IS confession absolutly needed to be forgiven of mortal sins like masterbation?
Objectively speaking, masturbation is a mortal sin. However, the Catechism teaches that under certain conditions specific acts of it could be considered venial:
“To form an equitable judgment about the subjects’ moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.” (
CCC #2352)
I really believe that if i sincerly ask god to forgive me then ill be forgiven but I want to know for sure that mortal sins can be forgiven this way?
The Sacrament of Reconciliation is the only
ordinary means known to the Church by which God forgives mortal sins which were committed after Baptism (Baptism, of course, removes all sin, mortal and venial). The Church, however, recognizes that there are
extraordinary means. For example, the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick can suffice for the absolution of all sins for someone who is seriously ill and incapable of undergoing Confession.
Moreover,
“perfect” contrition can be an extraordinary means through which God absolves mortal sin, but still does not excuse Catholics from making a sacramental confession when possible:
"When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called ‘perfect’ (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible. (
CCC #1452).
It should be noted that perfect contrition is not an easy thing for humans to manifest. It means being sorry for our sins because they offended God rather than being sorry for our sins because we fear hell.
I find it silly honestly to go to a priest, whom is a human like me, to confess my sins…
Yes, he is human like you. But unlike you he is also an ordained priest, which means that he is designated by God to act
in persona Christi, which means, “In the person of Christ.”
Moreover, going to Confession is a sacrament while praying to God is not. A sacrament provides special sacramental graces. Among other things, the grace of the Sacrament of Reconciliation fills up whatever is lacking in our state of contrition. Therefore, no one has to have perfect contrition in order for their sins to be absolved within the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Also, people receive special graces in the Sacrament of Reconciliation to help them resist the temptation to commit the confessed sins again in the future.
And finally, in terms of spiritual warfare, a good Confession followed by receiving the Eucharist is more powerful than an exorcism. The reason is that Confession and the Eucharist are sacraments while an exorcism (as powerful as it is) is not.
…when I have a personal relationship with god.
You may have a personal relationship with God, but when you pray and ask him to forgive your sins, you do
not have a personal
encounter with God. In other words, unless you are undergoing a mystical vision, you do not see God standing there, you cannot reach out and touch him and you cannot audibly hear what he is saying to you. In other words, there is no actual person-to-person encounter with the divine. But in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (as well as all the other sacraments) there
is a personal encounter with Christ, because, as I mentioned above, the priest is chosen by God to be
in person Christi. We have a personal encounter with Christ through the person of the priest. When the priest celebrates Mass, Jesus speaks the words of consecration through him. When a priest absolves someone during Confession, Jesus speaks the words of absolution through him.
As Pope Blessed John Paul II once pointed out, not only does the penitent have a personal encounter with Christ in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but Christ also has a personal encounter
with us. This is a very wonderful concept.
In light of everything I’ve said, consider this. When we go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the
only difference between our encounter with Christ and the encounter that the people in the gospels had (i.e., the woman caught in adultery [John 8:3-11], the paralytic man [Matthew 9:1-8], etc.) is that our encounter with Christ is done through the person of a priest. Other than that, we have the
same person-to-person encounter that the people in the gospels had.
What power does the priest have to forgive sins
This last question has already been addressed in this thread.
