Sacrament of Confession

[confusedgirl]

Hi I was just listening to Bishop Sheen talk about the sacrament of confession and it was clear as day for me. (I seriously need to start showing his videos to my mom). Anyways I remember being in Catholic school at 8 years old and it is about the time my entire class was doing their first confession and I was curious and asked my mom when I would be able to do my first confession. She told me that I could confess my sins at my bedside every night. Fast forward 12 years later I’m in college and I had gone out this guy who calls himself a Christian and is very active in his church and in his young adult ministry. He doesn’t have a good reputation for when it comes to dating and I will leave that topic right there.

I asked him if are a christian and you know it is wrong to be involved with all these girls in this way why do you still do it? He told me that Jesus forgives him whenever he makes a mistake and so it was okay. I told him about the time Jesus stopped the people from stoning the woman from adultery and when he forgave her he told her to go forth and sin no more. I told him the Jesus at least wants him to try to do better but it seems to me that he is using Jesus as a get out of jail free card.

The reason I talk about this person is because I feel like that is what I used to do as well. My mom told me that I don’t have to tell anyone and whatever it is Jesus will forgive me. Now at that age I had a problem with dishonesty, I would try to lie to get out of trouble all the time and I would pray and ask for forgiveness but I would keep lying. Now I understand that we are all born with the ability to sin and we will always slip up but to me I think something is very wrong if we are confessing to Jesus at our bedtime and we are still continuing to sin we are obviously doing something very wrong. Which is why I think the sacrament of confession is very important.

Now I have never had the experience of going to confession so I can’t speak too much on it but I would like to hear more from the Catholics that have been doing it for years. Is it different from just telling Jesus your sorry or do you feel you at least try harder to do better?

 

[Neithan]

Is it different from just telling Jesus your sorry or do you feel you at least try harder to do better?

It’s not different, but it is more; and yes it does help me to try harder to do better. The fact that I have to abstain from communion and go back to confession if I fall into mortal sin is life-altering, so that should help me to overcome vices and progress in virtue.

Christ is no longer visible as an individual person on earth, but that means he can reach billions of us through other individuals acting in the power of the Holy Spirit, namely, the priests and bishops of the Church. Confession is a sacrament because it gives us a way of physically receiving God’s grace, by speaking our sins and hearing the words of absolution; because we need to encounter God not just in our minds, but with our bodies. Confession is your personal encounter with Christ: telling him you’re sorry, and receiving mercy and forgiveness with absolute certainty. It’s an awesome gift.

 

[Neithan]

*****For the theological wonks (like me) I should add that anyone who has received the sacrament of confirmation and is in a state of grace can act in the power of the Holy Spirit; but only priests and bishops act with the authority of Christ himself (the Son), in persona Christi — so only they can give absolution.

 

[Reuben_J]

It’s not different, but it is more; and yes it does help me to try harder to do better. The fact that I have to abstain from communion and go back to confession if I fall into mortal sin is life-altering, so that should help me to overcome vices and progress in virtue.

Christ is no longer visible as an individual person on earth, but that means he can reach billions of us through other individuals acting in the power of the Holy Spirit, namely, the priests and bishops of the Church. Confession is a sacrament because it gives us a way of physically receiving God’s grace, by speaking our sins and hearing the words of absolution; because we need to encounter God not just in our minds, but with our bodies. Confession is your personal encounter with Christ: telling him you’re sorry, and receiving mercy and forgiveness with absolute certainty. It’s an awesome gift.

Beautifully well said.

 

[Vico]

Hi I was just listening to Bishop Sheen talk about the sacrament of confession and it was clear as day for me. (I seriously need to start showing his videos to my mom). Anyways I remember being in Catholic school at 8 years old and it is about the time my entire class was doing their first confession and I was curious and asked my mom when I would be able to do my first confession. She told me that I could confess my sins at my bedside every night. Fast forward 12 years later I’m in college and I had gone out this guy who calls himself a Christian and is very active in his church and in his young adult ministry. He doesn’t have a good reputation for when it comes to dating and I will leave that topic right there.

I asked him if are a christian and you know it is wrong to be involved with all these girls in this way why do you still do it? He told me that Jesus forgives him whenever he makes a mistake and so it was okay. I told him about the time Jesus stopped the people from stoning the woman from adultery and when he forgave her he told her to go forth and sin no more. I told him the Jesus at least wants him to try to do better but it seems to me that he is using Jesus as a get out of jail free card.

The reason I talk about this person is because I feel like that is what I used to do as well. My mom told me that I don’t have to tell anyone and whatever it is Jesus will forgive me. Now at that age I had a problem with dishonesty, I would try to lie to get out of trouble all the time and I would pray and ask for forgiveness but I would keep lying. Now I understand that we are all born with the ability to sin and we will always slip up but to me I think something is very wrong if we are confessing to Jesus at our bedtime and we are still continuing to sin we are obviously doing something very wrong. Which is why I think the sacrament of confession is very important.

Now I have never had the experience of going to confession so I can’t speak too much on it but I would like to hear more from the Catholics that have been doing it for years. Is it different from just telling Jesus your sorry or do you feel you at least try harder to do better?

Yes it is different because we receive the absolution for our offense, which is necessary for forgiveness on our sin, when our contrition is imperfect, and also in every case we reconcile with the Church as well as God, and receive some penance and help from the priest.

It is true that for forgiveness we need to have the firm resolution to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin.

 

[Wesrock]

I think your story really highlights why the Church uses this sacrament and why Christ works through it. We are fallible beings prone to making excuses for ourselves and deciding for ourselves what we need to ask for forgiveness for. The use of Confession (and it’s probably underused by many Catholics, especially with Protestant influence) helps keep us mindful and aware of our sins. It gives us less opportunity to make excuses. It allows us to interact with a real human person acting in the person of Christ (and authorized by Christ to do so) and hear and know our absolution. It’s a reminder that we are one body in Christ, not just millions of individuals, and allows us to participate in a physical, communal, and sacramental way within that body.

 

[GratefulFred]

One of the great benefits of being Catholic is the Sacrament of Confession, now often called the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

We all know we sin. We know it is much better to be in a proper relationship with whom we love. If we truly love Christ, the Living Son of God, we want to reconcile with Him when we sin, especially when we sin so bad that our relationship is temporarily broken. We do not want that most important relationship permanently broken. Nor can we settle for it to be on our terms, not His. On our terms is the sin of Pride. On His terms is the virtue of humility.

Christ came to teach us. He came to earn salvation for us through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, if we chose to follow Him as He commanded - offered to us as we always have Free Will to follow or not - to love Him in return or not.

Christ gave us 4 important things to help us follow Him more closely.

1 and 2: The Church He commanded to teach us in accordance with His Teachings and the Holy Spirit until His Return.
3: The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist - His real Body and Blood - that we can receive when we are in the state Grace - without mortal sin. And
4: Perhaps most important: the Sacrament of Reconciliation because we are weak and sin too much. Each time we reconcile we are then worthy enough to receive Him in Holy Eucharist.

Please read John Chapter 20, especially 21-23:

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

This was THE FIRST power Christ gave His apostles after He rose from the Dead.

 

[brad90956]

Others have given you great advice and information.

Confession to a priest is a very, very humbling experience. It takes courage to go to confession and confess your sins out loud to another person instead of just admitting your sins to God in the privacy of your own bedroom. Also, the advice and guidance from the priest in the confession is invaluable for helping me to overcome my habitual sins.

 

[e_c]

I asked him if are a christian and you know it is wrong to be involved with all these girls in this way why do you still do it? He told me that Jesus forgives him whenever he makes a mistake and so it was okay. I told him about the time Jesus stopped the people from stoning the woman from adultery and when he forgave her he told her to go forth and sin no more. I told him the Jesus at least wants him to try to do better but it seems to me that he is using Jesus as a get out of jail free card.

This is called “presumption.” Imagine if a child did this with his parents… “My parents forgive me whenever I make a mistake, so it’s ok,” which implies, “I don’t really care about what offends my parents, so I just do whatever the heck I want.” Once the parents get wise to this attitude, there is going to be trouble.

Well God is always wise to it. It is a very, very serious thing to presume upon God’s mercy. And if one does commit the sin of presumption, then it too must be confessed together with the sin one used presumption toward. See Psalm 19.

Confession - as a form of “in your face” accountability - does help with this sort of thing, but it still can happen. At the end of the day, we must still have integrity.

Hard to go wrong with Sheen, he’s a good guide.

 

[Joe_5859]

Others have already answered well. I just want to add that many of the saints do encourage a nightly “examination of conscience”, which seems similar to what your mother was recommending. It is a beneficial practice to take stock at the end of our days (while things are still fresh in our mind) exactly where we might have failed throughout the day. In this way, we can identify those areas we need to work on to grow in holiness.

This is not a replacement for sacramental Confession. Quite the opposite. When done as it should, the practice should help us in making regular sacramental Confessions.

 

[brad90956]

Others have already answered well. I just want to add that many of the saints do encourage a nightly “examination of conscience”, which seems similar to what your mother was recommending. It is a beneficial practice to take stock at the end of our days (while things are still fresh in our mind) exactly where we might have failed throughout the day. In this way, we can identify those areas we need to work on to grow in holiness.

This is not a replacement for sacramental Confession. Quite the opposite. When done as it should, the practice should help us in making regular sacramental Confessions.