Isn't my priest going to get sick of hearing it every time?

[Lucy_1]

Hi, I’m a new convert, though I’ve been a Christian about 30 years. Here’s a dilemma: since we have sinful hearts which stray from God, can we ever love God with our whole hearts or love our neighbor as ourselves? I was taught that since all our motives and actions are tainted by sin, we can never do this completely. Isn’t my priest going to get tired of hearing me confess this every Saturday?

 

[fermat]

I doubt he will remember from week to week. They are trained to forget what you said. Even if they did remember, they will rejoice that you are seeking Jesus.

 

[StrawberryJam]

Hi, I’m a new convert, though I’ve been a Christian about 30 years. Here’s a dilemma: since we have sinful hearts which stray from God, can we ever love God with our whole hearts or love our neighbor as ourselves? I was taught that since all our motives and actions are tainted by sin, we can never do this completely. Isn’t my priest going to get tired of hearing me confess this every Saturday?

Don’t worry, they have plenty of other things keeping them busy like taking care of the ones dying in the hospitals and their family members, those who call up who fear hell and are very scrupulous and call constantly night and day, and that is not even a quarter of what they deal with everyday alongside their normal priestly and parish duties. You really need to understand that your confession is safe with Father. I have never confessed as I am not a catholic, but I have a Catholic priest as a spiritual advisor and if I could list all the things he does for you guys, on top of annoying people like me he makes time for, I don’t know how he does it really. He is juggling as fast as he can.

 

[valentino]

Hi, I’m a new convert, though I’ve been a Christian about 30 years. Here’s a dilemma: since we have sinful hearts which stray from God, can we ever love God with our whole hearts or love our neighbor as ourselves? I was taught that since all our motives and actions are tainted by sin, we can never do this completely. Isn’t my priest going to get tired of hearing me confess this every Saturday?

We are born with self centered desires.All our actions and motives have a self reason behind them.Even when we do good for another deep down we are looking either for praise,or a new friend which I can enjoy,ect.Until we turn our lives over to Jesus and ask Him to take over our selfish nature we cannnot serve God.We can’t try to serve God we must ask Him to let us serve Him.However one doesn’t sin by being himself not realizing his selfishness.To sin we must be aware that we are being selfish.In other words you must be aware that you are committing sin for your need to confess it.You sound as if you are aware of the reality of sin but we can go overboard and become super critical of everything we do.Just pray to Mary and Jesus for help in overcoming your nature.

 

[The_Reginator]

Look at it this way:

When we receive the Sacrament of Penance/Confession we confess our sins through a priest to God.
God rejoices each time a sinner humbles himself/herself and acknowledges his or her sinful nature and specific sins. By admitting our guilt and feeling truly sorry we are expressing our love for our Lord.
HE NEVER TIRES of hearing us!!!

 

[tlimon]

Hi, I’m a new convert, though I’ve been a Christian about 30 years. Here’s a dilemma: since we have sinful hearts which stray from God, can we ever love God with our whole hearts or love our neighbor as ourselves? I was taught that since all our motives and actions are tainted by sin, we can never do this completely. Isn’t my priest going to get tired of hearing me confess this every Saturday?

Beatific vision is something we all strive toward. Purgatory bronzes most of us in the fire of God’s purifying love and helps toward the beatific vision that we experience in heaven. Most will not achieve this on earth. We can, however, make our world heavenly and hellish. We use the sacraments to facilitate God’s grace. We humble ourselves and aim to be contrite for our sins (confession) and we stumble forth in our ambition to draw close to God through Christ by being like Christ and by becoming like Christ (the Eucharist). These two sacraments are in tandem.

Examen your conscience and make your confessions, over and over if you must. But remember that you are ultimately pursuing Christ. He is our bridegroom we are his bride and we chase him through the streets like in the Song of Songs. Knock and you shall find. Find Christ in the Eucharist, repent before if you must. Or, is it that Christ finds you? Ah, the mystery of faith!

You sound a lot like me. Read this, I love it and I think you might too! Take care and God bless.

basilica.org/pages/ebooks/St.%20John%20of%20the%20Cross-A%20Spiritual%20Canticle%20of%20the%20Soul.pdf

 

[EasterJoy]

In the unlikely event that he even remembers what you said last time, he still knows how it is. Your confessor probably confesses many of the same things every time himself!

 

[acarlson]

I doubt he will remember from week to week. They are trained to forget what you said. Even if they did remember, they will rejoice that you are seeking Jesus.

In the unlikely event that he even remembers what you said last time, he still knows how it is. Your confessor probably confesses many of the same things every time himself!

Amen. I’ve heard from several priests that it’s a gift given to them that they never remember what someone tells them in the confessional. They honestly won’t remember what you told them the next time you see them! Don’t worry about it.

 

[Lucy_1]

Thank you! These are such helpful answers!

I feel like all of you are my friends so I’m sending friend requests

 

[Edward_H]

Hi, I’m a new convert, though I’ve been a Christian about 30 years. Here’s a dilemma: since we have sinful hearts which stray from God, can we ever love God with our whole hearts or love our neighbor as ourselves? I was taught that since all our motives and actions are tainted by sin, we can never do this completely. Isn’t my priest going to get tired of hearing me confess this every Saturday?

Wonderful that you take advantage of Confession with this solid frequency. Wonderful.

God will not tire of hearing you sincerely confess your struggles every Saturday. Instead, you will actually be ‘giving’ God great joy. He’ll put on a feast in heaven like he did with the prodigal son.

If someone loves you with supernatural love, they never tire of forgiving. : > Isn’t that marvelous.

Be sincere and child-like. May God continue to bless you frequently through Confession.

 

[The_Reginator]

Wonderful that you take advantage of Confession with this solid frequency. Wonderful.

God will not tire of hearing you sincerely confess your struggles every Saturday. Instead, you will actually be ‘giving’ God great joy. He’ll put on a feast in heaven like he did with the prodigal son.

If someone loves you with supernatural love, they never tire of forgiving. : > Isn’t that marvelous.

Be sincere and child-like. May God continue to bless you frequently through Confession.

 

[fabricdragon]

there are many of us who struggle with “recurring sins” and yes its tough to walk in and confess the SAME sin over again.

if all you have to worry about is falling short? (all have sinned and fall short) then you are doing pretty well and its probably a relief to poor father… assuming he recalls you at all.

as a personal example i have trouble getting to Mass. i have never had a priest comment on how OFTEN i have had to come in and confess to missing Mass, which i am deeply ashamed of (and which often makes it vary hard to go to church which becomes a vicious circle if i dont catch it)
but if it is something i struggle with (and i do) then just like my struggles with depression and anger i have to confess…
again

we all have those sins we are prone to. and we will likely be confessing them over and over. thats just life.

 

[Spirithound]

Hi, I’m a new convert… Here’s a dilemma: since we have sinful hearts which stray from God, can we ever love God with our whole hearts or love our neighbor as ourselves? Isn’t my priest going to get tired of hearing me confess this every Saturday?

Welcome home!
My first answer is perhaps a little off-the-cuff: No, he won’t get tired of it because he hears so many confessions he simply cannot remember it all in chronological order, pairing a voice to a sin. It’s a bit of a reality check, because the priest is just not scrutinizing the average penitent for repeated sins.

Now, more to the heart of the matter, confessing a general transgression of the Greatest Commandment and the Second-Greatest is not a very fruitful way to improve in the spiritual life because this covers literally every sin possible. Instead, examine your conscience for specific ways that you have sinned.

 

[puzzleannie]

Hi, I’m . Isn’t my priest going to get tired of hearing me confess this every Saturday?

no he is not, that is his job, he does not remember confessions once they are done and in any case that’s why he is there. If we were not frail sinful humans we would not need him in this role of absolving us in Christ’s name and authority.

what you can ask him is for help in overcoming the habitual sin, and that is also his job. don’t let thoughts of the priest as a person distract you from the reality that in this sacrament he is also Christ.

 

[odile53]

There are a couple of priests with whom I regularly confess. I doubt they’d remember, and in fact, one of them did assure me that after an hour of hearing pretty run-of-the-mill stuff, it all tends to blend together and he couldn’t tell you who said what or when if his life depended on it!

So I shared my real fear–that God Himself is so crashingly bored with my repetitive sins that the boredom is becoming offensive to Him! I mean, I could just picture God watching my life like some grainy old Andy Warhol movie and saying, “Oh, look. She’s gonna do it again! Isn’t that the fifteenth time this week? How about coming up with something a little more original, Odile? BORRR-ING!!”

Of course, my priest explained to me that really, all this is is the grace of awareness of the repetitive nature of this one particular issue, and the fact that the Holy Spirit is inspiring me to grow spiritually beyond it. Flexing and strengthening my spiritual muscles to do so, though, is entirely going to be reliant on my own initiative. In other words, God will certainly forgive my sins, but in no case is He going to keep my soul clean. That is something I have to be willing to try to do myself. And He gives me the grace to try, to work, and on the (sadly) rare occasion that I actually manage to avoid sin or (sadly even rarer) occasion I manage to cultivate the opposing virtue, He’s right there, applauding my efforts, as halting and half-baked as they frequently are.

 

[Lucy_1]

Now, more to the heart of the matter, confessing a general transgression of the Greatest Commandment and the Second-Greatest is not a very fruitful way to improve in the spiritual life because this covers literally every sin possible. Instead, examine your conscience for specific ways that you have sinned.

Oh I do. I keep a list of all the sins I commit (at least those I’m aware of) each week. It just seems to me impossible to tell whether I’ve loved god with my whole heart, so that is one that I will have to keep asking forgiveness.

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

Isn’t my priest going to get tired of hearing me confess this every Saturday?

I’m in that dark box for about an hour. I’d rather be busy hearing confessions than bored staring at the back of the door (that makes for a VERY long hour).

Most people don’t have “new” sins every week. Usually individuals have a small set of sins that they struggle with on a regular basis. So when you find yourself confessing the same thing over and over again, don’t worry, you’re normal!

 

[EasterJoy]

I’m in that dark box for about an hour. I’d rather be busy hearing confessions than bored staring at the back of the door (that makes for a VERY long hour).

Most people don’t have “new” sins every week. Usually individuals have a small set of sins that they struggle with on a regular basis. So when you find yourself confessing the same thing over and over again, don’t worry, you’re normal!

IOW, not only does your confessor probably not know what you said last time, but if he was lucky enough to have 20 penitents before you, one of them probably beat you to it and confessed the same thing today!!

Besides, if you’re #3 of five people he sees today, be assured that he isn’t under the impression that the rest of his parish had nothing to confess since the last time he heard from them. Doctors who don’t get any patients don’t assume that disease and injury have magically been eradicated!

 

[Spirithound]

Oh I do. I keep a list of all the sins I commit (at least those I’m aware of) each week. It just seems to me impossible to tell whether I’ve loved god with my whole heart, so that is one that I will have to keep asking forgiveness.

Right, but this is my point. Not having loved God with your whole heart only manifests through sin. By confessing your specific sins, you have in fact also confessed not loving God with your whole heart. If you have no sins, then you have loved God with your whole heart.

 

[Lucy_1]

Right, but this is my point. Not having loved God with your whole heart only manifests through sin. By confessing your specific sins, you have in fact also confessed not loving God with your whole heart. If you have no sins, then you have loved God with your whole heart.

Not neccesarily. It’s not just a matter of not sinning, but of doing good. Even if I have no sins to confess, it doesn’t mean I have loved God with my whole heart, because there are always good works I didn’t do, and there are always sins I’ve committed that I’m not aware of or have forgotten. So I don’t think loving God with you whole heart is possible, in this life.