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Joe_5859
Guest
Well, if you can get your entire parish overnight to start going to Confession on a weekly basis, then we’ll talk logistics.
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tafan
Guest
We must be very careful when we say that Communion wips away all venial sins. The CCC does say it wipes away venial sins, but it does not say the word “ALL”, and it references the council of trent catechism which says the following:You’re correct that receiving the Eucharist wipes away venial sin. So – strictly speaking – frequent Confession is not necessary for those who are not struggling with mortal sin. But that doesn’t mean it is not beneficial.
Reconciliation is a sacrament. That means, by definition, it is one of those instruments that Christ entrusted to the Church to dispense grace to the faithful. I don’t know if anyone can ever have too much grace.
Think of it like taking your car in to the mechanic. You can either hold off until the car breaks down. Or else you can take in in at regular intervals for checkups to make sure that everything is running smoothly so that you stave off any major breakdown from happening at all.
Frequent Confession is like that. It’s not about fixing all these things that are in dire need of repair on a daily basis. It’s about staying tuned in to your spiritual health and keeping everything in tip-top shape.
“It cannot be doubted that by the Eucharist are remitted and pardoned lighter sins, commonly called venial. Whatever the soul has lost through the fire of passion, by falling into some slight offence, all this the Eucharist, cancelling those lesser faults, repairs, in the same way �� not to depart from the illustration already adduced �� as natural food gradually restores and repairs the daily waste caused by the force of the vital heat within us. Justly, therefore, has St. Ambrose said of this heavenly Sacrament: That daily bread is taken as a remedy for daily infirmity. But these things are to be understood of those sins for which no actual affection is retained.”
Please note the last sentence, those sins for which no actual affection is retained. That has commonly been interpretted as those sins for which we are sorry, and to be forgiven, we need to actually have recalled them and repented from the specific sins in our minds before reception of the Eucharist. Ie, what we have recalled in a examination of conscience.
This same requirement does NOT exist for confession. If one forgets a venial sin in the confessional, dispite making an examination of conscience, it is forgiven. Frequent confession is a good thing. It does NOT lead to scruples. Quite the opposite, how often do most of us make an examination of conscience besides when we go to confession?? We say we are sorry for our sins, but do we take the time to say what we are sorry for? For many of us, only when going to confession. Without the frequent use of the sacrament of confession, we become unaware of our venial sins; sin gradually gains a hold on us.
My last pastor said in an adult class on the sacraments, people are always worried these days of being overlly scrupulous; but he has only seen a handful of true examples of that in all of his years of being a priest. What people think as being overlly scrupulous is normally people who are become aware of their sins, but don’t go to confession often enough; or people who are looking for an excuse to tell themselves they are not really sinful, denying their conscience.
Go to confession often, and you will come to accept the forgiveness of God, you will slowly overcome sin, and you will not be overlly scrupulous.
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Joannm
Guest
I think what is being discussed here is actually devotional confession. A person goes to confession very frequently as a devotional practice. Honestly I can’t see myself going more than I normally do or even less once a day. I would not know what to confess daily. For example today I woke up early, said my prayers, went to Mass, grocery shopping, started cooking a few meals for the week, helped a friend’s music director get ready for Lent, and now I am spending some free time online. If I went to confessions yesterday I really would have no sins, not even venial (since any I might have had were forgiven when I went to Mass).
I understand that for the poster who goes every day it helps him in his spiritual life but personally I could not imagine doing it. I also work for a parish and have access to a priest every day, but if I asked one of them to go to daily confession I believe they would discourage me.
I understand that for the poster who goes every day it helps him in his spiritual life but personally I could not imagine doing it. I also work for a parish and have access to a priest every day, but if I asked one of them to go to daily confession I believe they would discourage me.
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LilyM
Guest
Well, at Sunday Mass at the start of the penitential rite the priest usually says words to the effect of ‘to prepare ourselves to celebrate these sacred mysteries, let us call to mind our sins…’ so unless we aren’t listening or participating, that is what we will do, no? Amounts to an examination of conscience.
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tafan
Guest
To the extent you are able to in a few moments, you are correct; but the genial sins you do not call to mind, which you have recently committed; it is hard to say you have no attachment to those sins.
My main point is as follows: the argument has been made that weekly confession is not needed, since the Eucharist wipes away ALL of our venial sins… Well, it does not wipe away all, as the council of Trent catechism makes clear.
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Joannm
Guest
Many of us examine our conscience every night before going to bed, also making an act of contrition. So I would say it is possible to recall our sins during that time in the penitential rite.
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tafan
Guest
Yes, I agree. Again, only pointing out the limits to the forgiveness of venial sins through the eucharist.
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hazcompat
Guest
TO THE CARDINAL MAJOR PENITENTIARY
Pope John Paul II
Purpose and benefits of sacramental Penance…
But the sacrament of Penance contains in itself, precisely because it imparts or increases supernatural grace, the power of spurring the faithful to practise fervent charity, to perform the resulting good works and to accept devoutly the sorrows of life, which also merit the remission of temporal punishment.
You have been washed clean and sanctified
In this respect the truth of faith and the practice of indulgences are closely connected with the sacrament of Penance. An indulgence is actually the remission before God of the temporal punishment for sins the guilt of which has already been forgiven. Under specific conditions, a properly disposed member of the faithful obtains it with the help of the Church, which, as the minister of Redemption, authoritatively dispenses and applies the treasury of satisfactions of Christ and the saints (CIC, can. 992). Thanks be to God that, wherever the Christian life is lived fervently, the faithful love indulgences and devoutly use them. And since gaining a plenary indulgence first requires the soul’s total detachment from affection for sin, they and the sacrament of Penance marvelously complement each other in that essential goal of destroying sin, which as I said before, is identified concretely with the infusion or increase of sanctifying grace.
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peace
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