Confession, but no forgiveness?

[kyleforu]

I’m confused. I always though when you confess your sins to a priest and he grants you absolution you are forgiven? But now I have been reading that before you can actually be truly forgiven you must “do penance” or recite the Our Father and Hail Marys he tells you to pray, to REALLY be forgiven?
Am I forgiven by the priest or not? :confused:

 

[mercygate]

kyleforu:

I’m confused. I always though when you confess your sins to a priest and he grants you absolution you are forgiven? But now I have been reading that before you can actually be truly forgiven you must “do penance” or recite the Our Father and Hail Marys he tells you to pray, to REALLY be forgiven?

Am I forgiven by the priest or not?

What’s the real question here? contrition/Confession/penance/reconciliation – it’s all one thing. Did you forget to do your penance, or not know you were supposed to do it?

 

[kyleforu]

No, the question is, if you receive absolution from a priest for your sins, are not your sins forgiven then? Why does saying so many Our Fathers and Hail Marys afterwords necessary to REALLY receive forgiveness? Why weren’t you comepletely forgiven at absolution? That is the question.

 

[mercygate]

kyleforu:

No, the question is, if you receive absolution from a priest for your sins, are not your sins forgiven then? Why does saying so many Our Fathers and Hail Marys afterwords necessary to REALLY receive forgiveness? Why weren’t you comepletely forgiven at absolution? That is the question.

Your willingness to undertake a penance (although nothing YOU can do can create forgiveness) is a way of demonstrating your contrition and of cooperating with the grace of the Sacrament. So, under normal circumstances, the penance is required to complete the Sacrament.

Actually, a lot of people express disappointment that penances are typically so light because they feel they want to “do more” to show their sorrow for sin.

 

[tradcatmel]

The penance that the priest gives you is to make reparation for the sins that we have just been absolved of.

We are obliged to say the penance that the Priest gives us.

It is better to do penance here on earth than it is to have it burnt out of us in Purgatory.

 

[the-3rd-parent]

Not every priest gives you prayers to recite. I tend to preferr prayers because when my penance is something like “Make an effort to do something.” I’m likely to forget and wonder if the sacrament has been completed. I always do my penance directly after confession otherwise I would forget.

 

[Todd_Easton]

St. Thomas Aquinas discusses this in his Summa Theologica, here

 

[levi86]

kyleforu:

No, the question is, if you receive absolution from a priest for your sins, are not your sins forgiven then? Why does saying so many Our Fathers and **Hail Marys ** afterwords necessary to REALLY receive forgiveness? Why weren’t you comepletely forgiven at absolution? That is the question.

Is that true, how can a priest require someone recite the Hail Mary if devotion to Mary is not required by the RCC? I can see that posing a problem for a convert such as myself who is not yet comfortable with praying to Mary.

 

[CARose]

You can express your discomfort with the priest when he gives you the penance. He may change your penance to a series of Our Fathers instead, which any Catholic should be comfortable saying. There are some things that we as Catholics are expected to believe with regards to Mary. We know she is the Mother of God; was a perpetual virgin; that she was assumed into Heaven, body and soul; and that she was coronated as Queen of Heaven.

You may also want to look at what the Hail Mary states. The first half of the prayer is straight out of scripture. The second half merely asks Mary to pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. We aren’t praying to her, we’re asking her for her prayers for us, as she acts as an intercessor for us at the Throne of Christ, our Lord.

God Bless,

CARose

 

[palmas85]

levi86:

Is that true, how can a priest require someone recite the Hail Mary if devotion to Mary is not required by the RCC? I can see that posing a problem for a convert such as myself who is not yet comfortable with praying to Mary.

Why would it pose a problem? The Blessed Virgin’s position in the Catholic Church is well known. I cannot fathom why any Catholic would object to saying a Hail Mary to honor and adore the Blessed Mother of God.

 

[thistle]

Of course I do whatever penance is given to me by the priest but I think it is the case that your sins are forgiven (not conditionally) as soon as the priest says the words of absolution.
Some people may not do the penance immediately after Confession and intend to do it later but forget. That does not mean their sins were not forgiven.

 

[kleary]

levi86:

Is that true, how can a priest require someone recite the Hail Mary if devotion to Mary is not required by the RCC? I can see that posing a problem for a convert such as myself who is not yet comfortable with praying to Mary.

In order to be a Catholic you must believe that it is good to pray to Mary and the Saints… for you stated when you were baptized “(I believe) in the Communion of Saints”

I am seriously thinking you should question your conversion. If you have a problem praying to a Saint in Heaven then you should learn about it better and simply accept it because Holy Mother Church teaches it.

Ken

 

[kleary]

kyleforu:

I’m confused. I always though when you confess your sins to a priest and he grants you absolution you are forgiven? But now I have been reading that before you can actually be truly forgiven you must “do penance” or recite the Our Father and Hail Marys he tells you to pray, to REALLY be forgiven?

Am I forgiven by the priest or not?

In order for the Sacrament to be valid there needs to be the proper form.

The proper form of the Sacrament is confession to an ordained Catholic priest or Bishop. The person going to confession needs to do the following - have contrition, confess the sins and make satisfaction.

If all these things are not present then the confession is invalid and the sins retained.

Ken

 

[JimG]

thistle:

Of course I do whatever penance is given to me by the priest but I think it is the case that your sins are forgiven (not conditionally) as soon as the priest says the words of absolution.
Some people may not do the penance immediately after Confession and intend to do it later but forget. That does not mean their sins were not forgiven.

Yes, you are forgiven when absolution is given. The penance assigned is not for forgiveness but for reparation. But your sins are already forgiven.

 

[atsheeran]

kleary:

In order for the Sacrament to be valid there needs to be the proper form.

The proper form of the Sacrament is confession to an ordained Catholic priest or Bishop. The person going to confession needs to do the following - have contrition, confess the sins and make satisfaction.

If all these things are not present then the confession is invalid and the sins retained.

Ken

Close.

In order for a valid sacrament three things are required: matter, form, and intention.

Intention refers to the minister’s (in the case of Confession, the priest’s) intention. An absolution given in jest would not be valid due to the lack of intention. See the Fourteenth Session of the Council of Trent.

The form refers to the words of absolution. The current Rite of Penance states that “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” is the essential form required for validity. St. Thomas Aquinas intimated that “I absolve you” (“Ego te absolvo”) is sufficient.

The matter refers to the acts of the penitent. These acts are: contrition, confession, and satisfaction. The act of satisfaction is accomplished in the penitent’s fulfilling his or her assigned penance.

Forgiveness occurs when the absolution is given. When the priest says “I absolve you”, that’s what he does. But for the absolution to be valid the penitent must intend to fulfill his penance.