Confession

[KimL]

Why is confession necessary? Why do I have to tell my sins to another sinner? Why cant I tell my sins directly to God in a prayer?

Thanks

 

[Firefox]

I’ll leave the official language to someone else, but here’s my favorite analogy. Say you hurt someone. You want to apologize. If it’s something small, you might do it over the phone. But, if you, say, hit them with your car… a phone apology is just not enough. Any person would apologize in person.

The Priest is acting in Persona Christi. You are apologizing in person. You are NOT confessing to another sinner.

 

[KimL]

I’ll leave the official language to someone else, but here’s my favorite analogy. Say you hurt someone. You want to apologize. If it’s something small, you might do it over the phone. But, if you, say, hit them with your car… a phone apology is just not enough. Any person would apologize in person.

The Priest is acting in Persona Christi. You are apologizing in person. You are NOT confessing to another sinner.

Sorry but it still dont answer the question. If I hit someone with a car I would apoligize in person; so why dont I pray “in person”? You kind of proved my "self’ point.

 

[Other_Eric]

Why is confession necessary? Why do I have to tell my sins to another sinner? Why cant I tell my sins directly to God in a prayer?

Thanks

Sin not only offendsGod but does damage to the individual’s relationship to the Church. The sinner therefore must be reconciled both to God and the Church.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

We confess our sins to a priest because that is the procedure Christ established for the forgiveness of sins. The priest is the successor of the apostles, to whom Christ said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” (John 20:22-23) In order for the priest to make the determination (acting in the person of Christ, in persona Christi), whether to forgive a sin or not, obviously that sin must first be confessed to the priest.

 

[baltobetsy]

The real, true, deep-down answer is that Jesus wants it that way. On Easter night He gave the apostles the power to forgive sins, and He intended that power to be used.

Less important reasons: So we have to be accountable. To humble us. And especially to assure us of forgiveness. We can pray to God alone until we turn blue, and we can only hope He has forgiven us. When another person who speaks with the authority of God (the priest) tells us we are forgiven, that means so much to us and is a source of comfort and assurance. God loves us and wants that for us.

Betsy

 

[anniemart]

just want to add this note…we should always stive to be truly sorrow for the sins we committed. Therefore, we won’t commit that sin again or fall into the false mentality that Catholics can do everything wrong; confess; and go out and do it all again. Confession shouldn’t fortify bad habits. Also, unless we let the priest know that we are willing to accept our penance, there is no guarantee that we will be forgiven ours sins at that time.

 

[water]

Why is confession necessary? Why do I have to tell my sins to another sinner? Why cant I tell my sins directly to God in a prayer?

Thanks

Why did Jesus tell the apostles, who were sinners, to forgive sins and to hold sins? was it for the fun of it? was it because Jesus couldn’t do it Himself?

 

[fellowChristian]

Old Testament

** Leviticus 4**
27 " 'If a member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands, he is guilty. 28 When he is made aware of the sin he committed, he must bring as his **offering for the sin he committed **a female goat without defect. 29 He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering. 30 Then **the priest **is to take some of the blood with his finger and **put it on **the horns of **the altar **of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 31 He shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the fellowship offering, and the **priest shall burn it **on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. In this way **the priest will make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven. **

32 " 'If he brings a lamb as his sin offering, he is to bring a female without defect. 33 He is to lay his hand on its head and slaughter it for a sin offering at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. 34 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 35 He shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the lamb of the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar on top of the offerings made to the LORD by fire.** In this way the priest will make atonement for him for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven.**

New Testament

**John 20 **

21Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

James 5
14 Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

15 And **the prayer of faith shall save the sick man**: and the Lord shall raise him up: and **if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.**

16 Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much.

Because God set it up that way.

 

[fellowChristian]

2 Corinthians 2:10 NAB

10 But one whom you forgive anything, **I **forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, **I **did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ,

2 Corinthians 2:10 Douay-Rheims

10 And to whom you have pardoned any thing, I also. For, what **I **have pardoned, if **I have pardoned any thing, for your sakes have I **done it in the person of Christ.

 

[Firefox]

Sorry but it still dont answer the question. If I hit someone with a car I would apoligize in person; so why dont I pray “in person”? You kind of proved my "self’ point.

I could kill my own analogy by pointing out that by its terms, you’d be even better off Confessing to the Blessed Sacrament. As I said, the other posters will be able to give a better explanation.