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Missie
Guest
I am hoping someone can give me a good answer on this. When I sin and confess it in prayer to God Almighty and ask for his forgiveness do I still need to confess these sins to my priest also?
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Wildgraywolf
Guest
It’s always a good idea to start with a priest in the sacrament of confession. After you receive absolution from the priest you can be assured 100%, without a doubt, that it’s a done deal.
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elliotfc
Guest
Well…God can certainly forgive sin anyway He chooses. You may ask God for forgiveness anytime you want.
The Catholic sacrament is directly based on John 20:21-23. Christ conferred the power to forgive sin on his apostles. So we believe that the Church does have the authority and the power to forgive sins. Of course it’s God/Jesus that’s doing the forgiving, the priests being the intermediator.
I think that Catholics “need” to go to confession if they have mortal sins to confess before they can receive communion. In that sense you do “need” to go to confession if you’d like to receive communion. If there are no mortal sins to confess, I’m not sure about the “need” word.
I think it’s best to look at reconciliation not as a matter of “need” or obligation, but as a great gift that we Catholics may receive from the Church. If you’re looking at it from a “do I have to?” perspective, you’re missing the beauty of the sacrament.
To directly answer your question…I don’t think that any Catholic “needs” to confess their venial sins to a priest. However, if you’d like to be in full communion with the Catholic church, you should participate fully in the sacramental life of the church. I think this would depend mostly on how much you value the sacraments.
-Elliot
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Maureen_Fiore
Guest
In order for your sins to be forgiven and to have your soul completely clean you must confess your sins to a priest. A priest will then give you absolution and penance. Just saying them to God and asking him for forgiveness is not enough if you are a Catholic.
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elliotfc
Guest
Maureen Fiore:
To say that it is not enough, definitively, would mean that a Catholic who dies without having confessed certain sins is in big trouble or something. I think that God will forgive sins if we ask them to be forgiven. Now, God may say to a Catholic “why didn’t you take advantage of the gift of reconciliation?” That may itself be a sin, to be a Catholic but to reject such a gift.
-Elliot
It might be enough. I don’t believe the Church has spoken otherwise. It’s interesting that you did use the “if you are a Catholic” caveat. God may, in fact, grant forgiveness to non-Catholics just be them asking for it.
To say that it is not enough, definitively, would mean that a Catholic who dies without having confessed certain sins is in big trouble or something. I think that God will forgive sins if we ask them to be forgiven. Now, God may say to a Catholic “why didn’t you take advantage of the gift of reconciliation?” That may itself be a sin, to be a Catholic but to reject such a gift.
-Elliot
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Cristiano
Guest
YES!
God will forgive you has soon as you show sincere contrition with or without confession.
However, God’s plan calls for us being members of the Church, and to fulfill his plan as Church. When you sin you also expose the other members to sin, thus offending them and putting them in spiritual danger. Confession is necessary for the reconciliation with the Body of the Church that Jesus funded. The Eucharist is a state of communion with God and the Body of the Church. That is why we cannot receive communion without confession.
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Missie
Guest
I guess what I am confused about the most is that I feel I have made penance and begged for forgiveness and berated myself and will never do such things again and try to be a much better person. I feel as though I am forgiven, and should I dredge these things back up in my life and dwell on them until I go to confession or can I move forward and try to be more Christ-like.
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LilyM
Guest
Simply telling a priest that you’ve done wrong isn’t ‘dredging them up’ again. It’s putting a full stop at the end of this thing you’ve done and wiping the slate completely clean. The two aren’t incompatible, if anything confession can only help in your determination not to sin again.
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elliotfc
Guest
Part of the moving forward process, for the Catholic, ought to be the sacrament of reconciliation.
Christians are very tangible. God became a person. We eat the bread and drink the wine. Water for baptism. It isn’t just what’s in your heart and God. I mean, it could be that, but that’s not how God set up the church. Also, as the Body of Christ, we’re all in this together.
Now, if you think that dredging things back up, whatever that means, will be harmful to you, then you have the right as an individual who knows his/herself better than anyone else to make that judgment.
But sometimes in order to move forwards, you have to first move backwards. Like if there’s a roadblock right in front of you.
You should not fear, or have any sort of revulsion, about the sacrmanet of reconciliation. It should actually completely lift whatever burden you feel from you. Just by the fact that you addressed this to a forum means you haven’t completely gotten over it, have you?
Anyhow it is good to have an informed conscience, and I won’t be judgmental about any decision you would make. I would just advise that you look at reconciliation as something that can be liberating, and not an exercise in dwelling on the past and focusing on what you’ve done wrong. That’s not the point of confession. It’s part of it, I guess, just like Christ had to die before he could be resurrected.
-Elliot
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Missie
Guest
Thank you for your insightful answers and now I guess I have a decision to make. My thoughts were always that God would forgive you of your sins if you were truly sorry and strived to in the future not to keep showing the same pattern of sin, and then that reconciliation was kind of redundant. But you have all given me a new perspective. Once again, thank you.
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Cristiano
Guest
Do not make yourself miserable. You showed your already showed your sorrow and asked for forgivness. Now confession is not matter of guilt but of necessary reparation. You can and must move along with your Christian life and that calls for confession too.
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Jabronie
Guest
Here’s how I understand it…
You ARE forgiven by God if you are truly sorry and repentent. Forgiveness isn’t the sole reason for confession. When you commit a deadly (mortal) sin, your soul is separated from God. Your “saving grace” is thrown down the toilet, for lack of a better term.
Jesus gave us the sacraments as a way to instill His grace upon us. Sin is the opposite of grace and nothing we can do ourselves give back us that grace. When you receive the sacrament of penance, your sins may already be forgiven, but through the priest, God absolves you from your sins, and through penance your baptismal grace is reconciled to you. You are unable to properly receive God without his saving grace, therefore communion is invalid (and therefore sinful) if you have not been reconciled to the Church.
Correct me if I’m wrong, friends.
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DianJo
Guest
You’ve gotten great answers from everyone here but I would like to add another.
Of course, God forgives your sins when you ask but we make a distinction when we talk of mortal and venial sins.
Where venial sins are concerned, you may confess directly to God as we do at the beginning of every Mass - it’s called the Penitential Rite, where we all confess that we have sinned against God and each other and we ask for forgiveness. The priest then absolves us from our sin. The Eucharist also remits venial sin in the whole context of the Mass.
However, there is mortal sin. Now, I don’t know what kind of sin you are referring to when you say you have asked God for forgiveness of your sin and you FEEL He has forgiven you. True forgiveness is not about how we FEEL. It’s about absolutely being forgiven by God and the only way you will know that you are absolutely forgiven is in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Christ gave His power to forgive sins to the Apostles for a reason.
Mortal sin is deadly sin and must be brought before the priest as he is the representative of Christ on earth. It is Christ who gave the power to forgive sin to man - a priest and it is Christ who forgives you of your sin in the person of that priest.
The Sacramanet of Reconciliation is just that. It is a reconciling of your relationship with God that you severed when you did that which God says you must not do. It is a wonderful, redeeming sacrament and should be made use of often. The priest is there not just to pronounce the words of absolution but he is there as a spiritual father to guide and counsel you, to help you not make the same mistake again and again. He can help you break the cycle of your sin.
And what better ending can there be than to KNOW beyond the shadow of a doubt that you are COMPLETELY FORGIVEN by Christ and that your relationship with Him is completely mended? That’s why, when I go to Confession, I tell the priest everything from the littlest (venial) thing to the most humiliating admission of a grave wrong (mortal). I love knowing I’m back on track with God and I feel “squeaky clean!” and I can celebrate the Eucharist with complete abandon! He gives me strength to be stronger, that I can better avoid the temptation to sin again!
Of course, God forgives your sins when you ask but we make a distinction when we talk of mortal and venial sins.
Where venial sins are concerned, you may confess directly to God as we do at the beginning of every Mass - it’s called the Penitential Rite, where we all confess that we have sinned against God and each other and we ask for forgiveness. The priest then absolves us from our sin. The Eucharist also remits venial sin in the whole context of the Mass.
However, there is mortal sin. Now, I don’t know what kind of sin you are referring to when you say you have asked God for forgiveness of your sin and you FEEL He has forgiven you. True forgiveness is not about how we FEEL. It’s about absolutely being forgiven by God and the only way you will know that you are absolutely forgiven is in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Christ gave His power to forgive sins to the Apostles for a reason.
Mortal sin is deadly sin and must be brought before the priest as he is the representative of Christ on earth. It is Christ who gave the power to forgive sin to man - a priest and it is Christ who forgives you of your sin in the person of that priest.
The Sacramanet of Reconciliation is just that. It is a reconciling of your relationship with God that you severed when you did that which God says you must not do. It is a wonderful, redeeming sacrament and should be made use of often. The priest is there not just to pronounce the words of absolution but he is there as a spiritual father to guide and counsel you, to help you not make the same mistake again and again. He can help you break the cycle of your sin.
And what better ending can there be than to KNOW beyond the shadow of a doubt that you are COMPLETELY FORGIVEN by Christ and that your relationship with Him is completely mended? That’s why, when I go to Confession, I tell the priest everything from the littlest (venial) thing to the most humiliating admission of a grave wrong (mortal). I love knowing I’m back on track with God and I feel “squeaky clean!” and I can celebrate the Eucharist with complete abandon! He gives me strength to be stronger, that I can better avoid the temptation to sin again!
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Ruthie
Guest
“I guess what I am confused about the most is that I feel I have made penance and begged for forgiveness and berated myself and will never do such things again and try to be a much better person. I feel as though I am forgiven, and should I dredge these things back up in my life and dwell on them until I go to confession or can I move forward and try to be more Christ-like.”
Missie, I’m a new Catholic, waiting for my first Easter vigil.
I made my first confession a couple of weeks ago.
I had a long chain of sins - I built it link by link, yard by yard. Some of them I began to atone for as soon as I stopped committing them. Others I began to atone for when I learned they were sins.
I always felt that God would forgive me, and that He knows I am sorry. But I was still dragging that chain around.
Some of the folks in RCIA thought I was nuts for being eager to confess!
First confession… well it took awhile, but the end result is that the chain is GONE. I feel 20 years younger and 40 pounds lighter. I am still making the same atonements, and will continue to - out of love for God and for those I hurt. But the chain is gone. I’m starting over with a clean slate.
It’s important to remember that it’s not the priest who gives you absolution, it is Jesus, using the priest’s body.
See CCC 1857-1864 for the difference between mortal and venial sin.
If all your sins are venial, you only need to have the Rite of Reconciliation once a year, in Lent. It’s good, though, to go once a week or so, because the Rite confers graces that help with those repetitive sins. It’s kinda like taking a shower when you’re only a little sweaty, instead of waiting til you’re covered in mud!
Missie, I’m a new Catholic, waiting for my first Easter vigil.
I made my first confession a couple of weeks ago.
I had a long chain of sins - I built it link by link, yard by yard. Some of them I began to atone for as soon as I stopped committing them. Others I began to atone for when I learned they were sins.
I always felt that God would forgive me, and that He knows I am sorry. But I was still dragging that chain around.
Some of the folks in RCIA thought I was nuts for being eager to confess!
First confession… well it took awhile, but the end result is that the chain is GONE. I feel 20 years younger and 40 pounds lighter. I am still making the same atonements, and will continue to - out of love for God and for those I hurt. But the chain is gone. I’m starting over with a clean slate.
It’s important to remember that it’s not the priest who gives you absolution, it is Jesus, using the priest’s body.
See CCC 1857-1864 for the difference between mortal and venial sin.
If all your sins are venial, you only need to have the Rite of Reconciliation once a year, in Lent. It’s good, though, to go once a week or so, because the Rite confers graces that help with those repetitive sins. It’s kinda like taking a shower when you’re only a little sweaty, instead of waiting til you’re covered in mud!
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Petergee
Guest
In fact the Church calls what you have done “having a firm purpose of amendment” and it actually requires that you MUST do this before you can receive absolution from your sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
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NeelyAnn
Guest
Excellent post!
Missie,
What DianJo has written is exactly correct. It is good that you ask God for forgiveness and that you are truly sorry for your sins. That is a necessary part of contrition and confession, but it does not take the place of confession.
If you feel that you suffer from scruples, that is another issue. There are many good books written on scruples that may help you. The best thing for a scrupulous person to do is to obtain a spiritual adviser and only go to him for confession so he can come to understand you and help. A scrupulous person should not jump around to various confessors.
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puzzleannie
Guest
Catholics are required to confess their grave sins to a priest for absolution once a year. Period. The sacrament is called Penance and Reconciliation, not merely the sacrament of forgiveness, because it is not just about forgiveness, which is God’s unilateral free action, but about our recognition and acknowledgement of our sin, reparation for sin, contrition, and reconciliation with God and His Church.
The priest acts for the Church in the reconciliation, for Jesus Christ in the absolution, and with the sinner in their mutual acknowledgement of their status as sinners before God. This is the sacramental form given to us by Jesus Christ so we are bound to it. God however is not bound by the sacraments and may bestow his forgiveness freely as he wills. No doubt the sincere Christian who is aware of his sins and confesses his sins to God may be forgiven, but the sacramental words and actions of the priest confer absolution, removing the stain of sin from the soul, restoring the soul to its baptismal purity, and confers actual grace to help the penitent make reparation and amend his life, and conquer sinful inclinations.
The priest acts for the Church in the reconciliation, for Jesus Christ in the absolution, and with the sinner in their mutual acknowledgement of their status as sinners before God. This is the sacramental form given to us by Jesus Christ so we are bound to it. God however is not bound by the sacraments and may bestow his forgiveness freely as he wills. No doubt the sincere Christian who is aware of his sins and confesses his sins to God may be forgiven, but the sacramental words and actions of the priest confer absolution, removing the stain of sin from the soul, restoring the soul to its baptismal purity, and confers actual grace to help the penitent make reparation and amend his life, and conquer sinful inclinations.
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Joan_M
Guest
Quite simply, Catholics go to confession to receive forgiveness of mortal sins and also of venial sins because Jesus told us to!
Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Confession when he told his first priests - the Apostles - "whose sins you forgive they are forgiven, whose sins you retain they are retained.
That is why it is necessary for us to go to confession.
Yes, it can be hard, but it’s what Jesus wants us to do.
Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Confession when he told his first priests - the Apostles - "whose sins you forgive they are forgiven, whose sins you retain they are retained.
That is why it is necessary for us to go to confession.
Yes, it can be hard, but it’s what Jesus wants us to do.
- Status