Reconciliation, do we need to go to a preiest or can we go direct to God?

[Fisher_of_Men]

I don’t know if my post went through this week or not but here it is again. During a small group discussion the sacrament of recinciliation came up. Several people saind they did not have to confess their sins to a priest to be forgiven. They felt they could by pass the middle man and go direct to God.

 

[Dropper]

Fisher of Men:

I don’t know if my post went through this week or not but here it is again. During a small group discussion the sacrament of recinciliation came up. Several people saind they did not have to confess their sins to a priest to be forgiven. They felt they could by pass the middle man and go direct to God.

Yes confession is necessary. It’s an article of Faith. Christ instituted it and the Church requires it.

Here’s a bit from the Code of Canon Law. Emphasis mine…

Can. 960 Individual and integral confession and absolution constitute the sole ordinary means by which a member of the faithful who is conscious of grave sin is reconciled with God and with the Church. Physical or moral impossibility alone excuses from such confession, in which case reconciliation may be attained by other means also.

 

[CatQuilt]

Fisher of Men:

I don’t know if my post went through this week or not but here it is again. During a small group discussion the sacrament of recinciliation came up. Several people saind they did not have to confess their sins to a priest to be forgiven. They felt they could by pass the middle man and go direct to God.

Were these folks Catholics? Catholics must go to confession at least once a year and general absolution doesn’t count either…

 

[awalt]

Reconciliation includes confession to others that are the Body of Christ (ie the Priest). Think about the prayer at Mass - “I confess to Almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters…”

 

[netmilsmom]

Fisher of Men:

I don’t know if my post went through this week or not but here it is again. During a small group discussion the sacrament of recinciliation came up. Several people saind they did not have to confess their sins to a priest to be forgiven. They felt they could by pass the middle man and go direct to God.

If those people proclaim to be Catholic, they are wrong.

 

[palmas85]

Fisher of Men:

I don’t know if my post went through this week or not but here it is again. During a small group discussion the sacrament of recinciliation came up. Several people saind they did not have to confess their sins to a priest to be forgiven. They felt they could by pass the middle man and go direct to God.

Hundreds of millions of people claim that. They are called Protestants by and large.

Confession or reconciliation is required by the Catholic Church and a Catholic is required to receive the sacrament at least once a year.

 

[awalt]

This is where good old common sense is also not taken into account, and people just construe God’s will to be what they want.

A point of common sense applies here - God Loves us. Our picture of “family” comes from God. So we are part of God’s family, just like our kids are part of ours.

When there is an argument in your family, it:

1. Affects everyone in the family (kids upset that Mom and Dad had an argument; just like the Body of Christ is all affected by Sin)
2. Doesn’t stop the Love each has for another, but those affected have a “sad heart”: for the other. This needs to be corrected.
3. Gets past the argument by things like “I am sorry”, “A hug”, a reaffirmation of love for each other.

This is Reconciliation!

Act of contrition - “I am sorry”
Laying of hands - Hug
Penance - Small act showing I really am sorry, not just saying the words

God wants His family reconciled just like we would want ours. To think that God, the Infinite loving God, would accept sin with no reconciliation is as silly as thinking that your spouse would expect it from you!

So you can choose to reconcile with God, or not. God does not force us. We get grace from God when we do, because we show God we really love him. Is a life without reconciliation better or more realistic than this? Can you really say you have a better relationship with God without reconciliation?

Reconciliation may not be needed if one does not sin. I know all humans do sin though.

 

[TNT]

Fisher of Men:

I don’t know if my post went through this week or not but here it is again. During a small group discussion the sacrament of recinciliation came up. Several people said they did not have to confess their sins to a priest to be forgiven. They felt they could by pass the middle man and go direct to God.

Of course this is typical selective bible reading verses out of context, and even partial verses:

Jn 21 He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. 23 Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.

Note: 23 “Whose sins”… See here the commission, stamped by the broad seal of heaven, by virtue of which the pastors of Christ’s church absolve repenting sinners upon their confession, or retain them as unforgiven. No one can retain a sin unforgiven UNLESS that person hears the sin!

Finally:

How do you KNOW your sins are forgiven, exactly. What certitude can you point to? How do you know you are not just “forgiving yourself” out of sympathy for your own habits and ill-formed conscience?

 

[JoaoMachado]

Fisher of Men:

I don’t know if my post went through this week or not but here it is again. During a small group discussion the sacrament of recinciliation came up. Several people saind they did not have to confess their sins to a priest to be forgiven. They felt they could by pass the middle man and go direct to God.

            **THE Hebrew Scriptures**

*The flesh that hath touched any unclean thing, shall not be eaten: but shall be burnt with fire. He that is clean shall eat of it. If any one that is defiled shall eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which is offered to the Lord, he shall be cut off from his people. (Leviticus 7:19-20 DRB)

And that you may have knowledge to discern between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean (Leviticus 10:10 DRB)

And the priests the sons of Levi shall come, whom the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister to him, and to bless in his name, and that by their word every matter should be decided, and whatsoever is clean or unclean should be judged.(Deuteronomy 21:5 DRB)*

** It is important to understand what “Clean and Unclean” mean!, it means “Holy” and “Unholy”, a physical representation of a Spiritual Truth. In Leviticus, the Priests were given the power to judge one “Clean” and “Unclean”, which inturn dictated whether or not they were outside of the of Israel and inturn outside of God, because God had chosen a People for Himself and outside of Israel there was no Salvation (not yet).**

Fast forward to the Gospels
Matthew 8:3-4 KJVA
(3) And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
(4) And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

**Notice Jesus sends the now Clean leper to the Priest to show himself to him. The Levites were the choosen priests of the OT, under the Law, the Priests had the power to deem one clean or unclean by the Laws set in Leviticus, thus allowing those they deemed Clean back into the communion with Israel. Of course Jesus could have just said, hey, you are Clean, go and be merry, but Jesus followed the Law perfectly, that is why He sent the cured leper to the Priest.

Now in the New Covenant, Christ gave the Apostles the ability to Bind and Loose, (see the connection) and the Apostles are the start of the New Priesthood, after all,Christ is the High Priest is He not? If Christ is the High Priest, then the Apostles are His Priests, and the new Priesthood.**

John 13:5 KJVA
(5) After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

**By the washing of the feet of his Apostles, Christ instituded the Priesthood, and this Priesthood has been given the Power to loosen our sins and leave them behind on this earth, so that we can enter into full Comunion with Christ in His eternal Kingdom. Now the question you have to ask yourself, did Jesus give the Apostles the ability to read minds, because if He did not how would the Apostles know to forgive sins, if no one confessed them? And it is of the upmost importance to go to confession before receiving our Lord in the Eucharist, because Jesus is our offering to God, and if we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we will have eternal life, but if we receive Him unworthily, we bring eternal damnation 1Cor11:29 and Lev7:19

Let the Church bind it here on Earth, don’t take it with you…
**

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Fisher of Men:

I don’t know if my post went through this week or not but here it is again. During a small group discussion the sacrament of recinciliation came up. Several people saind they did not have to confess their sins to a priest to be forgiven. They felt they could by pass the middle man and go direct to God.

This shows a great misunderstanding of the Sacrament of Reconcilliation.

One does not confess to a priest in the Sacrament, one is confessing to God.

 

[sylvsk4krist]

we need to go to priest because Jesus christ himself as commandede it to receive total forgiveness