Lk 11:13

[Brown10985]

Hello everyone. I thought I’d share with you this Scripture passage. "If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit_ to those who ask him?” Lk 11:13

This passage can be used to affirm those who believe they’ve sinned mortally that, as soon as they ask for the Holy Spirit to reenter their heart, they will be brought back into sanctifying grace (provided of course you aren’t continuing to will anything gravely contrary to God’s law.)

I hope the Scripture passage can help the scrupulous on here!

 

[MidnightSun12]

Hello everyone. I thought I’d share with you this Scripture passage. "If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit_ to those who ask him?” Lk 11:13

This passage can be used to affirm those who believe they’ve sinned mortally that, as soon as they ask for the Holy Spirit to reenter their heart, they will be brought back into sanctifying grace (provided of course you aren’t continuing to will anything gravely contrary to God’s law.)

I hope the Scripture passage can help the scrupulous on here!

If a person sins mortally, this person needs the sacrament of confession to bring their soul back to life.

We have to remember that asking for forgiveness isn’t about getting God to grant us His forgiveness, He offers that to us without condition. Asking for forgiveness is about relinquising our own rejection of God’s will and re-alligning ourselves so that we can allow God’s forgiveness to bring us back to life. The problem with asking for God’s forgiveness outside of the sacrament of confession is that we often ask poorly. When we repent, how many of us truly repent entirely out of a love for God and not even slightly because we are afraid of hell, etc? When we repent imperfectly, we can’t obtain forgiveness since we haven’t presented our sins to God in a way that He could forgive without violating our free-will!

That’s where the sacrament of reconciliation comes in. Confession takes our imperfect sorrow and makes it perfect which allows us to be freed from our sins even when our desires for doing so are somewhat selfish or imperfect.

Scrupulous people should have a priest whom they can contact when they are unsure if they have sinned mortally. That said, I would not advise developing the belief that a person can obtain forgiveness without the sacrament of confession… as this is simply not true except in the most exceptional of cases (when perfect contrition is present… but even this requires a firm purpose to get to confession ASAP).

 

[cheezey]

When we repent, how many of us truly repent entirely out of a love for God and not even slightly because we are afraid of hell, etc?

Understood all, but there are some who truly repent and not for fear of hell, etc…

 

[MidnightSun12]

Understood all, but there are some who truly repent and not for fear of hell, etc…

Agreed, but even in those cases they still have a duty to get to confession as soon as they can.

 

[cheezey]

Agreed, but even in those cases they still have a duty to get to confession as soon as they can.

well, then I guess I am in trouble, as I do not have a priest. I can get to one, but I am seen as the ‘other one’, despite that I am interested in joining, at first, seeking advice on whether I am a candidate for them.

 

[cheezey]

Scrupulous people should have a priest whom they can contact

I do not have a priest that will contact me on the matter, despite contact with them with earnest interest.

 

[MidnightSun12]

well, then I guess I am in trouble, as I do not have a priest. I can get to one, but I am seen as the ‘other one’, despite that I am interested in joining, at first, seeking advice on whether I am a candidate for them.

Have you been baptized? If not, you need to enroll in RCIA. Baptism will erase all sins committed up to the point of baptism:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=316411

cheezey:

I do not have a priest that will contact me on the matter, despite contact with them with earnest interest.

I went through RCIA last year. I was honestly interested in coming back to the Church but I had a lot of trouble getting in touch with my local parish about enrolling. This parish never did respond to my emails and the lady seemed to be genuinely over-loaded with responsibility when I did speak with her.

If I had tried to stick it out at this parish, I likely would have missed enrollment and possibly even not gotten confirmed this past Easter. That said, I started looking at other parishes in the area and seeing if I could enroll in their RCIA program. Ironically, the very next parish I contacted had their ducks totally in a line and they were able to get me enrolled in just a few short days. This parish was extremely organized and proactive with their RCIA students and their classes just happened to be starting a few short weeks after I enrolled!

The key here is to be persistent. Sometimes, God tests us a little to make sure that joining His Church is really a task that we are up to. Getting to heaven is no easy feat, a bit of difficulty in finding a good priest/parish is simply going to be the first of many struggles that you will have to confront along your journey on the narrow path!

God bless!

 

[cheezey]

Have you been baptized? If not, you need to enroll in RCIA. Baptism will erase all sins committed up to the point of baptism:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=316411

The key here is to be persistent. Sometimes, God tests us a little to make sure that joining His Church is really a task that we are up to. Getting to heaven is no easy feat, a bit of difficulty in finding a good priest/parish is simply going to be the first of many struggles that you will have to confront along your journey on the narrow path!

God bless!

Thank you. I was baptized as a baby in the Methodist Church, proof of which may be lost, and the Church became a Hispanic Pentecostal Church. I was persistent, but have run out of strength. Again, I may try again, or just pray for the best. I am tired.
Again, thank you.
Blessings.

 

[Brown10985]

If a person sins mortally, this person needs the sacrament of confession to bring their soul back to life.

We have to remember that asking for forgiveness isn’t about getting God to grant us His forgiveness, He offers that to us without condition. Asking for forgiveness is about relinquising our own rejection of God’s will and re-alligning ourselves so that we can allow God’s forgiveness to bring us back to life. The problem with asking for God’s forgiveness outside of the sacrament of confession is that we often ask poorly. When we repent, how many of us truly repent entirely out of a love for God and not even slightly because we are afraid of hell, etc? When we repent imperfectly, we can’t obtain forgiveness since we haven’t presented our sins to God in a way that He could forgive without violating our free-will!

That’s where the sacrament of reconciliation comes in. Confession takes our imperfect sorrow and makes it perfect which allows us to be freed from our sins even when our desires for doing so are somewhat selfish or imperfect.

Scrupulous people should have a priest whom they can contact when they are unsure if they have sinned mortally. That said, I would not advise developing the belief that a person can obtain forgiveness without the sacrament of confession… as this is simply not true except in the most exceptional of cases (when perfect contrition is present… but even this requires a firm purpose to get to confession ASAP).

MidnightSun,

I think you are confusing human love of God with loving God with the theological gift of charity. Having perfect contrition involves rejecting sin with the theological gift of charity. The theological gift of charity isn’t something earned by involuntary psychological factors, such as how intense a guilty feeling is or how much you desire God for His own sake. The theological gift of charity is a free gift given to us by God, and what we must do to be able to receive charity is reject all grave sin. Thus, the Council of Trent was discussing rejection of sin with charity and without charity when making a distinction between imperfect contrition and perfect contrition. The Scripture passage I quoted can be used to give justification that a person posesses the theological gift of charity (which coincides with having the Holy Spirit) when they ask it of God outside of the Sacrament of Reconciliation with the proper disposition to receive charity (not willing anything gravely contrary to God’s will). We still need to go to Confession after sinning mortally (there is, after all, a communal aspect of sin). However, I think that there is a misconception of what perfect contrition is that places an unnecessary burden on people, espeically the scrupulous.