I understand what you are saying. Praise the Lord!I was recently given the gift of feeling the pain I caused Our Lord by committing a “venial” sin.
Priests are supposed to give a homily on the readings of the day but it seems to me that sometimes the subject of penance would fit in with the reading.The thread is about confession and so is the post that you said does not fit here, so in my opinion it does fit here. Also where does it say that a Priest shouldn’t preach about confession at any given time during his homily. I respect your opinion but is that a Church teaching? If so where?
JimScott Hahn tells this story. A few years ago, a priest friend of his was attending some meetings in Rome. One day as he climbed the steps of a church there to attend daily Mass, he saw a beggar he recognized, but couldn’t remember where he knew him from. He went into the church, and sometime during Mass remembered that the beggar was a man who had been through the same seminary, and who also had become a priest at that time. So after Mass, he went back to the beggar to ask him what had happened in his life to bring him to this state. He said he had had some problems with his priesthood, then left and adopted a sinful lifestyle, and eventually lost everything. The priest had to go to attend his meetings at the Vatican, but promised to return to visit.
After his meeting, the priest and all who attended the meeting had an opportunity to stand in line and meet the Holy Father. They weren’t really supposed to say anything, but at the last minute, the priest decided to tell the Holy Father about his beggar friend. The Holy Father said “You - bring your friend to have dinner with me this evening.”
So the priest went running back to find his friend and tell him of this invitation. At first the beggar refused, but the priest said “You have to come. Otherwise I will never get to have dinner with the Holy Father.”
They went to dinner, and after they were finished eating the Holy Father shooed the priest away. As soon as he had gone, the Holy Father said to the beggar “Will you please hear my confession?” The beggar priest said
“Holy Father I can’t do that! I left the priesthood, I’ve done all kinds of terrible things!” But the Holy Father said “We are the Holy Father - we can reinstate you.” So he actually went to confession to this beggar. The beggar priest was weeping all the way through, and when the Holy Father was done, he confessed his sins to the Holy Father. Then the Holy Father assigned him to the parish where he had been begging, and gave him a special mandate to care for the poor and the beggars.
Priests are supposed to give a homily on the readings of the day but it seems to me that sometimes the subject of penance would fit in with the reading.
The problem with this is that there may be only a few in the Church who might profit from this, being that most people know how to go to confession. The majority would then be deprived of focus on the readings.
I think if anyone is unsure of how to receive the sacrament, the priest could schedule an appointment and answer their questions more specifically, rather than fail to address it in a general assembly.
Has anyone ever heard a priest give a homily about how to confess? We have had a couple of priests exhort the faithful to go to confession during the homily, but no directions on how to do it properly.
Yes, as a matter of fact. It can be done beautifully at a communal penance service, which is where I first heard some wonderful ideas to examine one’s conscience prior to confession. Why not suggest this to your pastor?
that’s great, and if that advice is from your spiritual director, confessor or trusted spiritual advisor, take it, but it is not necessarily good for everyone. the fact that it is raising problems for you indicates it may be time to review your habit with your confessor. If you have such a trusted advisor, he would be a better person to help you in your current quest, since he knows you, and we do not.Its under good advice that I try to attend confession 2x’s/month, but I’m trying to increase it to 1/week. Here is a link that discusses JPII’s urge for us to attend confession weekly. It is much easier for me to live a life in Christ, the more often I receive the sacrament of confession, which gives us Our Lord’s Grace.