Confession for Divine Mercy Sunday

[Loboto-Me]

Lent and Easter are upon us soon and here I am thinking about Divine Mercy. I’m hoping to prepare myself now so that I don’t get disappointed when the time comes.

There aren’t many parishes in my city that has confession on Sunday, which is what Jesus asks us to do on Divine Mercy Sunday. Do the churches make an exeption for this day?

I understand that saturday is considered the sunday mass, but I wouldn’t feel right as saturday isn’t really Mercy Sunday.

How does your parish handle things?

 

[pro_multis]

Any traditional parish will have confession on Sunday before/during mass.

 

[Bookcat]

Lent and Easter are upon us soon and here I am thinking about Divine Mercy. I’m hoping to prepare myself now so that I don’t get disappointed when the time comes.

There aren’t many parishes in my city that has confession on Sunday, which is what Jesus asks us to do on Divine Mercy Sunday. Do the churches make an exeption for this day?

I understand that saturday is considered the sunday mass, but I wouldn’t feel right as saturday isn’t really Mercy Sunday.

How does your parish handle things?

ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/feast.htm

 

[utah_rose]

Lent and Easter are upon us soon and here I am thinking about Divine Mercy. I’m hoping to prepare myself now so that I don’t get disappointed when the time comes.

There aren’t many parishes in my city that has confession on Sunday, which is what Jesus asks us to do on Divine Mercy Sunday. Do the churches make an exeption for this day?

I understand that saturday is considered the sunday mass, but I wouldn’t feel right as saturday isn’t really Mercy Sunday.

How does your parish handle things?

Our parish does nothing except have the Divine Mercy Picture exposed. However, just one, only one parish in our diocese that also offers the Tridentine Mass each Sunday, does have the Divine Mercy devotion, and has confession before Mass on that Sunday. Besides Mass, it also has the prayers, litany, etc. that goes with it as well as Benediction.

I think it is a shame that other Churches don’t do this. The parish I belong to only has Confessions on Saturday, before Mass.

 

[dachsiemom2]

I returned to church last year after a 20 year absence from church. I made an appointment for confession with one of the priests on the Saturday prior to DMS. He talked about DMS and confession on the Saturday before counts - as does confession for I think the week before and/or after. Maybe some of the others can clarify.

 

[pro_multis]

The parish I belong to only has Confessions on Saturday, before Mass.

Just out of curiosity, approximately how large is your parish, that it only has confession before mass on Saturday? There is a large catholic church near my house that only has confession for one hour per week, on a saturday. There are literally hundreds of families that belong to this parish.

 

[aspirant]

There aren’t many parishes in my city that has confession on Sunday, which is what Jesus asks us to do on Divine Mercy Sunday. Do the churches make an exeption for this day?

Call around to find out! If no one is scheduling Sunday confessions, you might suggest it for DM Sunday, and/or make an appointment for a Sunday confession. Many good priests would be happy to help you out.

I understand that saturday is considered the sunday mass, but I wouldn’t feel right as saturday isn’t really Mercy Sunday.

You would not be doing anything wrong. Saturday evening is Sunday, liturgically.

How does your parish handle things?

I don’t know. If I want to go to confession on Sunday, I just go to a church that already schedules it.

(When I moved to my area, I wrote up a chart of scheduled confession times all over town. That way I know where to go for confession on Sunday, Tuesday, or whenever. It’s very handy. I’m sure there are fewer options in less populous places, but a chart may still be worthwhile.)

 

[Chatter163]

The confession does not have to be on Divine Mercy Sunday. Most people make it during the novena that ends on that day. The day before would be perfect, but like any plenary indulgence, the week following is fine. See ewtn.com/expert/answers/mercy_sunday.htm, from which the following is taken.

“Many take this to mean that they must go to Confession ON Mercy Sunday. This is not true. To receive the benefits of the Promise one must be in the state of grace. The Lord does not promise the absolution of grave sin on Mercy Sunday, but points us to the Sacrament of Penance. To receive the grace we should be disposed. This is done by a confession near the time of Mercy Sunday. According to the Cardinal of Krakow, the confession which a Catholic makes during Lent in preparation for Easter is sufficient. Priests do not have to provide confession on Mercy Sunday so that Catholics can satisfy this condition. Since it is a Sunday the condition of Communion can be easily satisfied (including at the Saturday Vigil Mass). Our Communion, as our Confession, should be especially devout.”

 

[thomasf]

Just out of curiosity, approximately how large is your parish, that it only has confession before mass on Saturday? There is a large catholic church near my house that only has confession for one hour per week, on a saturday. There are literally hundreds of families that belong to this parish.

Most of the parishes in my area have Saturday only confession, and our priest doesn’t do them on Sundays before mass. You can make appointments during the week, but Saturday is usually the only day it’s offered in the church. And sadly, there are usually only a few people there for confession.

There is a church in my area that does the divine mercy sunday program. They have confessions on sunday before the program. The lines for confession are packed.

 

[utah_rose]

Just out of curiosity, approximately how large is your parish, that it only has confession before mass on Saturday? There is a large catholic church near my house that only has confession for one hour per week, on a saturday. There are literally hundreds of families that belong to this parish.

Correction: Our Church does have Confessions each Tuesday and Thursday between 5:30 and 6:30. However, most of these Confessions are in Spanish, because as I said before 90% of our parish is Mexican.

However, the other parishes around me are large parishes and they too only have Confessions on one hour before Mass on Saturday.

The only exception I have found is one Parish who only has one priest and not only has confessions on Saturday but 30 minutes before each Mass, which I think is a really good idea.

I realize that there is a Priest shortage, but if the Priests encouraged Confession from the pulpit, and heard Confessions before Mass it would be easier for them and I bet a lot more people would go.

By the way, the church that is an exception also is the only one in our diocese that actually celebrates the Tridentine Mass each Sunday with Benediction afterwords.

 

[Loboto-Me]

Thank you all for your advice. I do tend to become scrupulous sometimes and it seems that this is one of those situations.

I’ve been looking around on the Calgary Diocese websites and checking out the different churches for sunday confessions. It seems that there are a very few that do reconcilliation on Sundays, some of which are quite a ways away and another that is Polish which won’t do for me. I think I’m going to do a bit of travelling that day.