How does confession feel?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pathway2
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
It for many feels uncomfortable. This is ok. Humbling ourselves to the point that we recognize our faults and failings isn’t always an easy thing. Do it anyway. Things that are worthwhile are rarely easy.

On a lighter note, and someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I thought I read an Archbishop Fulton Sheen quote that said, “Hearing nun’s confessions is like being bludgeoned to death with popcorn.”
 
Last edited:
I love Confession.

It is a little bit nerve-wracking, especially since I have some anxiety issues. I struggle with examining my conscience and articulating what my sins are, and that causes worry. But when I focus on the sacrament itself and its purpose, those fears can be set aside.

My experiences have been incredibly positive. I often feel like I had a weight lifted from my shoulders, and it becomes much easier to fight the temptation of sin.

@cbirtell - I rarely have mortal sins to confess, but Confession is still valuable to me. Venial sin may not have the effect of mortal sins, but repeated venial sins over time can weaken our defenses against sin. If you find you’re having difficulty with it or understanding the graces that come from it, you might find it helpful to do some reading on the sacrament and its effects.
 
Pathway2 said:
How does confession feel? Is it hard to confess your sins to a priest or it is alright to confess them?

I like to hear your experiences of confession.
Click to expand...
Reply #2. Yes, it’s hard to confess sins to a priest. I have committed many grave actions and it is very humbling to do what I don’t want to do, tell somebody else about them. But, I feel obliged to do this, to adhere to what St. Paul says in I Co about not having communion with the LORD unworthily.

In the Nicene Creed, we end the statement of our beliefs with words that include a belief in the forgiveness of sins.

Our sins are an impediment to a relationship with God, and He has given us a path for “working out our salvation with fear and trembling.”
 
resolute said:
Me too. This allows me to visualize Jesus sitting on the other side of the screen, listening then absolving me.
Click to expand...
Me too. The last time I went to confession, I said something that I’m sure identified me to the priest, and said something like “ you probably know who I am” but he said nothing about that, and we just moved on.
I feel like going behind the screen is more official, or something.
I’ve done face to face but it just felt less holy, like I was conversing with a friend. I guess we often prefer how we did things when we were first taught.
 
Hope1960 said:
I’ve done face to face but it just felt less holy, like I was conversing with a friend. I guess we often prefer how we did things when we were first taught.
Click to expand...
I think this hits the nail on the head. I’ve only ever done face-to-face, and I went to a church recently that had an old-style confessional. I couldn’t manage it - it was just too foreign for me.
 
For sins that are not mortal confession is very good as we obtain graces from that sacrament.
 
Hope1960 said:
I’ve done face to face but it just felt less holy, like I was conversing with a friend. I guess we often prefer how we did things when we were first taught.
Click to expand...
I was brought up with behind the screen. Now where I confess (a Benedictine abbey) there is the option to do either. I now prefer face-to-face.

Practically speaking, there’s no hiding who I am anyway. I’m an oblate of the abbey and all the monks, including the confessor, know me and would recognize my voice.

But I’ve also come to prefer the format. I find it simply more humbling to have to face your confessor, “homme à homme”. The reason I like confession as opposed to the Protestant practice of just confessing to Jesus, is that to have to face a live human being is an opportunity for spiritual growth and humility. Sin is an offense not just to God but also to the community, and confessing sin to a member of the community to make right with the community just seems right and makes the whole think palpable.

Honestly I find behind the screen a bit too much like anonymous posting on the Internet 😉
 
It’s very hard for me to confess very bad sins to the priest, but the alternative is worse.

I can’t tell you how freeing it is, how peaceful I feel after I leave the confessional after knowing I’ve been forgiven.

I can’t recommend it highly enough.
 
I know you know this, but just wanted to add that hearing the priest, who is “in persona Christi” give the words of absolution is wonderful!
 
And if the person has not committed any grave sins, there is no obligation.
 
Assuming you are either relatively young or new to the RCC, I offer you this. It is normal to be “nervous” about talking about your most serious faults and failings with a stranger. That is absolutely normal, I would imagine every one of us “old timers” felt that way in the beginning, and for some time afterward. Don’t feel like the Lone Ranger on that one. Once, however, you realize that the priest isn’t there to judge you, or remember you and your sins, or hold anything against you, it becomes easier. Then when you understand that, unless the priest is hearing his first confession and you are it, he’s probably heard it all before. I imagine the commons sins he hears, lying, cheating, skipping Mass, all kinds of sexual sins, lusting, greed, etc. etc. he’s heard hundreds, thousands of times. In fact, I once read a priest said that about 70% of what he hears in confession are sins of a sexual nature. So, no need to be worried. He’s there, in the place of Christ, to forgive and urge you back onto the reservation.

It gets easier, and more gratifying and delightful as you mature in your Catholic life. Don’t fail to take advantage of this great sacrament, as often as possible.

Shalom!
 
It’s always a positive experience. I feel brand new and washed clean.
 
Dorothy said:
I know you know this, but just wanted to add that hearing the priest, who is “in persona Christi” give the words of absolution is wonderful!
Click to expand...
Oh absolutely! God was brilliant, He made humans the dispensers of His sacraments and thus His graces. I’ve never heard those words of absolution without coming out of the confessional as if I were floating on a cloud!
Ardent_Fire said:
It’s always a positive experience. I feel brand new and washed clean.
Click to expand...
Indeed, a refreshing shower for our souls. A shower of Christ’s tears and opened side from the Cross.
 
Last edited:
What is so great is that it is good to take advantage of our Lord’s graces in the confessional at least once a month, even for just venial sins. I am blessed that I live in an area where it is convenient to use the confessional. His grace abounds!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top