Do we need to confess to a priest?

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Billy_Sweeney

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I was born and raised Roman Catholic, although I drifted away from religion for a long time, I am back, jumping in with both feet, determend to deepen the roots of my faith and profess my love for Jesus and the Virgin Mother. I am blessed, and lucky enough to have Saint Padre Pio as a spiritual guide. So you may be surprised at my question. Why do we have to confess to a priest? What does it say in the bible about this? If Jesus knows my sins and I am truely sorry for them,and I repent and do my best not to repeat these sins, is this enough? Why is a priest needed for absolution when Jesus can offer this Himself? I have confessed my sins to Padre Pio at His confessional at His shrine in Barto Pa. If ever I had a feeling of absolution it was there. Is that good enough? I will add that while I was there at the confessional, I had a vision of Padre and the feeling of his presence was overwhelming and undenyable. Thankyou for any help or (name removed by moderator)ut on this matter. Billy Sweeney bsjackstraw@wmconnect.com
 
If we really want to be honest with ourselves ( a rather difficult proposition, as hedging the truth seems to be an essential part of sinning), then instead of playing an intellectual game of “why”, the better question may be “why not?”.

Given that there are references to the power to forgive sins directly in the Gospels, one might search at length for a command that one may only be forgiven (in normal circumstances) by a priest. The search, however, is undergirded by a false assumption; that only the Bible is the source for any requirements (rules, regulations, structuring of Sacraments etc.).

The Church has three sources of authority: the Bible, Sacred Tradition, and the Magesterium (or teaching authority of the Church). The Church was given the power toi bind and to loose; and by that authority, and the Gospels, and the Sacred Tradition, all of which work together to give us the “how to” of the Sacraments, we are bound to confess to a priest.

So the better question is, why are you so reluctant to take part in the Sacrament of Reconcilliation? Is it a sense of shame about your specific sins? Is this something that is bound up with the sin of pride, an unwillingness to admit to another your sins? Or is it an lack of understanding of what the Sacraments really are? They are the meeting point between Christ and ourselves, through the ministry of the priest. Christ is the one who forgives your sins; although the priest administers that forgiveness “…I forgive you your sins”, it is not of his own power that he forgives, but the power delegated by Christ.
 
In 2 parts-

Anyone who wants to fight has to use the available means, which have not changed in twenty centuries of Christianity. They are prayer, mortification and frequent use of the sacraments. Since mortification is also prayer — prayer of the senses — we can sum up these means in two words: prayer and sacraments.

I would like us to reflect now on the sacraments, which are foundations of divine grace. They are a wonderful proof of God’s loving kindness. Just meditate calmly on the Catechism of Trent’s definition: “Certain sensible signs which cause grace and at the same time declare it by putting it before our eyes.” God our Lord is infinite; his love is inexhaustible; his clemency and tenderness toward us are limitless. He grants us his grace in many other ways, but he has expressly and freely established, as only he can do, seven effective signs to enable men to share in the merits of the redemption in a stable, simple and accessible way.

If the sacraments are abandoned, genuine christian life disappears. Yet we should realize that particularly today there are many people who seem to forget about the sacraments and who even scorn this redeeming flow of Christ’s grace. It is painful to have to speak of this sore in a so-called christian society, but we must do so for it will encourage us to approach these sources of sanctification more gratefully and more lovingly.

Read next part too-
 
Without the slightest scruple people decide to postpone the baptism of newly born children. Yet by doing so they seriously go against justice and charity by depriving children of the grace of faith, of the incalculable treasure of the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in a soul which comes into the world stained by original sin. They also try to change the true nature of the sacrament of confirmation, which tradition has unanimously seen as a strengthening of the spiritual life. By giving more supernatural strength to the soul, through a quiet and fruitful outpouring of the Holy Spirit, confirmation enables the Christian to fight as milites Christi, as a soldier of Christ, in his intimate battle against selfishness and lust of all sorts.

If you lose sensitivity for the things of God, it is very difficult to appreciate the sacrament of penance. Sacramental confession is not a human but a divine dialogue. It is a tribunal of divine justice and especially of mercy, with a loving judge who “has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; I desire that the wicked turn back from his way and live.”

The tenderness of our Lord is truly infinite. See how gently he treats his sons. He has made marriage a holy bond, the image of the union of Christ and his Church, a great sacrament on which is based the christian family that has to be, with God’s grace, a place of peace and harmony, a school of sanctity. Parents are the cooperators of God. That is the reason why children have the obligation of loving them. It is quite right to describe, as I wrote many years ago, the fourth commandment as the sweetest precept of the Decalogue. If you live marriage as God wishes you to, in a holy way, your house will be a bright and cheerful home, full of peace and joy.
from ’ Christ is passing by ." St Josemaria Escriva.
A spiritual perspective on this and all sacraments.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Yours in Jesus, Mary & Joseph,

John
Saints are just sinners who keep trying.http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon7.gif
 
There are so many ways to have your sins forgiven, so many ways of saying sorry too.

sorryeverybody.com/

But the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a privelaged place of encounter with the risen Lord.
 
Why do you confess your sins to a priest?

The Scriptures are explicit when they state that the power to forgive sins was given to the Apostles.

John 20:
21 He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.
22 When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
23 Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.

Furthermore, from the History of the Church, we clearly see that it was always the practice of the faithful to confess to priests. Indeed under the persecutions of Decius in 250 and Daia in the early 4th Century, we see the controversy among the Church as to how the lapsed (those who denied Christ under persecution) should be readmitted to the Church, and what their penance should be before they could be given absolution and fully admitted back into the Church to once again receive the Sacraments. See St. Cyprian of Cathage’s treatise on the lapsed (I read it only a few weeks ago, very good).

Furthermore, in the confessional, the priest acts in persona Christi, in the person of Christ. He is not acting as an individual man, but as Christ through the ministry of the Church to give absolution to the penitent. In that sense, you are going straight to God with your sins, for only God has the power to forgive sins. However, he has chosen his priesthood to be the ministers of that forgiveness.

Contrary to what other posters may have implied, if you have commited mortal sin, it is necessary to receive sacramental Confession before receiving the sacraments, particularly receiving Holy Communion.

While it is true that by perfect contrition, it is possible to be forgiven mortal sins outside of the confessional, we would have no way of knowing this occured except for a special revelation, it is also more difficult to have perfect contrition than imperfect contrition (you can be forgiven with imperfect contrition in the confessional, but not without a priest).
 
JOHN

20:20 And when he had said this, he shewed them his hands and his

side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord.

20:21 He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.

20:22 When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. 20:23 Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.
 
Why do we have to confess to a priest? What does it say in the bible about this? If Jesus knows my sins and I am truely sorry for them,and I repent and do my best not to repeat these sins, is this enough? Why is a priest needed for absolution when Jesus can offer this Himself? I have confessed my sins to Padre Pio at His confessional at His shrine in Barto Pa. If ever I had a feeling of absolution it was there. Is that good enough?
Click to expand...
OK. I’m scared that a “born and raised” Catholic doesn’t have the answer to this. But others here have given you a good start.

Have you not yet returned to the Sacrament of Confession since returning to the Church? (If you have not, I hope you are refraining from receiving the Eucharist.)

My guess is that if the Padre Pio I know and love reallly did appear to you, then he would have said: “You call me your spiritual guide? Well, then, follow my humility: go to a Priest, as our Lord has asked you to do, and make a good confession as you have just attempted to do here.”
As others have said, Jesus does offer himself. But the way he offers himself in the ordinary line of things is through his Priests.
 
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leonardoboff:
There are so many ways to have your sins forgiven, so many ways of saying sorry too.

sorryeverybody.com/

But the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a privelaged place of encounter with the risen Lord.
Click to expand...
Nice website. Do you also have a link to as site that sells kerosene impregnanted American flags, complete with lighter?
 
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