Returning to faith

[Pigeon77]

Hello everyone.
I am a Catholic convert who spent many years searching for God among many denominations before I found Him in the Catholic Church. Late 2018 I did something which I still don’t know if it is sinful or not as I can’t find any guidance regarding it, but in my foolishness and weakness I stopped going to Mass and sinned in other ways as I felt that I was already lost so it no longer mattered. My mental health deteriorated and I started to suffer from severe depression and anxiety (I have had depression all my adult life). I also saw what I had become and how far I had fallen and one day recently turned back to the Lord and begged for forgiveness. I wanted to go to Mass but was too mentally ill, so I did what I could and stopped doing sinful things and started to pray properly again and focus on doing God’s will instead of my own. But I have not been to confession yet and have no idea when I will be able to as coronavirus has closed the churches and social isolation is necessary. My question is I have been feeling a drive to consecrate myself to the Sacred heart of Jesus, but don’t know if I should do this until I have confessed. I don’t want to offend the Lord any more than I already have.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

You won’t “offend the Lord” by taking any prayerful steps to get closer to him. He will run to welcome you with open arms. He knows that if confession was available you would go.

Consecration to the Sacred Heart is a private devotion. If you feel drawn to do it now, don’t put it off. Make an act of Perfect Contrition to the Lord, then plan to confess as soon as possible.

The most that would happen is that you might not receive some of the grace from the consecration till after you confessed and were absolved. But the minute you were able to do that again, the grace would come flowing in. Also, I believe God is quite understanding of people who are in some situation such as a virus shutdown, or prison, or at a remote mission with a priest only showing up once a year, who cannot confess when they want, and as long as you have made the act of Perfect Contrition, God will do all he can to help you.

By the way, it might be worth calling your parish and seeing if there is some way you could confess even during the shutdown. Churches in some shutdown areas are still making arrangements for people to have confession. But like I said, if you absolutely cannot confess right now, don’t let that stop you from forging ahead with your consecration. Good luck and God bless.

 

[DeSales111]

Jesus loves you more than you can ever imagine! He would never ever turn you away from His Sacred Heart if you seek Him, even if you are imperfect and have sin upon your heart. Don’t wait until you go to confession and feel perfect to consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, any time is a good time as none of us are promised tomorrow. As my Grandpa used to say, " Today is the day God planned for me."

My advice…Do the opposite of what Satan wants you to do! And let me tell you from experience, Satan wants you to feel unworthy to approach Jesus in any way. He doesn’t want you consecrating yourself to the very Heart that kicked his rear. Let heaven rejoice in your love and devotion to Christ’s Sacred Heart!!!