Do I still need to go to Confession?

[cedartree]

I’ve been struggling with this for a while and hope that you can help make up my mind.I’m a practicing catholic and in my younger days I grew up in a strict catholic family.I have unconfessed sins that I can’t bring myself to confess to a priest. I’ve been praying to JESUS to help me with this.My sister-in-law passed away with bone cancer,she was so in to Jesus that she saw HIS beautiful face and forever seeing angels. She was a little unconcience when I went to see her one day and I leaned over to kiss her with out a word and she said my name and then said JESUS forgives you. I don’t know if I should take that a sign from Jesus or I should still confess. I’m to ashamed to tell the priest and only want JESUS to know. I want to do the right thing by religion being catholic and just wandering what you think.Thankyou for listening. Hope to hear from you soon. May the good LORD bless you and give you the knowledge to pass on the good word and help change lives.

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Dear Cedar,

I see your sister-in-law’s statement as an encouragement from the Lord Himself to go to Confession. Priests hear all kinds of sins and are not shocked at what they hear. The Lord was willing to suffer such torture and then die that we could be freed from sin. The least that we can do is actually ask His forgiveness on His terms, i.e. that we confess them to one of the priests He has appointed for this task.

Also, if you have been holding back the confessing of mortal sins that you know you have committed, those confessions have not been valid. So you really need to go to Confession. Just focus on Him.

Remember, if you knew that you were going to die next week, somehow you would find the courage to go to Confession. Well, you don’t know that you are not going to die next week. So get to it! You are in our prayers.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.