How often do you go to confession?

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Hi! I probably don’t go as often as I should, but that is something I hope to work on this year! It’s been 3 months since my last confession…but I am planning on going tomorrow. 😃 Karin (a newbie)
 
I actually should be going more often than I do…It’s been almost a year since I’ve gone. I don’t know… :o It’s been once a year for about two years now…
 
I go once a month. More if something serious comes up that I need to confess.
 
Once a month. It helps me to be more mindful of the many little ways I sin against charity towards others.

Waiting a long time in between confessions hardens the conscience against many things that we need to weed out from our lives.
 
Once a week for me!

If John Paul II went once a week then it is the least I can do.
 
one time a month…sometimes more

A good habit is to examine your conscience every morning and every night.
 
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Madia:
I recommend the First Saturday Devotion to the Immaculate Heart. That way (along with all the other graces you’ll be receiving), you’ll be getting to confession at least once a month:
theworkofgod.org/Devotns/1stsatrd.htm
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This is what I do also. I go to confession more often if needed.

Autumn
 
Once every 3 months for me. I would do more but there aren’t as many Confessional hours as there used to be…
 
Once a week at college, because our priest has an hour for confessions before Mass, and few people show up so I can go and get good sound advice. When I’m not at college, still usually once a week, but the lines are longer and there’s usually not time to get good spiritual direction (but sometimes those priests astound you!).
 
originally posted by Dorothy
Waiting a long time in between confessions hardens the conscience against many things that we need to weed out from our lives.
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I totally agree. I go anywhere from evey 6 weeks to every 8.
Since I’m a SAHW, I seldom get the chances I used to get to be sinful when I was in the working world. 😃
I have waited once for 4 months and really had to scrape my conscience for sin. I knew it was there but I had “hardened” to it.
I try to go when it’s still pretty “fresh”.
 
I try to go at most once every two or three weeks.

This is why…

**Frequent Confession… **

Pope Pius Xll, in his encyclical: " Mystici Corporus" , summarized the principal fruits into 8 reasons for frequent confession:
  1. Frequent Confession increases the true knowledge of oneself. By examining our conscience more frequently, we will have greater memory of all of our transgressions that need to be confessed, and not just our habitual sins.
  2. Frequent Confession will encourage Christian humility. By better recognizing our sins, our confessions will be more humbling , which helps to make up for our pride, which is the root cause of all of our sins.
  3. Frequent Confession tends to root out bad habits.
    Frequent confession will help us to overcome our dominant faults, so that we can progress in improving our spiritual lives.
  4. Frequent Confession fights spiritual negligence and tepidity. Tepidity is a blind settling mediocrity without a real willingness to come out of it. The extra graces we receive from frequent confesssion helps to move us past our lethargy to improve our spiritual lives.
  5. Frequent Confession purifies the conscience. The cleansing of our consciences make our souls more transparant to the imperfections that previously were invisible to us, helping us to remove more of the stain of sin from our lives.
  6. Frequent Confession strengthens the will. One of the greatest illness of our time is lack of will power and and weak character. We feel much stronger after Confession.
  7. Frequent Confession lends itself to spiritual guidance. We should choose a regular confessor who can help us in Confession by guiding our conscience.
  8. Frequent Confession increases graces. By its own effect, frequent confession increases sanctifying grace, is accompanied by a sacramental grace which wipes out sin, strengthers against temptation, and gives feelings of joy and peace to the soul.
Frequent Confession with frequent Holy Communion is the path recommended by Popes and many great Saints to bring us closer to Jesus, and progress in holiness in our spiritual lives. . It is what we should emulate.
 
Julia E:
I go once a month.
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Your well on the way for a Devotion to the Scared Heart!
(see Sacred Heart, www.theholyrosary.org)

12. I promise You in the excessive mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant to all those who communicate on the First Friday of nine consecutive months the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in my displeasure nor without receiving the Sacraments; My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.

Andy
 
Once every 2-3 months. I’m probably due about now. :o Nothing major going on, but it’s good for the soul. Plus, if I wait too long in between it’s easier for me to procrastinate and put it off even longer. I try to never go more than 3 months without it. Maybe I’ll go next week, my first confession for 2006…start the new year off right. 🙂
 
OK, without, of course, being overly specific, how does someone who is trying to do right have enough to go to confesson about every month, let alone every week? I just don’t get it, but am beginning to suspect maybe I should.
 
Well, sometimes it’s like my dad says: an alcoholic who is trying to do right might fail a lot, but going to confession every week keeps him going and gives him the strength to make it to the next week.

Many people, myself included, try to do right, but sometimes certain sins get ahold of you. Other times, it’s just the small sins that creep in. We can often become numb to the small things because we think that as long as we avoid the big things then we are okay. Confession is great in and of itself, too, because it infuses us with God’s graces.
 
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katy:
OK, without, of course, being overly specific, how does someone who is trying to do right have enough to go to confesson about every month, let alone every week? I just don’t get it, but am beginning to suspect maybe I should.
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You know most of us go to Confession in order to confess something we did. If we only go to Confession when we have mortal sins to confess, then we are underutilising the Sacrament.

What we need to do is to change the angle we are viewing ourselves at.

When we begin to look at those things we fail to do and we should do, like duties of your state in life, regular prayer, compassion and love to all, humility etc then we see, without much difficulty, the need for very frequent confession.

It is like looking on our life as a window that appears to be clean from a distance. When we inspect the window at a closer level we see streaks and splashes all very small but none the less present.

The confessional is there for the absolution of venial as well as mortal sin. It is there also for guidance in the spiritual life although Pope John Paul has warned that it is not excessively to be used as a counselling booth!

For those who prescribe to a high degree of holiness the Confessional is seen as a necessary twin to the Holy Mass.

I also tend to look on it from a % point of view (seeing that I am a mathematician!!) If I go to Mass once a week and Confession once a month, then the ratio is 1:4.
If I am a daily communicant and I go to Holy Mass 7 times a week and Confession once a week then the ratio is 1:7!! Guess who needs it more??
 
What does “duties of your state in life” mean, exactly? I think I may have a general sort of idea, but hear this phrase a lot without really knowing.
 
Duties according to your state in life simply means the rights and duties you are called to defend and fulfill if single, married, ordained or in religious life.

If married the rights and duties are religious, spousal and parental and personal.
If single they are religious (with your faith) family and personal.
If ordained or in religious life they are religious as in duties of office and personal
 
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