"Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned"?

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Eucharisted

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First time reader, long time poster 😃

Whom do we address when we say “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned”? Are we apologetic to the priest or are we asking God for mercy?
 
Eucharisted said:
First time reader, long time poster 😃

Whom do we address when we say “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned”? Are we apologetic to the priest or are we asking God for mercy?
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Are you talking about the opening of confession? I don’t say that I say “Bless Me, Father for I have sinned” and I am talking to the priest who is there to stand in for Christ.
 
I asked a priest this once, and he said that “Father” refers to the priest.
 
As others have said “Bless me father, for I have sinned”.

We ask God for forgiveness, and the priest for absolution and blessing.

God Bless
 
I said “Bless me father, for I have sinned… it has been (insert amount of time) since my last confession.”

Is that last part necissary to say? It is required that the priest knows how long ago my last confession was?

Once I said all of that and the preist said, “Okaaaaay…” Yeah, so I didn’t know haha. =P
 
Both and isn’t the priest acting in the person of Christ in the confessional?
 
I used to say bless me father, but it sounded like I wasking for a favor from God for not obeying Him. Forgive me sounds a bit more humble.
 
The old rite actually includes a blessing (in Latin) after the penitent says, “Bless me, Father.” The new rite does not, but people are still conditioned, through custom and the media, to say this.
 
If the priest doesn’t say something first, I usually just make the sign of the Cross, say, "My last Confession was … " and then tell my sins until I come to the end, and then I say, “For these and for all the sins of my life, I am truly sorry.”

I have never understood what “bless me, Father, for I have sinned” even means.
 
I’ve always said “Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It has been [time] since my last confession.”, to the point that I even thought it was a required part of the confessional formula. I must be wrong, though…
 
forever_always said:
I said “Bless me father, for I have sinned… it has been (insert amount of time) since my last confession.”

Is that last part necissary to say? It is required that the priest knows how long ago my last confession was?

Once I said all of that and the preist said, “Okaaaaay…” Yeah, so I didn’t know haha. =P
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I have always understood it is best to say how long it has been since the last confession. It certainly helps the Priest in counseling you, which is something he should be doing along with granting absolution.
 
forever_always said:
I said “Bless me father, for I have sinned… it has been (insert amount of time) since my last confession.”

Is that last part necissary to say? It is required that the priest knows how long ago my last confession was?

Once I said all of that and the preist said, “Okaaaaay…” Yeah, so I didn’t know haha. =P
Click to expand...
Had it perhaps been a long, long, long time?? :rolleyes:
 
i don’t say the “bless me Father for i have sinned” part as i have only the one confessor so he knows how long it has been
 
I’ve been saying the same prayer since my first confession, back in 1958.

Bless me father for I confess to Almighty God and to you father, that I have sinned, and these are my sins.

Jim
 
=Eucharisted;4822493]First time reader, long time poster 😃
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Whom do we address when we say “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned”? Are we apologetic to the priest or are we asking God for mercy?
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"Our Father, who art in Heaven"

***ONLY God can and ONLY God does forgive our sins.

The role of the priest is to determine if the penitent is sufficiently sorry and worthy of forgiveness. Thus the WORDS OF THE PRIEST ARE: “I ABSOLVE YOU FROM YOUR SINS” NOT*** 'I forgive you" for your sins.👍

Thanks for asking!

Love an prayers,

Pat
 
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