Forgiveness and Confession

[salvereginadude]

I don’t have access to the Sacrament of Reconciliation (luckily soon I will, I start RCIA tomorrow!). But when I confess my sins to God does this mean that they are forgiven? Because I want to go to Confession, and if I could I would. This has been worrying me quite a lot recently. What if I were to do and I hadn’t had the Sacrament of Confession yet, and I had mortal sins on my soul?

 

[VociMike]

Don’t worry one tiny bit about this. If you were to die before your first Confession, I can assure you that this will not happen to you when you come face to face with God:

You: “Lord, I repented of my sins, but I died before I could enter the Church and make my first Confession.”

God: “Wow, that’s rotten luck for you. Had you lived another week you’d be assured never-ending happiness now, but since you didn’t (or rather, since I chose not to let you), you’re just one of the really, really unlucky ones. So long!”

That is not the God who is Love.

 

[NotWorthy]

I don’t have access to the Sacrament of Reconciliation (luckily soon I will, I start RCIA tomorrow!). But when I confess my sins to God does this mean that they are forgiven? Because I want to go to Confession, and if I could I would. This has been worrying me quite a lot recently. What if I were to do and I hadn’t had the Sacrament of Confession yet, and I had mortal sins on my soul?

The Church teaches that if you have a desire to go to confession, and something prevents you from going before your death (like say, Catholic “Beaurocracy”, for lack of a better word for the RCIA process), then your sins will be forgiven.

P.S. Good Luck on your journey Home!!! Welcome!

 

[mark_a]

I don’t have access to the Sacrament of Reconciliation (luckily soon I will, I start RCIA tomorrow!). But when I confess my sins to God does this mean that they are forgiven? Because I want to go to Confession, and if I could I would. This has been worrying me quite a lot recently. What if I were to do and I hadn’t had the Sacrament of Confession yet, and I had mortal sins on my soul?

God knows you are in the pipeline. The Church is delaying you until you are ready. You are doing all you can do.

I wish Catholics felt the same as you feel. I sometimes attend a church that has a couple thousand families. Its extremely rare to see more than 30 people waiting for confession.

 

[trogiah]

The sacrament of confession can be a source of tremendous grace but the surest way to certain of God’s forgiveness, whether you are a Catholic or not, is to practice forgiveness - just like it says in the Our Father and in many other places in Scripture.

Jim

 

[Sir_Knight]

I don’t have access to the Sacrament of Reconciliation (luckily soon I will, I start RCIA tomorrow!). But when I confess my sins to God does this mean that they are forgiven? Because I want to go to Confession, and if I could I would. This has been worrying me quite a lot recently. What if I were to do and I hadn’t had the Sacrament of Confession yet, and I had mortal sins on my soul?

Without sacramental confession may or may not be forgiven but only non-repentant sins will keep you out of heaven.

 

[Michael_Heinzen]

When one longs for forgiveness and seeks to love God and be filled with His grace, my heart tells me that God welcomes you with His great love and mercy.

I was once plagued with scrupulosity and a vision of God as the Divine Bookkeeper, so my new view of God as One who welcomes home the prodigal son with compassion, love and mercy is, in my opinion, a gift that God has given to me to restore peace of soul and deny Satan his attempts to alienate me from my Father.

Also, I happen to live in a place where sacramental confession is not easily available. (It is provided at the chapel on the university campus on Saturday unless superceded by home athletic events, and another parish offers sacramental confession twice a year–once during Advent and once during Lent). This situation has also brought me into a closer relationship with our loving and merciful Lord who forgives outside of sacramental confession, even though I avail myself of the sacrament when offered.