Confession & "particular judgment"

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Elizabeth502

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So here’s my stupid question. :o

(I should know this.)
You confess your sins. You strive for the rest of your life not to commit the same idiotic ones time & again (we all know how hard that is). Let’s say you even succeed --gradually or in one fell swoop – avoiding certain sins, including ones that might have been at one time “habitual.”

Supposedly at death, one faces “particular judgment” from God, face-to-face, as it were. Then you get your, well, “sentence,” for want of a better word. Do you “pay” for the sins of your wee childhood, the sins of young adulthood, yadayada, regardless of your efforts to overcome those sins, even if not successful with your attempts? (And naturally having confessed them, done penance for them, repaired them when possible, etc.)

I mean, there seems to be a dual message here. From Scripture we know that we are accountable for our earthly behaviors at the hour of our death. What is the affect of previous confessions (theoretically) on our “meeting with God”? Obviously we won’t “know” that ahead of time; I’m just wondering what the theology is about this relationship.

(New poster here.)
 
The effect of our previous Confessions is that those sins are forgiven, and therefore forgotten, by Christ.

We receive grace – the life of God – in our soul at Baptism, and it is restored in Confession. At our death, we go to heaven if we have this sanctifying grace in our soul. Any sins that were previously forgiven are truly that…forgiven. That is why we praise God for His mercy.
 
While our sins are forgiven in Confession, we may still have some “temporal punishment due to sin” after death.

A common analogy: A child playing ball where he shouldn’t be breaks a neighbor’s window. He apologizes; the neighbor forgives him. The child still has to do some chores to pay for the broken window.

Sin, even when forgiven, leaves some scars. One of these scars is “attachment” to sin (we still “like” our sin a little bit, and might do it again if given the opportunity).

Nothing imperfect can enter heaven; Scripture tells us this. If we have even a slight attachment to sin when we die, we will need to be purified (perfected). This is what Purgatory (temporal punishment) accomplishes.

We can minimize (or even eliminate) the amount of purification needed in Purgatory by good works while we are on earth: prayer (especially prayer that carries an indulgence), sacrifice, works of charity, frequent reception of the sacraments, etc. We can offer to God any suffering we endure on a day-to-day basis in reparation for our sins (and the sins of others).
 
Hello Elizabeth and welcome to the forums! No such thing as a stupid question, especially here.

You asked about the effect of previous confessions. Maybe this will help: When you are judged by God, all previously confessed sins are forgiven but they are not forgotten (recall the words Father uses for absolution).

God will look at your whole life knowing what was in your heart and your mind each and every time you sinned. (I think we will all be shocked on judgment day because God will see something in us that reduces the gravity of what we thought was a serious sin and/or increases the gravity of a sin we thought was minor).

He will then render his eternal judgment.

What specifically is the point of frequent, previous confession then? Why not just confess on your deathbed? I think it is two fold:

First, recall that if you die with unrepented mortal sin you are headed for the hot place. By it’s definition, unrepented mortal sin means you are making a firm choice to turn away from God and condemn yourself to Hell. Since none of us know when death is coming or if we will have time to repent or receive the anointing of the sick it is our goal to always be in a state of grace and confession is the way to do it.

Second, recall that the sacraments were instituted by Jesus for our benefit. The struggle with sin is a daily one (heck, hourly or by the minute for me) and we all fall. When we do, it is easy to think of ourselves as unworthy of God’s love. Confession is the trip to the physician of the universe which heals our soul, strengthens our mind and shows God and ourselves the determination we have to once again pick up our cross and follow him.

Remember always that there is no way we, sinful finite creatures can make amends for our smallest sin to the infinite creator of the universe. But remember also that God’s unconditional love and mercy are greater than his justice.

I just realized I am rambling. My apologies if I am off target and have not answered your question.
 
The Doctor is not rambling. People are being very kind and thoughtful here.🙂

I’m the overly anxious type. From the examples of the Gospels, my anxieties seem even to my myself to be illogical. With Jesus so readily & generously forgiving many with a lifelong habit of sin, it seems absurd to ask the question, I guess. But perhaps some of us feel sin more acutely than others? Or are more conscious of the effects of sin? For me, remorse can linger many, many years after sins have been confessed. I’m not always sure if this is an indication that I still have a lot to “make up for” in this life, or whether OTOH it’s a reflection of lack of faith in Christ’s mercy.

Thank you posters for your considered replies. I love The Doctor’s signature. Cute.
 
Elizabeth502 said:
For me, remorse can linger many, many years after sins have been confessed. I’m not always sure if this is an indication that I still have a lot to “make up for” in this life, or whether OTOH it’s a reflection of lack of faith in Christ’s mercy.
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I have asked a couple of times over the years if it was a problem that I don’t “feel forgiven” after confession. To sum what what my priests have told me:
  • If we have made a good confession, we are forgiven, even if we don’t feel we are.
  • My lack of feeling forgiven may be due to an inability to forgive myself or to see me as the worthwhile son God see’s me as. As a penance once, Father told me to pray for this understanding.
  • If the feeling causes me to reaffirm not to sin again, it is God working in a good way. If the feeling causes me to stay away from confession it is Satan working within me.
The scope of God’s mercy is indeed awesome to comprehend. If it helps, after your next confession may I humbly suggest you sit in front of the crucifix and just think about this: God suffered and died for YOU 2,000 years ago knowing exactly the kind of person you are today - knowing your faults, your struggles, your weaknesses, your sins - and yet, knowing all these things about this lowly sinner, His greatest desire is to have you spend the rest of eternity loving Him in Heaven.

Our God IS an awesome God.
 
If you have repented of your evil works, confessed them, and made complete, satisfaction they are gone. If you have not made complete satisfaction or you have unconfessed venial faults, but are open to God’s transfiguring love, then we will receive just “punishment” but is corrective and purifying. I think Pope Benedict explained this well in Spe Salvi
  1. Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour. The encounter with him is the decisive act of judgement. Before his gaze all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. All that we build during our lives can prove to be mere straw, pure bluster, and it collapses. Yet in the pain of this encounter, when the impurity and sickness of our lives become evident to us, there lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation “as through fire”. But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God. In this way the inter-relation between justice and grace also becomes clear: the way we live our lives is not immaterial, but our defilement does not stain us for ever if we have at least continued to reach out towards Christ, towards truth and towards love. Indeed, it has already been burned away through Christ’s Passion. At the moment of judgement we experience and we absorb the overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in ourselves.
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Elizabeth502 said:
The Doctor is not rambling. People are being very kind and thoughtful here.🙂

I’m the overly anxious type. From the examples of the Gospels, my anxieties seem even to my myself to be illogical. With Jesus so readily & generously forgiving many with a lifelong habit of sin, it seems absurd to ask the question, I guess. But perhaps some of us feel sin more acutely than others? Or are more conscious of the effects of sin? For me, remorse can linger many, many years after sins have been confessed. I’m not always sure if this is an indication that I still have a lot to “make up for” in this life, or whether OTOH it’s a reflection of lack of faith in Christ’s mercy.

Thank you posters for your considered replies. I love The Doctor’s signature. Cute.
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Guilt over can hang on for several reasons, IMHO:
  1. We haven’t renounced the sin, by refusing one of these firm intentions: to avoid the sin, to make amends where possible, and to confess. This is healthy guilt. Guilt is like a smoke alarm, letting us know our conscience has a fire to put out. We should count ourselves blessed to have guilt like that. Some people don’t. They are called sociopaths. They do not emotionally experience remorse. Their remorse is either intellectual or nothing, yet they are still bound by moral law, all the same. To be a sociopath is to suffer from a severe spiritual blindness.
  2. We have renounced the sin, but somehow think that hanging onto bad feelings about it is appropriate. For instance, we have rejected the sin, made a firm purpose of amendment, even made amends, but haven’t confessed it yet. We don’t have to hang onto the guilty feelings. We only have to hang on to repentance, the rejection of the sin. Sometimes, we need the medicine of confession to let go of guilt feelings, but God doesn’t mean for us to reject peace like that. Still less do we need to hang onto guilt feelings when we have done everything in our power to repent and make amendment, including confession. That is rejecting peace.
  3. We are not really feeling guilt, but rather shame. We think we are bad people or “not good enough” people, for having sinned such a sin in the first place. Well, that’s wrong. Our being “good enough” isn’t based on what we do, or we’d be sunk. It has to do with God’s choice to love us, which doesn’t change. To hang onto shame usually means we will also reserve the right to judge others whose sins go over some line we have set. Sooner or later, we will find ourselves exercising this imagined “right”. Very bad. We need to humbly acknowledge what we are capable of, and allow ourselves to accept that God thoroughly loves us, anyway, and respond as we should: with gratitude and thanksgiving. We may not dispute with God concerning who is worthy of love. That starts with ourselves.
  4. We are not really feeling guilt, but rather fear of punishment. This is either a misunderstanding of temporal punishment or a lack of trust in God’s ability to support us in suffering. Temporal punishment isn’t an arbitrary whack that we get because we deserve it. We don’t get what we truly deserve, in a juridical sense. We do get what is necessary to mend the wound. Any addict will tell you that withdrawal and amendment for their past acts were both a lot of work and suffering and the best thing that could have ever happened to them…and something that no one else could have done for them. Temporal punishment must be like that, I think. Just because something is difficult and necessary does not make it a thing to fear. God will get us through it. (Not that this makes putting off the work before us a good idea!)
If you hang on to guilt for less-than-useful reasons, you can teach yourself to stop doing it. It is your choice. Most of us find that talking it over with a priest or another trustworthy person will help. Few manage that on their own, I know that. That’s one reason frequent confession is so good, even for those who do not commit mortal sins. Those with a lot of difficulty dealing with their guilt, shame, and anxiety can often find some sessions with a Catholic therapist will help them find a healthier ground from which to serve God. Being so bound up in anxiety and bad feelings that we can’t truly be peaceful and joyful doesn’t help anyone. That isn’t redemptive suffering, but rather the kind of suffering that the Evil One doles out to hamstring us. Others, though, find that a full diet of the Christian life–prayer, sacraments, penance, almsgiving, etc.–does the trick.
 
EasterJoy said:
That isn’t redemptive suffering, but rather the kind of suffering that the Evil One doles out to hamstring us.
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I actually am beginning to believe this effect in my life. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt tormented by the Devil, but I definitely have this week. Nothing else quite explains it to me. Combining that remark with remarks on this or another thread, about the questioning/ rejection of Jesus’ mercy, I think that this is the heart of it, for me. It’s not about scruples or neurotic guilt or a trip through masochism. Maybe more about difficulty letting go, because to do so is to acknowledge intense need. The Devil aims to have us not vulnerable to Christ, where we are open to receiving graces, but to reject the graces & be vulnerable to him instead. I tossed and turned almost all night last night, woke up in a sweat. It was unreal: the kind of thing Fr. Corapi talks about.
 
What exactly would happen to a person who at the time of death had Alzheimers therefore could not remember and confess any sins to God and ask for forgivness?
 
Elizabeth502 said:
I actually am beginning to believe this effect in my life. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt tormented by the Devil, but I definitely have this week. Nothing else quite explains it to me. Combining that remark with remarks on this or another thread, about the questioning/ rejection of Jesus’ mercy, I think that this is the heart of it, for me. It’s not about scruples or neurotic guilt or a trip through masochism. Maybe more about difficulty letting go, because to do so is to acknowledge intense need. The Devil aims to have us not vulnerable to Christ, where we are open to receiving graces, but to reject the graces & be vulnerable to him instead. I tossed and turned almost all night last night, woke up in a sweat. It was unreal: the kind of thing Fr. Corapi talks about.
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I think that the awareness that anxieties might be due to the Accuser is itself a great grace. I know what you mean about acknowleging intense need…we don’t want to go before God with nothing. Yet we have nothing we can offer God, save perhaps some cooperation with what God gives us. But, as I like to say: We are nothing without God, but what of it? We were never meant to be without God in the first place!
FM927 said:
What exactly would happen to a person who at the time of death had Alzheimers therefore could not remember and confess any sins to God and ask for forgivness?
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We never know when we will lose our capacities, so an ongoing habit of self-examination and contrition is necessary. As for where we fail, God has his ways.

I like to look at it this way: Confession is the normal way to reconciliation with God, just as coming to the dinner table is the normal way children are fed. If children can come, yet won’t, they are allowed to have their choice and go hungry until they come around. But if children do not come to the dinner table because they can’t, or don’t know where to find the dinner table, or have lost their appetite due to illness, or have some other good reason for their failure, their parents will see to it that they are fed and cared for. Surely, if we who are sinful do this, God will do that much and more for his children…

It all has to be seen in light of the short duration of our sufferings and “spiritual childhood”, compared to eternity. God sees every time as one entire Now, so he is not afflicted with anxiety over how it will all turn out, as we are.
 
FM927 said:
What exactly would happen to a person who at the time of death had Alzheimers therefore could not remember and confess any sins to God and ask for forgivness?
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I was told once, when, in my nervousness I had forgotten some of the items I was going to confess, that I would be absolved of ALL of my sins–including those that I forgot. I believe that when it comes to the confessional, intent really matters. If, for instance, you had some memory issue where you knew (or were pretty sure) that you had committed a sin, but couldn’t remember what it was, God is going to honor your intent to confess. If, however, you intentially remain silent with regard to a particular sin, that one wouldn’t be absolved. Does that make sense?
 
FM927 said:
What exactly would happen to a person who at the time of death had Alzheimers therefore could not remember and confess any sins to God and ask for forgivness?
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They lack the mens rea to commit mortal sin. While they can commit grave sins, those grave sins are not mortal for them.
 
Aramis said:
They lack the mens rea to commit mortal sin. While they can commit grave sins, those grave sins are not mortal for them.
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My impression of the question was that the sins had been committed before the Alzheimer’s victim was stricken seriously enough to have impaired moral judgment.
 
The impaired mental judgement is often an early sign of Alzheimer’s.

It is a truly ugly disorder. I’ve several friends (of my grandparents and parents generations) who have suffered it, including my dad’s stepmother.

But in any case, when one is either unable to remember or unable to form the informed intent to sin, one is not culpable for the mortality of that sin.

When you are absolved, you are absolved of all sins, not just those confessed. You must confess all mortal sins you are aware of and able to remember to be validly absolved, but the ability to remember the sins is not prerequisite for absolution.
 
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