Intent of confession?

[bmullins]

No, i mean, how can your intense desire for penance not count for ANYTHING?

It does count for something. But it has to be so intense that you have perfect contrition. Mortal sin requires being perfectly repentant, not just a little sorry. I agree 100% with what Thistle said, I think it’s being misunderstood. A person can be forgiven with a perfectly contrite heart, on the way to confession.

A person however who is not truly sorry, only going to confession because he has to to get to Heaven, then dies on the way… will likely be going to Hell. Only God knows with those cases, we don’t.

 

[cargau]

So, let me get this straight… If you’re seriously regretting what you did, and you’re seeking forgiveness, and you want to confess… But you die before you can… You go to hell?

So… Basically you people responding arenimplying that if someone committed a mortal sin, rushed to confession, but got hit on a bus on the way there, they’d got to hell?

… Okay, I’m done. I am DONE.
I know a bit about what your church teaches, and that doesn’t sound right.

CAF, sometimes you seriously disgust me. DISGUST ME.

You’re done? You read one person’s interpretation of Church teaching and you flee?

Perhaps, now you might understand the incredible value of authority. The Church has the authority to answer your questions and she will not disappoint you. She may challenge you, but she will not disappoint you.

The fact is, God is not bound by the Sacraments. Not even Reconciliation. God loved each one of us into existence and deeply desires that we love Him. He made us in His image. God is love and we are to reflect that love. We may choose not to do so and that is our choice. A person who is sincerely sorry enough to intend to go to Confession seems to me like someone who is trying to do God’s will and live in His divine light.

I am not presuming to say what God would or should do, that is His call. The Church says that souls are *in danger *of eternal punishment. SHe does not presume to judge souls. Personally, I think God is more interested in the Spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law…

 

[Cristiano]

…The very act of being sorry for a sin and intending to confess is a perfect act of contrition…

I think that you are the one wrong here, sorrow can be for different causes and not out of love. The cheating spouse usually is not sorrow for having offended the spouse but for having been caught. People can be sorry for fear of hell and that is why they go to confession, it is a self-centered reason.
I also think that perfect contrition is not impossible, but I think that is more probable for someone that strives for holiness rather than just avoiding sin. Finally in my opinion a lot of people here try to give the idea that perfect contrition is something almost impossible to have and I disagree with that if you are working on a true relationship with God.

 

[Luvtosew]

I agree with you, many people go to confession because the Church tells them they need to, and just go through the ritual. I also believe like you that one can make a perfect Act of Contrition depending on your reason. Most people wouldn’t bother making an Act of Contrition unless they were truely sorry.

 

[A_G]

It depends on how big the sin is, I think. Yes, maybe you sinned but then you wanted to repent but didn’t have the chance to speak with a priest, it is still possible to get into Heaven. Again, it depends on what you did. God knows your intention was to go to confession and that has to count for something. I believe many of such problems are taken care of in purgatory. God can allow whoever He wants into His kingdom.

 

[Bookcat]

(Though we ought not “presume” )

God is not bound to the Sacraments

He can work in ways we do not see…even in the last moments

 

[Kay_Cee]

No, she means how can a loving God ignore attempts to make it to confession… Because as I said, you’re implying that if someone had the intent to confess, but couldn’t make, they’d go to hell if they died right then.

You’re seriously implying that?

This isn’t a matter of getting off your lazy butt and getting to confession, this is a matter of someone TRYING to the best of their capability to repent here, but having their lives cut short before managing to, and YOU are implying they would go to hell.

… And then you people often turn around, and wonder why non christian people seem so opposed to Christianity…

Suni Moon, (I love your user name!)

Please don’t leave on account of one poster.

First of all, the Church teaches that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and the Bible tells us “a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalm 50:19)

Now, as for the difference between perfect and imperfect contrition:

“Catholic teaching distinguishes a twofold hatred of sin; one, perfect contrition, rises from the love of God Who has been grievously offended; the other, imperfect contrition, arises principally (emphasis mine) from some other motives, such as loss of heaven, fear of hell, the heinousness of sin, etc. (Council of Trent, Sess. XIV, ch. iv de Contritione). (The Catholic Encyclopedia, “Contrition”)” Source: americaneedsfatima.org/Articles/how-to-make-an-act-of-perfect-contrition.html

Let me give you a couple of examples to show the difference between the two. Let’s say two people (we’ll call them Bob and Jim) have committed the same mortal sin. Bob’s prayer is “God, I’m so sorry I spurned You by that sin. It is all my fault that I have offended You grievously, You Who deserve all my love. I resolve to get to confession as soon as possible so I can confess my sin and have You back in my heart.”

But Jim says “Well, yeah, that sin was mortal, and I’m sorry because I don’t want to burn in Hell, but I’ll just go to confession when I feel like getting around to it and get the slate wiped clean.”

In the first case, the emphasis is on God and how Bob offended Him. In the second case, the emphasis is on self. Perfect contrition also has within it a firm resolve to go to Confession at the earliest opportunity.

Please note that imperfect contrition arises principally from a motive other than love of God. However, perfect contrition can have within it a fear of hell and the loss of heaven. After all, if one loves God, wouldn’t one fear the eternal loss of Him? Wouldn’t one also be horrified by the heinousness of one’s sin?

So if either of them gets hit by a truck on the way to Confession, God, who knows what is in their hearts, will treat them with justice. And, as the Bible says, God does not despise a contrite heart.

 

[Deo_Gratias42]

[edited]

Mortal sin is not something a person"stumbles" into.

In order for a sin to be mortal, three conditions must be met.

1. 
   *]The sin must be of grave matter
   *]The person must know it’s grave
   *]The person must have full consent of the will when it’s committed
   
   In other words, mortal sin is something we choose to do on our own freewill. It’s called “mortal sin” because we kill our relationship with God. God doesn’t send us to Hell. We send ourselves to Hell.
   
   I no longer commit mortal sins. I don’t apologize for saying that. If people want to think I’m “high and mighty” that’s their prerogative. I received the graces to make the right choices in my life.