Question about confession

[hopeforfaith]

So i want to go to confession, however i don’t feel like going there in weeek days. But it is a quite serious mortal sin. But i have had an unpleasant experience there in the closest catholic church. The next closest one is in a school, and i am not sure if i can just go in and confess. I want to go to confess on Sunday, but is delaying until sunday wrong?

 

[Spencerian]

So i want to go to confession, however i don’t feel like going there in weeek days. But it is a quite serious mortal sin. But i have had an unpleasant experience there in the closest catholic church. The next closest one is in a school, and i am not sure if i can just go in and confess. I want to go to confess on Sunday, but is delaying until sunday wrong?

Hi.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is commonly not done on the Lord’s Day, Sunday, since this is a holy day of obligation where the priests are very busy.

Commonly in many American parishes, confession is available just before the vigil Mass on Saturday afternoons as well as after the daily Mass.

The priest is often a pastoral director of a school, but the needs of the laity are typically separated from the needs of the school (and often there are principals and others who manage the day to day needs there). You should be able to attend confession at any scheduled time in the church proper that the priest offers throughout the week.

If you have scheduling problems, you could also call the parish’s office to arrange your confession by appointment.

 

[puzzleannie]

you could also go to the website of your diocese who often have a map, and find another parish within reasonable distance, of either where you work or where you live, whatever is more convenient. if you call any parish and ask for an appointment with the priest outside the posted times for confession you should be accommodated.

 

[NHInsider]

Hi.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is commonly not done on the Lord’s Day, Sunday, since this is a holy day of obligation where the priests are very busy.

Commonly in many American parishes, confession is available just before the vigil Mass on Saturday afternoons as well as after the daily Mass.

More and more parishes don’t have a priest in residence, and confessions are heard before the Mass even if the only Mass is Sunday morning.

If there is a shrine anywhere in your area, you may find more opportunities for confession there - that’s what I did, since 3:30 on Saturday afternoon (the time of confessions in my parish) is really difficult for me. . . . it was a bit of a drive, but certainly no further than I drive to doctors’ appointments.

 

[Ron_Conte]

If you think that you might have committed a mortal sin, you should say an act of perfect contrition, which is sorrow for sin out of love for God. An act of perfect contrition, with the intention to go to confession, forgives the sin immediately, returning the person to a state of grace.

A penitent may use his or her own good judgment about the circumstances of going to confession. Waiting a week is not immoral, but the sooner the better.

 

[bona_fides_1]

Given the spiritual difficulty of attaining a perfect contrition I recommend going to sacramental confession as soon as possible. Oftentimes the seat of the dioceses (the Bishop’s parish) has daily masses not only in the morning but also around noon in a smaller adoration chapel for locals who are working and come in on lunch break. If your bishop does they oftentimes have confession 45 minutes before mass. But it can get very busy with only time for 8-10 people. So go early. It’s an hour drive for me but worth having my conscience clear and not having to worry about being in an accident or dieing suddenly with no time to get apostolic absolution. As others have mentioned most priests can do a confession by appointment too in their office.

Eternity is long time to put at risk for even a week when carrying the burden of grave sin. Still, you should definately try to form perfect contrition as part of your repentance. But don’t do it just on the spur of the moment. Go to church and spend some quality time before the tabernacle and mediate on the offense & how it offended God. Then pray and ask God for the grace to achieve a perfect contrition since without grace its truly impossible. Catholics know all too well that outside of sacramental confession simply having faith that one is forgiven and presuming upon God’s Mercy is not sufficient and is likely also a sin of presumption.

You might also pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet if you can’t get to confession right away.

Good luck,
BF

 

[Scoobyshme]

If you suddenly realized you had taken poison and needed an antidote, would you take the same approach as you are to Confession, in getting medical help?

Would it make any sense to say, “Well, I know I have been poisoned, and I don’t know how long it’s going to take to kill me. But, I really don’t want to go to the hospital until Sunday. Sunday’s the day I would feel most comfortable in seeking medical help and an antidote.”?

Does that make any sense to you? And, yet, your eternal life rests in the balance. Every day, without exception, someone your age or younger dies suddenly, unexpectedly. A freak accident, car accident, undiagnosed heart disease, brain aneurysm, etc. They didn’t wake up that morning and say, “Well, today’s my last day. I’m going to die in a freak accident at 1pm. I guess I oughta swing by the Church and go to Confession after I have lunch so I can be ready.” They just get caught suddenly, unprepared.

If we live ready for judgement, we don’t have to try to scramble at the very last second to try to get ready. As the old saying goes, “A tree falls the way it leans.”

I would seek out Confession TODAY, my friend. TODAY. Because nobody promised you a tomorrow. Nobody.

 

[NHInsider]

If you suddenly realized you had taken poison and needed an antidote, would you take the same approach as you are to Confession, in getting medical help?

Would it make any sense to say, “Well, I know I have been poisoned, and I don’t know how long it’s going to take to kill me. But, I really don’t want to go to the hospital until Sunday. Sunday’s the day I would feel most comfortable in seeking medical help and an antidote.”?

Does that make any sense to you? And, yet, your eternal life rests in the balance. Every day, without exception, someone your age or younger dies suddenly, unexpectedly. A freak accident, car accident, undiagnosed heart disease, brain aneurysm, etc. They didn’t wake up that morning and say, “Well, today’s my last day. I’m going to die in a freak accident at 1pm. I guess I oughta swing by the Church and go to Confession after I have lunch so I can be ready.” They just get caught suddenly, unprepared.

If we live ready for judgement, we don’t have to try to scramble at the very last second to try to get ready. As the old saying goes, “A tree falls the way it leans.”

I would seek out Confession TODAY, my friend. TODAY. Because nobody promised you a tomorrow. Nobody.

While all of this is true, the fact that the OP is a young person (who probably does not drive) and lives in a country with which few of us are familiar should perhaps counsel us to be encouraging as well as challenging in our exhortations. Actually, this pertains to all who post, not just this OP. We do not know what kind of access others may or may not have to the sacraments. We do know that anyone, under any circumstance, can have recourse to Our Lord’s mercy, and we should encourage them to do so (without discouraging the importance of sacramental reconciliation).

 

[Scoobyshme]

While all of this is true, the fact that the OP is a young person (who probably does not drive) and lives in a country with which few of us are familiar should perhaps counsel us to be encouraging as well as challenging in our exhortations. Actually, this pertains to all who post, not just this OP. We do not know what kind of access others may or may not have to the sacraments. We do know that anyone, under any circumstance, can have recourse to Our Lord’s mercy, and we should encourage them to do so (without discouraging the importance of sacramental reconciliation).

That’s not a bad point, but I’m not sure it applies to this OP. Just out of curiosity, where did you find out this person was from another country? I checked his profile and it doesn’t say where he’s from. And he doesn’t say in his post.

On the other hand, he did seem to indicate that he could go another day, and was choosing, as an act of his will, not to go till Sunday. Right?

 

[bona_fides_1]

That’s not a bad point, but I’m not sure it applies to this OP. Just out of curiosity, where did you find out this person was from another country? I checked his profile and it doesn’t say where he’s from. And he doesn’t say in his post.

On the other hand, he did seem to indicate that he could go another day, and was choosing, as an act of his will, not to go till Sunday. Right?

I was wondering the same thing - as well the young age comment – which is not in the profile info. I sometimes feel like there are too many den-mothers hanging out in the forums with too much time on their hands. For zeal of appearing charitable the “mothering” can get so excessive that it becomes conspicuous to the point of smothering natural dialog. I wish some would just chill and assume that everyone else here are adults too…

BF

 

[SGT_ROCK_33]

I would say to the OP, that the Church does not teach that you will be condemned for “waiting” to go to confession.

However, the Church does teach that if one were to die in mortal sin, one would be condemned and sent to hell. This may be harsh, but we cannot deny the truth.

My advice would be to seek out a Priest to hear your confession as soon as possible, there is no reason to take a chance and gamble with salvation. Whether you have ample access or not, my advice remains… Get to confession as soon as you can.

God Bless

 

[JohnAlexander]

www.masstimes.org is a great resource for finding Catholic Churches. Perhaps you can find one that you don’t know about that is close by?

I am fortunate that in Manhattan there is a Franciscan Church that has confessionals open all day long. Once I was on line and someone cut the line and a fight broke out. I could just imagine someone getting knifed for cutting the line to go to confession. Only in New York.

It was actually just a scuffle with words exchanged but the story sounds better the way I told it. I think the line cutter did it by accident. No one expects there to be a line for confession!

 

[Ignatius]

If you think that you might have committed a mortal sin, you should say an act of perfect contrition, which is sorrow for sin out of love for God. An act of perfect contrition, with the intention to go to confession, forgives the sin immediately, returning the person to a state of grace.

A penitent may use his or her own good judgment about the circumstances of going to confession. Waiting a week is not immoral, but the sooner the better.

Excellent point. It is most important to repent and resolve to go to confessions immediately when you realize that you may have seriously fallen short.