getting to heaven the Catholic way

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santaro75

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I am frustrated right now because I don’t think it is possible for me to get into heaven. I can’t stop sinning. and being that confession is pretty much once a week and I go every week I worry that if i die before I can get to confession I will go to hell.

Some of my sins are mortal sins and I confess them every day to God and pray for forgiveness and graces to sin no more. But my sin continues.

I am finding that with the Catholic model of salvation I will never get into heaven and that God has abaondoned me because of my sin.

I pray all the time, attend mass at least 3 times per week. I volunteer and try to always do good things.

i’m out of Ideas.
 
santaro75 said:
I am frustrated right now because I don’t think it is possible for me to get into heaven. I can’t stop sinning. and being that confession is pretty much once a week and I go every week I worry that if i die before I can get to confession I will go to hell.

Some of my sins are mortal sins and I confess them every day to God and pray for forgiveness and graces to sin no more. But my sin continues.

I am finding that with the Catholic model of salvation I will never get into heaven and that God has abaondoned me because of my sin.

I pray all the time, attend mass at least 3 times per week. I volunteer and try to always do good things.

i’m out of Ideas.
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santaro75, I’m quite sure you’re going to heaven. I don’t think you need to worry as much as you do. The Lord is moving you by his Spirit to do everything good, despite your failures in between confession.

We all mess up. 🙂

Don’t fall into the error of Jansenism my friend. It was officially outlawed by the Catholic Church in 1712 for very good reasons. I don’t think you’ll find peace with God going that way.

Just trust the Sacred Heart of the Lord as the Holy Spirit moves you in all his holy ways. And remember that God is love. 🙂
 
santaro75 said:
I am frustrated right now because I don’t think it is possible for me to get into heaven. I can’t stop sinning. and being that confession is pretty much once a week and I go every week I worry that if i die before I can get to confession I will go to hell.

Some of my sins are mortal sins and I confess them every day to God and pray for forgiveness and graces to sin no more. But my sin continues.

I am finding that with the Catholic model of salvation I will never get into heaven and that God has abaondoned me because of my sin.

I pray all the time, attend mass at least 3 times per week. I volunteer and try to always do good things.

i’m out of Ideas.
Click to expand...
What does your priest say?
 
Santaro, don’t lose hope - there was one particular mortal sin that I was struggling against for months, going to confession every week for it as you do.

What happened was that after a long time I finally became aware of the thought processes which lead up to the sin - I was able to recognise the signs and actually stop myself in my tracks with a quick prayer to Our Lady or St Michael! Now I seem (by the Grace of God) to have virtually conquered this one particular sin.

So just bear in mind you’re not going to become perfect and sin-free overnight, but it will happen for you. It’s what God wants for you and he will always help. Just look at yourself as a spiritual work-in-progress.

Take your worst or most frequent sin, work on eliminating it and replacing it with its opposing virtue. When you see sufficient progress with that one sin, move on to another and then another.
 
Valke2 said:
What does your priest say?
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From a Catholic perspective, this is usually not discussed by the confessor in detail-- though I can see the reasons for your concern and do understand where you’re coming from. 🙂
 
Valke2 said:
What does your priest say?
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he said he is too busy for spiritual direction and isn’t qualified. so i left it alone.

my spiritual father has too many children so i get mass and confession.
 
LilyM said:
Santaro, don’t lose hope - there was one particular mortal sin that I was struggling against for months, going to confession every week for it as you do.

What happened was that after a long time I finally became aware of the thought processes which lead up to the sin - I was able to recognise the signs and actually stop myself in my tracks with a quick prayer to Our Lady or St Michael! Now I seem (by the Grace of God) to have virtually conquered this one particular sin.

So just bear in mind you’re not going to become perfect and sin-free overnight, but it will happen for you. It’s what God wants for you and he will always help. Just look at yourself as a spiritual work-in-progress.

Take your worst or most frequent sin, work on eliminating it and replacing it with its opposing virtue. When you see sufficient progress with that one sin, move on to another and then another.
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it is not just one thing. but it has been years now. i just don’t want to go to hell because i didn’t make it to confession in time. I am repentent of it though
 
In other news…

I go to mass and I feel like my prayers are partly answered from the second reading. Seems that Jesus understands our weakness’ and thus we are covered by his grace. I understand that repentence and a sincere effort is required and a reliance on his grace to overcome your sin.

"Reading II
Heb 4:14-16

Brothers and sisters:
Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God,
let us hold fast to our confession.
For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who has similarly been tested in every way,
yet without sin.
So let us confidently approach the throne of grace
to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help."
 
santaro75 said:
In other news…

I go to mass and I feel like my prayers are partly answered from the second reading. Seems that Jesus understands our weakness’ and thus we are covered by his grace. I understand that repentence and a sincere effort is required and a reliance on his grace to overcome your sin.

"Reading II
Heb 4:14-16

Brothers and sisters:
Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God,
let us hold fast to our confession.
For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who has similarly been tested in every way,
yet without sin.
So let us confidently approach the throne of grace
to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help."
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Amen brother.

The Lord indeed is merciful. If you are honestly open to his Spirit, he will not forsake you even though you struggle with sin. God knows that sometimes it can take years to overcome these things. Some people never do in their lifetime.

And yet, if we are open to God’s Spirit he will certainly not forsake us for these things, especially if we have a contrite heart in our struggles against sin.
 
santaro75 said:
I am frustrated right now because I don’t think it is possible for me to get into heaven. I can’t stop sinning. and being that confession is pretty much once a week and I go every week I worry that if i die before I can get to confession I will go to hell.

Some of my sins are mortal sins and I confess them every day to God and pray for forgiveness and graces to sin no more. But my sin continues.

I** am finding that with the Catholic model of salvation** I will never get into heaven and that God has abaondoned me because of my sin.

I pray all the time, attend mass at least 3 times per week. I volunteer and try to always do good things.

i’m out of Ideas.
Click to expand...
The Catholic model of salvation?

It is Christ’s model of salvatiion.

But it appears to me that you are spending too much time trying to earn heaven.

Catholics do not believe we need to earn our way to heaven. It is a free gift. You need to stop trying to be worthy of the gift and just start thanking Him, especially when you fail, thank Him for the wonderful gift of confession.

We can’t confess enough or do enough to get to heaven. Salvation is a free gift of Grace from God that we will NEVER be worthy enough to earn.

Take a deep breath, and stop trying to earn your way to heaven. Rest in Him and the Peace that He has been waiting to give you. That is the “Catholic” model of Salvation.

May God bless you with peace and confidence in your salvation.

Maria
From CA Library Assurance of Salvation?
One can be confident of one’s present salvation. This is one of the chief reasons why God gave us the sacraments—to provide visible assurances that he is invisibly providing us with his grace. And one can be confident that one has not thrown away that grace by simply examining one’s life and seeing whether one has committed mortal sin.
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santaro75 said:
I worry that if i die before I can get to confession I will go to hell.
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Are you truly sorry for your sin?

As Catholics we believe we are forgiven if we die without the opportunity for sacramental confession but having made an Act of Perfect Contrition (repenting out of love for God rather than purely for fear of hell or other motives.) This should be combined with a resolve to attend confession as soon as possible if we survive.
 
santaro75 said:
he said he is too busy for spiritual direction and isn’t qualified. so i left it alone.

my spiritual father has too many children so i get mass and confession.
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You could ask your priest to recommend a place to go to get spiritual direction, or you could call your diocesan administrative office and ask for recommendations.
 
Santaro75,
My dear brother, it sounds like you are suffering from an affliction that tends to haunt many of the saints - scrupulosity. I suffered greatly with this burden when I first came back to the Church. Then my confessor told me to stop beating myself up about my failings and concentrate on how much Jesus loves me. He told me that the Father so loved the very idea of me (even with my weaknesses) that he caused me to spring into being. Our Father loves you that much, too. Jesus understands your struggles.

One thing you may want to consider is something that was discussed in This Rock magazine: “The Catechism explains that one commits only venial sin when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter but without full knowledge or without complete consent”. CCC 2352:
To form an equitable judgment about the subject’s moral responsibility, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, or other psychological or social factors that can lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.
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You are not alone in your quest to please God, though none of us really can. Only the Son truly pleases the Father. So it is only the grace that comes from Jesus that makes us pleasing to God, and it is only through faith and faithfulness that we attain that grace.

God does not demand success; He only asks for faithfulness. Faithfulness means we try, but we confess that with all our trying we will never succeed. So we cast our burden upon the Lord and trust that He will carry us, as He has promised.

Grace to you, brother.
Paul
 
PaulDupre said:
Santaro75,
My dear brother, it sounds like you are suffering from an affliction that tends to haunt many of the saints - scrupulosity. I suffered greatly with this burden when I first came back to the Church. Then my confessor told me to stop beating myself up about my failings and concentrate on how much Jesus loves me. He told me that the Father so loved the very idea of me (even with my weaknesses) that he caused me to spring into being. Our Father loves you that much, too. Jesus understands your struggles.

One thing you may want to consider is something that was discussed in This Rock magazine: “The Catechism explains that one commits only venial sin when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter but without full knowledge or without complete consent”. CCC 2352:

You are not alone in your quest to please God, though none of us really can. Only the Son truly pleases the Father. So it is only the grace that comes from Jesus that makes us pleasing to God, and it is only through faith and faithfulness that we attain that grace.

God does not demand success; He only asks for faithfulness. Faithfulness means we try, but we confess that with all our trying we will never succeed. So we cast our burden upon the Lord and trust that He will carry us, as He has promised.

Grace to you, brother.
Paul
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thanks for that. tho I feel that I do sin, i just don’t feel that God is going to condemn me to hell
 
our pastor frequently reminds us that the bible consistently tells us 3 things:

Love God

Love your neighbor

Don’t worry

Take that advice and go with it. Show your love of God through the love of your neighbor in your actions toward them. Enjoy the peace of of Christ at mass, in prayer and be confident that God will care for your spiritual needs. don’t give up and stop worrying…just keep turning to God. He loves you and he won’t give up on you.
 
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