taste. This requires hard work and is painful, but in this way alone do we become suited to that for which we are destined[26].”

There’s lots of vinegar in the world. 😃
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top