Mortal sin and the confessional

[pianistclare]

How can it be chance if we can make the choice to go to Confession at any time?
This simply underscores the need to be aware of our sinfulness, avoid the near occasions of sin, and resolve to remain in a state of grace. Fortunately Reconciliation is available in every parish. One can always find a church and a confessor. If scheduled times are not convenient, every priest hears Confessions by appointment.
Believe in God’s mercy.

 

[pwlj_christ871]

heres an example:: lets say there are 40 people lined up waiting to be heard at confession, and a gunman comes out and murders them, will they go to heaven because they did not get reconcialed through the sacrament?

 

[misstherese]

If they felt remorseful for their sins and set on not committing them again, yes. There is imperfect and perfect contrition. Perfect contrition is purely a selfless contrition. It is when someone is sorry for their sins for offending God, out of love of God. Imperfect is a sorrow for sins because of a fear of Hell, desiring Heaven, etc. The main thing is that the person is set on not committing them again.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

I guess I meant natural order. I’ll correct it.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

heres an example:: lets say there are 40 people lined up waiting to be heard at confession, and a gunman comes out and murders them, will they go to heaven because they did not get reconcialed through the sacrament?

We’re not God. We cannot answer that on any official capacity. Confession, a valid and sincere confession, is our only guarantee of salvation when in mortal sin.

Now, if you’re standing in line for confession with the full intention of confessing it is very likely, as we’ve learned from the saints and the Church, that God would take that into account.

The thing that you want is 100% answer. We do not know that. There could be three persons, all in mortal sin, one goes straight to heaven, one to purgatory and one to hell. At the same rate, the man who was killed that just stepped out could have made a bad confession…and at the very least he’s got purgatory…

…there are no guarantees but through the church’s sacraments.

 

[bquinnan]

Neither whether we commit mortal sin nor whether we go to Confession are merely matters of chance. To be truly culpable of mortal sin, one must commit an act willfully and knowingly, and that act must involve grave matter. In other words, it isn’t going to happen by accident; it is a choice. Repentance is, likewise, a choice.

“Individual, integral confession and absolution remain the only ordinary way for the faithful to reconcile themselves with God and the Church, unless physical or moral impossibility excuses from this kind of confession.” There are profound reasons for this. Christ is at work in each of the sacraments. He personally addresses every sinner: “My son, your sins are forgiven.” He is the physician tending each one of the sick who need him to cure them. He raises them up and reintegrates them into fraternal communion. Personal confession is thus the form most expressive of reconciliation with God and with the Church. (CCC 1484, emphasis added)

I believe we can trust that God, whose mercy endures forever, will forgive the soul who seeks His forgiveness even if that soul is truly prevented from going to confession. On the other hand, it seems to me that the danger of such hypothetical questions comes when we assume such exceptions apply in our own situation. If I need to go to confession, what is stopping me? Am I in a hospital bed or a prison cell, unable to leave or request a priest? Are there no priests in my region? Or is it just that going to confession is uncomfortable or inconvenient for me? If truly want to receive God’s forgiveness for mortal sins, I must make the choice to go to confession as soon as possible. That’s not chance – that’s a decision.

 

[pwlj_christ871]

well thats what I am asking about is the churches sacraments, i agree with them, but im just asking, what if you dont get to them in time?

 

[bquinnan]

well thats what I am asking about is the churches sacraments, i agree with them, but im just asking, what if you dont get to them in time?

Again, see passage 1484 of the Catechism:

“Individual, integral confession and absolution remain the only ordinary way for the faithful to reconcile themselves with God and the Church, unless physical or moral impossibility excuses from this kind of confession…". (CCC 1484, emphasis added)

There is a saying that while man is bound to the sacraments, God is not. If someone can’t get to confession but dies sincerely seeking God’s mercy, it is apparently at least possible that he will receive it, from what the catechism says. On the other hand, if someone tells himself that he will get to confession when he has the time but just never gets around to it, God will know what his true “intent” was.