Pope: Sacrament of Confession Isn’t a ‘Torture Chamber’

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Papal encouragement aside, confession still terrifies me. Definitely my biggest struggle in the faith.
 
HerrZJA said:
Papal encouragement aside, confession still terrifies me. Definitely my biggest struggle in the faith.
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There is a book called “7 Secrets of Confession” by Vinny Flynn… I was just like you until I read it and prayed. Then I really came to understand that Confession is a healing encounter with Jesus Christ Himself, suddenly I wanted to go to Confession just to be close to Him… it’s almost as if I don’t even think about the Priest anymore, I know that in that confessional Jesus is hearing me… and then he tells me (using the Priest) that my sins are forgiven.

Even though I had gone to confession several months earlier (at Easter) the first time I went to Confession after reading that book I’m fairly certain that the Priest thought I was being scrupulous… but that’s okay, I was so ecstatic just to be able to tell Jesus everything that I had done and hear His words of absolution.
 
Our Pope is so wise. The priest is a vessel to send your confessions directly to God.

Kind of like making a cake. The batter represents your sins and the finished baked cake represents God. The priest is the oven.
 
HerrZJA said:
Papal encouragement aside, confession still terrifies me. Definitely my biggest struggle in the faith.
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It used to terrify me too, but since returning in February, I’ve been blessed with amazing priests and God’s Grace and Mercy. There was one priest who was a little difficult to understand, both literally and figuratively, but the rest are awesome.

Just. Go. And then…go again. Go some more. Go every week, month, whatever. Jesus Christ is on the other side of the screen, in addition to being in your heart. You won’t be disowned. That’s the devil making you afraid of confession to God. Just do it. I use the Laudate app when I need to, and it’s a great blessing.

He already knows all our sins. EVERY ONE.It’s a great lesson in humility to confess our sins. I have written about Confession on my blog, noted below in my sig.

If you struggle because of ‘knowing’ the priest who is there, go to another parish. I tend to go to my own parish, as well as our secondary parish we attend during the week, but I also attend when I’m on the road if I need to.

Also, Father Larry Richards has a beautiful teaching on going to confession; if you do a search for him and Confession, you should be able to download it. Let me know if you can’t, and I’ll see if I can send it to you, or at least to the link I found it on months ago. That talked helped me go to confession and accept it!
 
I definitely do not enjoy going to Confession after I have been a bad boy, but the Pope is right – it is not, nor should it be, a torture chamber.
 
DaveBj said:
I definitely do not enjoy going to Confession after I have been a bad boy, but the Pope is right – it is not, nor should it be, a torture chamber.
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I do not enjoy listing off all my sins, either. 😦 😦 😦 I’m quite imperfect on my end; thankfully, He is perfect on His end! The joys of the ‘after confession’ outweigh my pain and pride. I’m glad you go anyway.
 
HerrZJA said:
Papal encouragement aside, confession still terrifies me. Definitely my biggest struggle in the faith.
Click to expand...
I think thats just being human. I’ve always the beautiful thing about confession is that it really is a grueling emotional process. As humans we have pride and its hard to admit we were wrong. Once we have the strength to confess and release all of that, it is a great act of humility and reIief. I always point to the scene in the Godfather 3 where Michael Corleone confesses as a perfect example.
 
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