How often do you go to confession?

[felicity1]

I can count the number of times in one hand since my first time which was 15yrs ago - so not a lot.
I often want to, i play the scenario through in my head but I cant go through with it, i dont know how to ‘do it,’ I wouldnt even know where to sit in church whilst waiting, in some ways i feel I am beyond forgiveness. I get quite nervous easily and I know I would fall to pieces! I often read these posts about others people’s experinces with the sacrament, it gives me some hope. Maybe some day I can overcome this fear i have.

 

[acadian]

I can count the number of times in one hand since my first time which was 15yrs ago - so not a lot.
I often want to, i play the scenario through in my head but I cant go through with it, i dont know how to ‘do it,’ I wouldnt even know where to sit in church whilst waiting, in some ways i feel I am beyond forgiveness. I get quite nervous easily and I know I would fall to pieces! I often read these posts about others people’s experinces with the sacrament, it gives me some hope. Maybe some day I can overcome this fear i have.

I can relate to where you’re coming from. A few years back, I went 8 years without going to confession. At that point, I made up my mind that I was going and nothing was going to stop me. I decided which priest I was going to use, found out when his daily Masses were, ASSUMED that he had confessions before daily Mass, and showed up one day. I sat in the back near the confessionals and finally one “church lady” came over and asked me if I wanted to go to confession and offered to go get Father. That worked out nicely, but I would have tracked him down after Mass if I would have needed to. Father showed up, asked me if this would take long (I knew him well, or I might have been offended). That confession was short and sweet, and a turning point in my life.

After that we went once every year or two. I would either go to the cathedral where they heard confessions every day and there was always a line or hit one of the Advent or Lenten penance services. Strength in numbers, you know.

Then one of my children asked me why we only went once a year. Didn’t have a good answer for that, so I had to bite to the bullet and show up during that half hour at our parish on Saturday afternoon. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Thought maybe alarms would go off when we walked in the door? The most intimidating thing was trying to figure out the lights on the outside of the confessional and if anyone was inside or not. There were a handful of other sinners hanging out in the back of the church near the confessional. Those have turned out to be wonderful experiences.

Tell your priest if you don’t know what to do. He will help you. frpat.com/reconciliation.htm has some how-to information, as well as his “credit card to heaven”.

You have options - ask a priest after Mass if he will hear your confession then. Or ask him if you can make an appointment with him. Go to one of the yearly services (though December is a long time to wait). Go to a cathedral or shrine or church where confession is offered frequently. Or show up on a Saturday. No one will look at you like you’ve grown 2 heads - I promise!

And you will feel so much better. I bet your feet won’t even touch the ground on the way out.

 

[seascape]

I can count the number of times in one hand since my first time which was 15yrs ago - so not a lot.
I often want to, i play the scenario through in my head but I cant go through with it, i dont know how to ‘do it,’ I wouldnt even know where to sit in church whilst waiting, in some ways i feel I am beyond forgiveness. I get quite nervous easily and I know I would fall to pieces! I often read these posts about others people’s experinces with the sacrament, it gives me some hope. Maybe some day I can overcome this fear i have.

This is kind of a long story, so bear with me. But I think it might help you to know you’re not alone. This is very similar to how I felt not very long ago. I’d left the Catholic Church about four years prior to join an evangelical Protestant church. Before that, I’d been to confession maybe twice since my confirmation which had been more than 15 years past, and I was pretty much a Catholic in name only. Anyway, as an evangelical, I believed that I had only to confess my sins to God alone. (But at least I did examine my conscience and confess to God on a regular basis, as a lukewarm Catholic, I hadn’t even done that much)

Anyway, I slowly started to feel a pull back toward the Catholic Church. So at some point I started alternating between my church’s service and Mass. There’s a beautiful little Catholic Church down the street from my office which has a daily Mass at lunch time and confession every day after the Mass. This was posted right on a board outside the church. I’d been looking at that Church for years and finally went in for daily Mass a few times. The thing is, I recreived the Eucharist at Mass which was very wrong for me to do. At the time, I knew the Church taught it was wrong, but I didn’t really believe it.

Well, one day after receiving Communion, I felt this overwhelming sense of conviction that what I’d been doing was wrong and that I needed to confess it. I was actually in tears a little bit. But I hadn’t been to confession in years and was very very scared. I had no idea how to begin or what to even say to the Priest. Plus I’m kind of quiet anyway with strangers so I had this whole social anxiety thing going on in addition to being scared from a religious standpoint. I felt sure that I was the worst sinner and maybe the Priest would yell at me or refuse to grant me absolution.

There was a small line, maybe three people, so I sat in a pew near the line trying to work up the nerve to go. Then I started praying very hard for God to help me with my confession. I still had tears in my eyes when I joined the line, and I was really embarrassed because it was kind of obvious. I muttered to the woman in front of me that I was embarrassed as I tried to wipe my eyes, and she, God bless her, said some very comforting things to me and also that she sometimes got that way too.

Well, when it was my turn, I told the Priest immediately that I hadn’t been to confession in a very long time and that I wasn’t sure what to do. He was very kind and guided me through it. I have to say in all honesty, that it was one of the most moving moments of my life. It’s very hard to put into words what I felt, but the relief was tremendous. And I felt so much closer to the Lord. Now I try to go on a regular basis.

Please try to move past your fear and remember that no one is beyond forgiveness. It’s a beautiful Sacrament. Sorry this is such as long post, but I really want you to know that you’re not alone in feeling the way you do.

 

[felicity1]

Thank you for sharing your story - it is nice to read other pepole have been in a similiar situation and overcome it! It gives me a bit of encouragment - thanks again!!