Need help regarding repeated sin

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StrikingEagle

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]Hello,

Have returned to Catholic Church recently (a few months) after a very long absence (many many years).

Since the confession I made upon return I have been committing/confessing the same sin. Am able to resist temptation for a while with prayer and activities, but then get overwhelmed and give in.

I feel ashamed, angry at myself, question if I truly love God and my desire to be close to God. These feelings and questions discourage me and do not help avoid further temptation.

I’m at a point where I’m too ashamed to re-confess this sin. Perhaps this is satan tempting me further because I’m still struggling with my return to church.
I truly believe in God and need Him close to me. I need His grace and for him to drop a blackboard at my feet to guide me.

How do I avoid repeating this sin? Why is temptation so strong now when it was not before I returned to church?

I’m not going to give up yet my shame and misdirection immobilize me at times.
I feel weak spiritually and need help…don’t know who to ask.
Are you/is someone here able to help?
 
I’m at a point where I’m too ashamed to re-confess this sin. Perhaps this is satan tempting me further because I’m still struggling with my return to church.
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Yes that’s exactly it!

Get going to the Confessional. 🙂 The priest has heard it all before, it’s nothing unusual. Ask his advice for help to overcome the sin! Confession is such a relief, don’t forget!

Read about how to overcome it, read what saints have said about what it takes to do so.

‘Alas, how we are to be pitied if we are not fiercely harried by the Devil! According to all appearances, we are the friends of the Devil: he lets us live in a false peace, he lulls us to sleep under the pretence that we have said some good prayers, given some alms, that we have done less harm than others. According to our standard, my dear brethren, if you were to ask, for instance, this pillar of the cabaret if the Devil tempted him, he would answer quite simply that nothing was bothering him at all. Ask this young girl, this daughter of vanity, what her struggles are like, and she will tell you laughingly that she has none at all, that she does not even know what it is to be tempted. There you see, my dear brethren, the most terrifying temptation of all, which is not to be tempted. There you see the state of those whom the Devil is preserving for Hell. If I dared, I would tell you that he takes good care not to tempt or torment such people about their past lives, lest their eyes be opened to their sins. The greatest of all evils is not to be tempted because there are then grounds for believing that the Devil looks upon us as his property and that he is only awaiting our deaths to drag us into Hell. Nothing could be easier to understand. Just consider the Christian who is trying, even in a small way, to save his soul. Everything around him inclines him to evil; he can hardly lift his eyes without being tempted, in spite of all his prayers and penances. And yet a hardened sinner, who for the past twenty years has been wallowing in sin, will tell you that he is not tempted! So much the worse, my friend, so much the worse! That is precisely what should make you tremble – that you do not know what temptations are. For to say that you are not tempted is like saying the Devil no longer exists or that he has lost all his rage against Christian souls. “If you have no temptations,” St. Gregory tells us, “it is because the devils are your friends, your leaders, and your shepherds. And by allowing you to pass your poor life tranquilly, to the end of your days, they will drag you down into the depths.” St. Augustine tells us that the greatest temptation is not to have temptations because this means that one is a person who has been rejected, abandoned by God, and left entirely in the grip of one’s own passions.’

St. Jean-Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars
 
We are all in the same boat! We are doing what we don’t want to do and not doing what we want to do. Big or small we all repeat our sins and it is very, very humbling to go back and say I did it again. To the confessional we must go. The priest has heard EVERYTHING, over and over. Just think the priests themselves have to confess to other priests that usually know them well. Our Lord wants us humble. Please just run to another parish/priest if you feel you can’t handle to tell the same priest. Certainly the devil doesn’t want you in the Church nor in the confessional! Welcome!🙂
 
Repeated sin = Repeated confession.

When I get discouraged or ashamed, I just resolve to keep going to confession until my priest-confessor tells me to stop coming, and that has not happened yet, after a lot of repeated sins and many confessions.
 
thank you for your replies. all helpful.
quote from St. Jean-Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars very good.
 
Pope Francis March 2013

God Never gets tired of forgiving

Brothers and sisters, good day!..

On this fifth Sunday of Lent, the Gospel presents the episode of the woman caught in adultery, who Jesus saves from being condemned to death. The emphasis of Jesus is striking: we don’t hear words of disrespect, we don’t hear words of condemnation but only words of love, of mercy, inviting us to conversion. “Neither do I condemn you: go and sin no more!” Eh! Brothers and sisters, the face of God is that of a merciful father, an ever-patient one. Have you thought of God’s patience, the patience that he has for each of us? That’s his mercy. He’s always patient, patient with us; he understands us, approaches us, he never tires of forgiving us if we know to turn to him with a contrite heart. “Great is the mercy of God,” says the Psalmist.

In these days, I’ve been able to read a book by a Cardinal – Cardinal Kasper, an on-the-ball theologian, a good theologian – on mercy. And I thought it was really good, this book, but don’t think that I’m plugging the books of my cardinals! It isn’t so! But it was really good, really good… Cardinal KAsper said that to feel mercy, this word changes everything. It’s better that we can feel it: it changes the world. A little mercy makes the world less cold and more just. We need to understand this mercy of God, this merciful Father who has so much patience… Let us remember the prophet Isaiah, who said that even if our sins might be as scarlet, the love of God will make them white as snow. It’s beautiful, this mercy! I remember, when I was [an auxiliary] bishop, in 1992 [the pilgrim statue of] Our Lady of Fatima came to Buenos Aires and a great Mass took place for the sick. I went to hear confessions at this Mass, and at the end of it I got up to administer the anointing of the sick. And an old woman came to me – humble, very humble, over-80 woman. I looked at her and told her: “Grandma – because for us that’s what we call the elderly – nonna: do you want to go to confession?” “Yes,” she told me." * “But if you haven’t sinned…” And she said to me: “We’ve all sinned.” “But maybe the Lord doesn’t forgive them” *. “The Lord forgives everyone,” she said: surely. “But how do you know that, ma’am?” “If the Lord didn’t forgive everything, the world wouldn’t exist.” I wanted to ask her: “Tell me, ma’am, did you study at the Gregorian?,” because that’s the wisdom only the Holy Spirit gives: the inner wisdom on the mercy of God. Let’s not forger this word: God never, ever gets tired of forgiving us! “Eh, padre, what’s the problem?” Eh, the problem is that we get tired, we don’t want to, we get tired of asking forgiveness. He never gets tired of forgiving, but we at times, we get tired of asking forgiveness. May we never tire, let us never tire of it! He’s the loving Father who always forgives, who has a heart of mercy for all of us. And even we can learn to be merciful with others. Let us ask the intercession of Our Lady, who held in her arms the Mercy of God made man…

I offer a heartfelt greeting to all you pilgrims. Thanks for your welcome and your prayers. Pray for me, I beg you. I renew my embrace to the faithful of Rome, and I extend it to all of you, who come from every part of Italy and the world, as well as the many who’re with us by the means of communication. I chose the name of the Patron of Italy, St Francis of Assisi, and this reinforces my spiritual link with this land where – as you know – my family has its origins. But Jesus has called us to be part of a new family: his church, in this family of God, walking together on the way of the Gospel. May the Lord bless you and the Madonna keep you in her care. And don’t forget this: the Lord never gets tired of forgiveness! We’re the ones who get tired of asking for it.

Happy Sunday – have a great lunch!**
 
christofirst said:
Repeated sin = Repeated confession.

When I get discouraged or ashamed, I just resolve to keep going to confession until my priest-confessor tells me to stop coming, and that has not happened yet, after a lot of repeated sins and many confessions.
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I agree and this mirrors my experience.
I returned to the Church after 30+ years away.

What has helped to break me away from repeated grave sin was daily recitation of the Rosary, and frequent, often weekly confession. Spiritual direction has been of tremendous help to me. The priest at my parish is available sometimes before noon divine liturgy, and I talk to him outside of confession and receive spiritual direction. Sometimes just a few minutes with him is all I need to help me stay on track.
 
Please dont feel shame going to confess the same sins repeatly as we are all humans. GOD looks at your heart and HE readily forgives. Only the evil one sneer at our repeated sins.

Cheers!🙂
 
Shin said:
Yes that’s exactly it!

Get going to the Confessional. 🙂 The priest has heard it all before, it’s nothing unusual. Ask his advice for help to overcome the sin! Confession is such a relief, don’t forget!

Read about how to overcome it, read what saints have said about what it takes to do so.

‘Alas, how we are to be pitied if we are not fiercely harried by the Devil! According to all appearances, we are the friends of the Devil: he lets us live in a false peace, he lulls us to sleep under the pretence that we have said some good prayers, given some alms, that we have done less harm than others. According to our standard, my dear brethren, if you were to ask, for instance, this pillar of the cabaret if the Devil tempted him, he would answer quite simply that nothing was bothering him at all. Ask this young girl, this daughter of vanity, what her struggles are like, and she will tell you laughingly that she has none at all, that she does not even know what it is to be tempted. There you see, my dear brethren, the most terrifying temptation of all, which is not to be tempted. There you see the state of those whom the Devil is preserving for Hell. If I dared, I would tell you that he takes good care not to tempt or torment such people about their past lives, lest their eyes be opened to their sins. The greatest of all evils is not to be tempted because there are then grounds for believing that the Devil looks upon us as his property and that he is only awaiting our deaths to drag us into Hell. Nothing could be easier to understand. Just consider the Christian who is trying, even in a small way, to save his soul. Everything around him inclines him to evil; he can hardly lift his eyes without being tempted, in spite of all his prayers and penances. And yet a hardened sinner, who for the past twenty years has been wallowing in sin, will tell you that he is not tempted! So much the worse, my friend, so much the worse! That is precisely what should make you tremble – that you do not know what temptations are. For to say that you are not tempted is like saying the Devil no longer exists or that he has lost all his rage against Christian souls. “If you have no temptations,” St. Gregory tells us, “it is because the devils are your friends, your leaders, and your shepherds. And by allowing you to pass your poor life tranquilly, to the end of your days, they will drag you down into the depths.” St. Augustine tells us that the greatest temptation is not to have temptations because this means that one is a person who has been rejected, abandoned by God, and left entirely in the grip of one’s own passions.’

St. Jean-Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars
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👍
 
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