Tell me about the Sacrament of Reconciliation

[japhy]

Are you thinking of the fact that indulgences used to be expressed in terms of ‘days’ or ‘years’?

Yup.

Contrary to popular belief, this did NOT refer to an amount of time remitted from purgatory … Rather this convention referred to the indulgenced prayer/act being equivalent to doing x number of days or years of the old canonical penances (which usually involved fasting for a certain amount of time, among other things).

Ahhh. Thank you!

 

[SomeCatholicGuy]

How did I go? Is that all right? What am I missing?

Hi Jibb! I think you’re on the right path. I, too, had trouble with this sacrament for a while, but I started going recently, and it has proving quite rewarding. I think the first time is always the hardest. What I would recommend is going there first, and then decide what you want to do, because that’s what I wish I had done, instead of waiting all this time. The priest can also answer any remaining questions you may have. God bless!

 

[kristie_m]

Mortal sin is indeed by definition deliberate - she was referring to deliberately omitting to confess it, because sometimes, you go in there and you have a brain lock-up, and can’t remember what you went in there for, so you confess whatever you can remember, ramble on a bit about how things are going with your mother, and then receive the Absolution, and then get half way home, and suddenly remember, “OH, YEAH, that bank I robbed!!” So you turn around and go all the way back, but the priest has gone in for his supper, so you’re going to have to wait until next time, to confess the bank robbery.

I wondered for a moment if you weren’t on the other side of the screen during my last confession. That SO sounds like me!!! (okay, not the actual bank robbing, but the rest of it!!)

 

[Cat]

I hope the OP doesn’t mind if I add a different perspective.

I grew up and spent over 40 years as an evangelical Protestant. The very idea of confession of sins to a human being and receiving absolution from a mere man is unthinkable to evangelicals.

We were taught that when we accepted Jesus as our personal Savior, ALL our sins, past, present, and future, were forgiven. The only reason we were told in the Bible to confess our sins was not to have them forgiven, since they already were forgiven, but to help US as human beings to get past the sin and move on in our walk and fellowship with Christ.

In fact, some of the fellowships that I was part of taught that it demontrated a LACK OF FAITH for us to confess sins to Jesus, since He had died once for those sins and they were already forgiven. To medidate upon one’s sins was considered insulting to Jesus because it took our attention OFF Him and onto ourselves.

The problem with all that evangelical teaching is that it’s not what the Bible says, and it doesn’t work in practical real life.

A lot of evangelicals fall away from the Church and never return because of guilt over sins. They’re told they shouldn’t have guilt because Jesus forgave all those sins, but they still have guilt! Well, no wonder! They HAVEN’T been forgiven in the way that Jesus established for us to be forgiven and absolved!

I’ve been a Catholic for over four years now, not long, but long enough to know that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of the greatest joys in my relationship with Jesus. I both hate it and love it. I hate it because I hate confessing my own failures to the Lord. But I love it because I see the great love and mercy of Jesus Christ demonstrated as He (through the priest) pronounces me clean and gives me a penance to get myself back on the right road again.

And it works. Certain sins are literally gone from my life now that I am Catholics. Others remain, especially the sins of addiction and overindulgence. But it is good to see real progress in my life. Before, I didn’t worry about sins and becoming more holy. I was taught that once I died and went to heaven, I would instantly be made holy and perfect. So don’t worry about it here on this earth. Oh, brother! No wonder I struggled so much.

I think that some of strongest advocates of Confession that you will find in any Catholic parish are the ex-evangelical Protestants!

 

[kristie_m]

And some reverts too!

 

[EasterJoy]

Venial sins committed between your last confession and your earthly death will be payed for through temporal punishment (Purgatory), and then you go to heaven.

I’m snagging up on the idea that we “pay” for our sins in Purgatory or by acts performed on earth. The whole point of the death and resurrection of the Lord is that we are not up to a quid pro quo system.

I may be nit-picking, but God is not running a demerit system on us. Consider the difference is between the parent who says, “you failed me, now you owe me” versus one who says that “what is broken must be fixed in order to work”. God, in justice, says both. Yes, we failed God and we owe God, more than we can repay. Jesus took care of that part, though. I don’t mean this to imply that God is petty. The cost to be paid is a real cost, though. Our need for salvation is not some sort of juridical technicality that God could have just waived, were God “nicer”. The debt Jesus paid is the real replacement of something really destroyed, replaced by a real sacrifice. We destroyed our own life, the life God gave us. Jesus brought life back to us.

What remains, though, is the fixing. The substance of our life in God is replaced, and that is a substance we had no power to supply ourselves, but the nature of the break remains, which is a break between our will and God’s. That restoration requires acts of our will to be fixed. You could look at it as Purgatory as being the place where our will holds still for fixing by God. In baptism, in confession, we come by our own free will for fixing by God.

Even our venial sins do real damage to our souls, damage that is not fixable except by the cooperation of our souls. We’re not going to make it through Purgatory except by admission that we need to be fixed in order to be made fit for heaven, and to cooperate in that repair. Nevertheless, those who insist that those little dings and nicks we hold to be of so little account when we commit venial sins are absolutely right: the damages do add up. Eternity is the light in which the damage is fully seen and the incompatiblity between God’s life and a broken ability to love is inescapable. The wise get to that damage now, and do not leave it all for Purgatory.

What is “broken” is our unity with God, the love in us. Because of the nature of love, this may only be repaired with our free cooperation. By mortal sin, we break away entirely and willfully from God. We break the connection between our will and God’s will. That is death for us. We have no life, apart from God’s will. If we die in a state where we have chosen to prevent repair, remaining in what is truly a state of death, then the fact that Jesus paid for our failure won’t force life onto us. By our own choice, we’re dead, we stay dead, and we live that unquenchable death forever.

The confession of mortal sins, especially, is how our will comes to God’s will for re-unification, by God’s action. By that re-unification, we return to God’s life. Again, though: the repair action is God’s work–we do not repair ourselves–but because the action is on our will, our will must cooperate and our being must experience the realities of the repair.

OK, now I’m sure I’ve thrown out something here that will read as a “snag” to somebody else…please chime in!

 

[Mike_Cooksey]

If you truly want the spirit of this sacrament then consider it a change agent.

The priestly authority (mantle) in Christ allows the priest to act in Christ and “officially” forgive you the sins you bring up. This is one of the powers of his priesthood.

Additionally, as though that were not enough, the sacrament provides grace for the penitent to grow and get stronger to avoid those sins in the future. God puts it in your future as a sort of training camp. He assumes you want to get better because you are seeking to come to Him.

It’s an awesome thing and very positive.

 

[Jibb_Smart]

Okay, that makes sense that none would claim they knew exactly how it works. If someone did claim to know I’d be very skeptical.

I can’t imagine anyone claiming to be Christian could damn contrition. In my church we definitely do NOT pretend sin doesn’t matter.

Jibb