Nobody at Confession...Everyone for Eucharist?

[JimR-OCDS]

In a typical day no one has the excuse of forgetting.

Lets run a typical day for me before my awareness of what Mortal sin is.

5:00 AM get up
5:01 wee wee
5:02 brush teeth and other hygiene stuff
5:10 Make coffe.
5:15 Sit at computer and diddle daddle
6:00 leave of work
7:00 to 4:00 work
4:00 leave for home.
5:00 Eat Dinner (or fix dinner if I got home before me wife did)
5:30 ish snatch a kiss from wife
5:30 Watch News
6:00 Shower
6:10 to 7:00 diddle daddle on the computer
7:00 to 10:00 watch TV
10:00 Bed

and then it starts all over again.

I had full knowledge and consent and grave matter for all the above things.

As you noticed that God was not part of the Day in any sense unless of course you want to use the kissing the wife as a example.

What does our Penitentient Rite say:

I All: I confess to almighty God,
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have sinned through my own fault,
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done,
and in what I have failed to do;

not

and in what I have forgotten to do.

Do you really think God is going to buy the “I FORGOT” excuse?

Nobody can tell me that everything they did in a course of a day was more important than loving God so they forgot to offer a 10 second prayer?

To forget means it never came to conscience, so mortal sin would not be possible.

The Act of Contrition is for both venial and mortal sins.

“What I have failed to do,” would cover intentional mortal sin, and unintentional venial sins.

A mortal sin has to be intentional with full knowledge and consent.

 

[LilyM]

Most people who love God will never go a day without a certain amount (indeed usually a large amount) of formal prayer, whether it be daily Mass, reading scripture, Rosary etc.

But where do you get this idea that God is tallying up the seconds that we spend in leisure/not-strictly-necessary activities and the seconds that we spend in formal prayer and that they have to be exactly equal?

Devoting heart, mind, soul and strength to God absolutely does not preclude other things, not even leisure pursuits, which after all are His gifts as well. I find your idea that these necessarily take away from God disturbing. Of course some activities by their very nature do so, but not the majority.

Does a husband who truly loves his wife resent the fact that she spends a lot of time with the children they created together? Does he stand next to her with a stopwatch demanding that she spend exactly as many seconds alone with him as with them? Absolutely not, after all he loves his children as well and understands that her love for them is part and parcel of her love for him.

So with God - I’m sure he doesn’t resent us enjoying (in a mindful way of course) the good things that he created for us to enjoy.

 

[InLight247]

But where do you get this idea that God is tallying up the seconds that we spend in leisure/not-strictly-necessary activities and the seconds that we spend in formal prayer and that they have to be exactly equal?

Devoting heart, mind, soul and strength to God absolutely does not preclude other things, not even leisure pursuits, which after all are His gifts as well. I find your idea that these necessarily take away from God disturbing.
.

Agree!
Among all the available written lists of “exam of conscience”,I couldn’t find any single one categorizes “forget to pray” as mortal sin. Believers should pray, but if they forget to pray, it is not a mortal sin.

When none of the documents say it is a mortal sin, don’t be innovative to say it is. We ought to get rid of the condemning spirit in our heart, if any.

 

[Nordar]

I think I have a headache

 

[Rara_Avis]

Believers should pray, but if they forget to pray, it is not a mortal sin.

You can not get to heaven without pray and penence. To what degree do people “forget” to pray?

Everything is habitual … forgetting to pray is definately a matter for the confessional. If you do not make yourself conscience of your own neglect … who will?

 

[Pug]

You are added to my prayer list.

Thanks! Today that is a particular comfort to me. In the theme of this thread I mention a quote that I believe is St. Alphonsus Liguori. I may have the words slightly off:

He who prays will be saved, he who does not will be lost.

 

[Rara_Avis]

They may not realize they are lieing to themselves if they have convinced themselves that they are not sinning. One can brainwash one’s own brain into believing something.

That would be 95% of the whole world … back the the absence of the fact that “Truth is an Absolute”.

If you believe you did nothing wrong than frankly … you did nothing wrong.

But you know what that simply isn’t going to wash come judgement day. This whole evil twist we got go’n on has harden the hearts of men - just like the pharoh in The Ten Commandments. Why did he not accept the warnings of God … because his heart was hardened. God sends messages, angels, word daily to his people … Stop! come follow me … and they ignore it.

God is the Master - He has a plan - do you think He is content top sit back and watch as Truth is distorted and twisted and he just sighs … if only they knew better!

We HAVE been told - we have guardian angels - it is simply a matter of greed, self gratification, self importance … well lets just say totally self absorbed… we don’t WANT to listen.

 

[whatevergirl]

A while ago I went to Confession on Saturday and nobody was there. The next day at Mass…EVERYONE was in line for the Eucharist.

I don’t want to judge, but if I had the slightest feeling of lust or immoral thought, I NEVER take the Eucharist. I refuse to disrespect Jesus like that. Anyone else feel the same?

I don’t believe that an immoral thought is a mortal sin–correct me if I’m wrong, but only knowlingly withholding mortal sins inside of ourselves without the Sacrament of Penance, will prevent us from the Eucharist. That is why the Church ‘only’ requires one to attend confession at least once per year…are we thinking that we couldn’t possibly have an immoral thought or utter a wrong words or gossip or whatever in an entire year? I mean…every week, we sin…I try to make it to confession bi-weekly…at the very least, now, once per month. But, I hear what you’re saying…is there no one with mortal sin on their soul? I dunno…we can’t judge…we can only pray that those Confessional lines will get LONGER!!!

 

[InLight247]

You can not get to heaven without pray and penence. To what degree do people “forget” to pray?

Everything is habitual … forgetting to pray is definately a matter for the confessional. If you do not make yourself conscience of your own neglect … who will?

The “forget to pray” we are discussing here is “if a person forget to pray on certain days”, not “if a person habitually not pray or never pray”.

The debating point here is if one day, for whatever reason the person did not pray, does that person commit a mortal sin?

It could be an extremely busy and hectic day, every second is tense, and the person just collapses at the end of the day. He did not pray. Is that a mortal sin? No.

Or a person is going through the desert period, the dark night of the soul, he finds it hard to pray, so he does not pray. Is that a mortal sin? No.

If with no reason, a person simply does not pray as often as he should, it means this person’s relationship with Jesus needs to be developed. It does not mean he commits a mortal sin.

 

[JoeyWarren]

To forget means it never came to conscience, so mortal sin would not be possible.

All of the other things you did that prevented you from loving God was on the front burner. God should always be on the front burner.

A mortal sin has to be intentional with full knowledge and consent.

Yes very true.

I will still have to disagree on the issue of forgetting.

Is forgetting to go to Mass on a Holy Day of Obligation a Venial Sin or a Mortal Sin?

God always comes first in all matters.

 

[pnewton]

Is forgetting to go to Mass on a Holy Day of Obligation a Venial Sin or a Mortal Sin?

Truly forgetting, not just pretending or deliberately ignoring? That would have to be venial, although I could not imagine this happening except in a case of mental impairment or one already in a state of mortal sin be a long habit of not attending Mass.

 

[JoeyWarren]

The “forget to pray” we are discussing here is “if a person forget to pray on certain days”, not “if a person habitually not pray or never pray”.

Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Is there an escape clause somewhere that says it’s okay to forget to love God?

The debating point here is if one day, for whatever reason the person did not pray, does that person commit a mortal sin?

I guess it’s not a Mortal Sin if the person forgets to go to Mass on a Holy Day of Obligation. Is forgetting a valid excuse?

It could be an extremely busy and hectic day, every second is tense, and the person just collapses at the end of the day. He did not pray. Is that a mortal sin? No.

Let’s say that you woke up Sunday morning and the morning was just as hectic as you described and right before the time to depart for Mass, you collapse and forget to go to Mass. Is that still a Mortal Sin?

Or a person is going through the desert period, the dark night of the soul, he finds it hard to pray, so he does not pray. Is that a mortal sin? No.

All the more the reason to turn to God and pray. That was pretty lame.

If with no reason, a person simply does not pray as often as he should, it means this person’s relationship with Jesus needs to be developed. It does not mean he commits a mortal sin.

Outisde of Mass in only substantial method of loving and worshipping God during the weekday is prayer. Again, I’ll ask, where is it written that it is okay to forget to love and worship God for a day.

This whole mentaility of making excuses is why confession is down and people don’t believe they need confession anymore.

Oh God, I had a bad day today. I forgot to acknowledge God today. God will forgive me for not praying! BUFFALO CHIPS! Having a bad day? PRAY TO GOD! DON’T PUT GOD OFF!

 

[LilyM]

Joey - of course forgetting is a valid excuse! Human reason and memory aren’t perfect, people have been known to genuinely forget that it’s a Holy Day and not go to Mass or forget that it’s a Friday in Lent and eat meat. Neither of these things are sins in this case.

Not praying on a given day is NOT a mortal sin. Note that I’m not talking about not praying most days or never praying, but not praying on some (very limited number) of days. It simply is not grave enough matter.

And there’s a very good reason why it’s not a mortal sin not to pray every single. If a person (very occasionally) goes a day without praying it actually has NOTHING to do with not loving God - surprising perhaps but true.

After all I love my parents very deeply but I don’t call them every day. And I don’t love some of my work colleagues and clients but I do indeed talk to them for long periods of time pretty much daily. Love simply isn’t measurable by the amount of time you spend talking to a person.

And no, prayer is not the only substantial means we have of worshipping God outside of Mass. Doing our work, tending to the needs of our family and community, enjoying the good things and beauty that God has provided for us … we are worshipping God in all of this. After all, who else is it who gives us the work to do and the people to look after and the things we enjoy?

As I said before, failing to pray daily is a venial sin, not mortal. This is well-established Church teaching, not something I plucked out of thin air to make myself feel better. For starters I DO indeed pray every day, so I don’t NEED to justify it. But then I don’t have children or a husband or work 12-hour days as some people do, so I have a lot more time and energy to devote to it.

It simply isn’t a mortal sin to not pray on a given day. If you think it should be and that you know better than the collective wisdom of the Church which teaches so, then take it up with the Pope or your local bishop. If they change their minds about the matter then I’m sure we’ll all happily listen.

 

[ElizabethPH]

I went to church for years without receiving the Eucharist. I used that time to pray not look around and check out who else wasn’t going. Or that I was the only one not going. I have finally reconciled and now receive. To me going to Mass and going to Holy Communion is all about getting as close to God as I can. And if I’m worried about how I look or how others look…or who’s doing what around me, how can I do that?

But having said that…I remember once our priest in a homily said if any of us knew anyone that shouldn’t receive to please let him know. But I think that was more about whether a person was Catholic or not. Not whether we knew they had committed a mortal sin.

Elizabeth

 

[InLight247]

Outisde of Mass in only substantial method of loving and worshipping God during the weekday is prayer. Again, I’ll ask, where is it written that it is okay to forget to love and worship God for a day.

This whole mentaility of making excuses is why confession is down and people don’t believe they need confession anymore.

Oh God, I had a bad day today. I forgot to acknowledge God today. God will forgive me for not praying! BUFFALO CHIPS! Having a bad day? PRAY TO GOD! DON’T PUT GOD OFF!

Jesus is a compassionate high priest. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.” (Hebrew 4: 14-16) The spirit of sternness, self-righteousness, and condemnation is detrimental for spiritual growth.

Not to pray daily is not a mortal sin. None of the church’s examination of conscience lists it as a mortal sin. Yet you have to argue with the Church’s teaching and insist it is a mortal sin. What more can I say?

People on this forum who say that not to pray daily is NOT a mortal sin, are not the people who don’t pray daily. They are not making any excuse. They are just being compassionate, understanding and believing the church’s teaching.

I myself not only pray daily, I actually pray from morning till night and sometimes even in my dream. I spend one hour each day to do the Eucharist adoration. In addition to that,
I pray any time anywhere I can. But, I understand people for various reasons could not pray daily.

This is my last post for this thread. I rest my case.

 

[JoeyWarren]

If you don’t agree, then what your answer for “Nobody at Confession”…“Everyone for Eucharist”

Are all these people really without sin?

 

[Ace86]

For those who “go through the motions” without ever thinking about going to Confession: If you are one of those people, just consider going to Confession and receiving Christ in a state of grace, with a pure heart. It’s of course a mortal sin to receive Christ while in a state of mortal sin.

I think that this thread could be used as a “wake-up call” for some. And I’m not judging anyone.