Havent been to confession in over 6 years

[jman507]

Richard_Hurtz:

I guess I don’t understand the logic here: “go even if don’t think you need it?”

If I understand my sins to be forgiven through Confession, then why would I go again if I understand those sins to be forgiven?

We should go when we have something to confess. At least that’s what I’ve always understood.

Blessings,
Richard

Yeah I know its pretty sloppy logically, but I doubt that what at issue here is really simply an honest wondering if confession is needed. I think its more that a person doesn’t want to go to confession out of fear.

One can try to say confessing sins to God privately in your bedroom is the same as confessing your sins to another person, but I doubt anyone would really think that. Its quite humbling to have to confess to another person, but yet for some reason when you can freely admit and take all guilt for your sins, in my experience, I’ve always felt a sence of freedom from it. Confessing privately is not quite the same, as much as one would like to hope. (Which as an aside, it seems a lot of people always want a feeling of an experience of God, for me, the Eurcharist almost always fails in that respect for me, but I tell you confession is almost a never fail, actually that has probably been some of my greatest feelings of the experience of God in my life.)

 

[melbourne_guy]

Can someone please answer some more questions on this topic

1. will i go straight to hell if i have not confessed a mortal sin to a priest befor i die? (i get hit by a bus)
2. Is personally confessing my sins to jesus useless since they will not get forgiven anyway?

 

[thistle]

melbourne_guy:

Can someone please answer some more questions on this topic

1. will i go straight to hell if i have not confessed a mortal sin to a priest befor i die? (i get hit by a bus)
2. Is personally confessing my sins to jesus useless since they will not get forgiven anyway?

If you are in a state of mortal sin and remain unrepentant and you get hit by a bus and die you will go to Hell.
The priest at the Sacrament of Reconciliation is the representative of the Church and the representative of Christ so at Conession you are confessing to Jesus.

If you make an Act of Perfect Contrition you are still required to go to Confession as soon as possible thereafter but if you were killed before then you would be forgiven.
If you make an Act of Perfect Contrition but have no intention of going to Confession thereafter then you would not be forgiven.

 

[scylla]

If you are not repentant of sin, I would really fear for your soul.

If you are repentant of sin then you would want to leave it behind you and you would intend to confess it.

Now you can lie to yourself about putting it off and saying you will do it later, but it is important to be honest and think if you are doing God’s will or your will.

I think many people somehow convince themselves they are ok in many ways. The truth is that God knows everything and no matter how hard we convince ourselves do we fool Him?

This is not to be directed at you or anything, this is just a common way people deal with their own shortcomings. You might have very different reasons, but I was the self convincing type of person and I didn’t go to confession for I am not sure a long time… Over 12 years or so.

I fooled myself into thinking that I would wait until I was older, or that I was sorry anyways and that was fine since many people believe that we shouldn’t confess sins to other people and only to God. (This always bothered me as it seemed like a dodge)

Eventually I faced up to it, and boy is it difficult, and it sure is worth it.

God Bless
Scylla

 

[Aaron_I]

Confession is optional for venial sins but necessary for mortal ones. It really is extremely important for you to confess the grave sins you mentioned. Not only will you be forgiven, but you will receive grace to help end the sins. This won’t be a one-time cure, but a process that may require you to go to confession at minimum once a month. That’s why confession is vital even on a practical level, it holds you accountable.

Praying to God for a “confession” does not cover mortal sins. Consider 1John 5:16

If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray.

One thing to keep in mind is that priests have heard it all before. Unless you’ll have to confess to bestiality, he’s not going to be shocked.

One last thing: I used the term mortal sin several times. While the specific things you mentioned certainly qualify as grave matter, only you can determine whether or not the other requirements were met.

 

[JSmitty2005]

You may want to read paragraph 37 from JP2’s encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia. It basically says that you shouldn’t be receiving the Eucharist if you are not in a state of grace.

 

[Toni]

jimbob:

Confession is a wonderful sacrament. I try to go as often as possible, it makes me feel so much better. The question of why we can’t just ask Jesus to fogive us is common. But if jesus had wanted us to ask him directly, why would he have established confession?

I will give the second grade answer to this, since we just covered it.
Christ instituted the sacrament when He said to the apostles “Receive the Holy Spirit whose ever sins you forgive, who ever sins you hold bound shall be held bound”. Christ instituted the sacrament at this point and it is not very effective to lay in bed and say your sins. There is no accountability. Perhaps it is to difficult for you because of the accountability.

 

[AquinasXVI]

melbourne_guy:

Thanks to everyone that posted, very helpful. ill go to confession but the thing im scared of most is exactly what some of you discussed, humiliation. my face will turn extremely red when i adress issues like pornography and masturbation and i dont think i can handle that. i dont really mind confessing about being selfish and sometimes taking my family for granted but when it comes to private issues i dont know how to confess it.

Melbourne Guy:

That is indeed one of the beauty of this sacrament…all things embarassing and humiliating will be coming out of our own mouths. We then don’t have to wait for the final judgement to be accused for we have accused ourselves (to the church and to the vicar of Christ)when we go to confession. It is not by accident that the psychiatrists have flourished in countries that are non-catholic…every person needs to tell on themselves, it’s a primordial human function of accountability.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen said that when we step out to the world we put our best foot forward. When we step into the confessional we put our worst foot in first.

Lastly, frequent confession leads to vigilance—we tend to make more examinations of conscience when we know we’re going to confession. Lastly, if you don’t have a spiritual director, it’s best to find a priest that you believe with all of your sensors to be true to the church and go to him always…then you both can track your weaknesses that you can work on until the next time around.

Hope you rediscover the generosity of Christ in this sacrament.

in XT.

 

[JSmitty2005]

Toni:

I will give the second grade answer to this, since we just covered it.
Christ instituted the sacrament when He said to the apostles “Receive the Holy Spirit whose ever sins you forgive, who ever sins you hold bound shall be held bound”. Christ instituted the sacrament at this point and it is not very effective to lay in bed and say your sins. There is no accountability. Perhaps it is to difficult for you because of the accountability.

Just to reinforce this, melbourneguy, remember John’s words regarding mortal sin? He said that these sins we should **not ** simply pray about. Also, the whole “if your brother sins against you, go to the church” thing wouldn’t make much sense without this sacrament and neither would “binding and loosing.” Finally, receiving the Lord unworthily like St. Paul talks about would have not meaning if there wasn’t a way to cleanse ourselves in order to receive worthily. Like Toni said, the ministry of reconciliation would not have been established if Christ didn’t want us to use it.

 

[hurst]

melbourne_guy:

Can someone please answer some more questions on this topic

1. will i go straight to hell if i have not confessed a mortal sin to a priest befor i die? (i get hit by a bus)
2. Is personally confessing my sins to jesus useless since they will not get forgiven anyway?

I think #1 has been answered well.

As for #2, it is not useless as long as you fulfill whatever He requires of you.

Remember the ten lepers? He told them to go show themselves to the priests, and on the way, they were healed.

Luke 17:12 And as he entered into a certain town, there met him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off; 13 And lifted up their voice, saying: Jesus, master, have mercy on us. 14 Whom when he saw, he said: Go, shew yourselves to the priests. And it came to pass, as they went, they were made clean.

We are also required to show fruits worthy of penance.

Luke 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance; and do not begin to say, We have Abraham for our father. For I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

Apocalypse 2:5 Be mindful therefore from whence thou art fallen: and do penance, and do the first works. Or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou do penance.

In general, the Church makes it clear to us that Jesus requires us to go to the priests and do penance, to the extent we are able.

hurst

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

Richard_Hurtz:

I guess I don’t understand the logic here: “go even if don’t think you need it?”

If I understand my sins to be forgiven through Confession, then why would I go again if I understand those sins to be forgiven?

We should go when we have something to confess. At least that’s what I’ve always understood.

Blessings,
Richard

In addition to which, why go at all if one has not committed a mortal sin ? A priest told me that the precept of annual confession applied only if one had “something to confess” that is not venial - IOW, that is mortal.​

Since only mortal sins are reckoned as “proper”, “fully-grown”, sins - that is, as sin in the strict sense - this makes perfect sense. Venial sins can be sorted out by an act of contrition - no absolution is necessary for them. There is no clear virtue in being stricter than one need be - where the Church imposes no obligation, we are not under any obligations but those imposed by conscience. And that preserves the Church’s freedom to give laws, and be obeyed; and our freedom of action and decision. ##

 

[JSmitty2005]

## In addition to which, why go at all if one has not committed a mortal sin ? A priest told me that the precept of annual confession applied only if one had “something to confess” that is not venial - IOW, that is mortal.

Since only mortal sins are reckoned as “proper”, “fully-grown”, sins - that is, as sin in the strict sense - this makes perfect sense. Venial sins can be sorted out by an act of contrition - no absolution is necessary for them. There is no clear virtue in being stricter than one need be - where the Church imposes no obligation, we are not under any obligations but those imposed by conscience. And that preserves the Church’s freedom to give laws, and be obeyed; and our freedom of action and decision. ##

Not only that, but at every Mass, venial sins are forgiven.

 

[hurst]

Richard_Hurtz:

This analogy is unsatisfactory. If I were to employ this mode of thinking I would have to confess a mortal sin multiple times in order to receive forgiveness. I understand a confession made with true contriteness of heart is what is required - not multiple confessions.

Actually, the cleaning part is a great analogy.

There are two parts of penalty: eternal punishment and temporal punishment.

We receive forgiveness from the guilt of eternal punishment by an act of contrition with the intention to confess, and it is completed by the actual confession.

But the temporal punishment may remain.

We can diminish that temporal punishment by repeatedly confessing the same sin, as long as we have any residual contrition to go along with it.

This is confirmed by the Summa here:

… confession diminishes the punishment in virtue of the very nature of the act of the one who confesses, for this act has the punishment of shame attached to it, so that the oftener one confesses the same sins, the more is the punishment diminished.

Summa Theologica
Whether confession delivers from punishment in some way?
catholicprimer.org/summa/XP/XP010.html#XPQ10A2THEP1

Note: Regarding the minimum annual requirement of confession, if you think you didn’t commit a mortal sin that year, then you can always confess one that had already been confessed in the past.

hurst