State of Grace

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Is confession w/ a priest the only way to achieve the State of Grace after one sins? Or can one, with a truly repentant heart, be sorry for his sins and say the Rosary (for instance) as a form of penance, and thereafter be in the State of Grace?

I’m just confused as to whether confession is always required in order to achieve the State of Grace. Please help.
 
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cenpress:
Is confession w/ a priest the only way to achieve the State of Grace after one sins? Or can one, with a truly repentant heart, be sorry for his sins and say the Rosary (for instance) as a form of penance, and thereafter be in the State of Grace?

I’m just confused as to whether confession is always required in order to achieve the State of Grace. Please help.
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If you have committed mortal sins then you are required to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and confess to a priest.
Even if you were to make an Act of Perfect Contrition (for which your sins would be forgiven if you died before going to Confession) you are required to go to Confession as soon as possible afterwards.
Only the Protestants believe you are forgiven without the need for Confession.
 
The term “act of perfect contrition” can be a misleading term, because it doesn’t involve an actual act. What it means is that you you are truly sorry for your sin because you have offended God, not just because you are afraid of hell.

The way it works is this. When you commit a mortal sin, you need to go to confession and receive absolution. Now say that you had no way of getting to confession (like you were stranded in the Sahara, or you died before you could get there or whatever). In this case, if you are truly sorry because you offended God, then God will not hold it against you that you were not able to make it to a priest. However, if you are only sorry because you fear hell, that is not enough. This is called imperfect contrition. Now it is very important to realize that you can be afraid of hell and have perfect condition. Just because you are afraid of hell it doesn’t mean you don’t have perfect contrition. What imprefect contrition means is that you are only afraid of hell but not sorry for offending God. In other words, you can be both sorry because you offended God and because you are afraid of hell.

The one other point to remember is that even if you have perfect contrition you must go to confession if you can. If you have all the oppurtunity in the world to go to confession but don’t just because you feel you have perfect contrition, that is another mortal sin in and of itself.
 
Contrition

CCC 1451 Among the penitent’s acts contrition occupies first place. Contrition is "sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again."50

CCC 1452 When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called “perfect” (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible.51

CCC 1453 The contrition called “imperfect” (or “attrition”) is also a gift of God, a prompting of the Holy Spirit. It is born of the consideration of sin’s ugliness or the fear of eternal damnation and the other penalties threatening the sinner (contrition of fear). Such a stirring of conscience can initiate an interior process which, under the prompting of grace, will be brought to completion by sacramental absolution. By itself however, imperfect contrition cannot obtain the forgiveness of grave sins, but it disposes one to obtain forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance.
 
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