The spiritual importance of confession

  • Thread starter Thread starter tomo_pomo
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
T

tomo_pomo

Guest
The person here said that priest told her "anger is not a sin and cut her off.
Now, anger is not a sin, but it is a temptation and temptation leads to sin, right?
Our priest said its good to go to confession even when you are tempted and I agree.
The confession is not just recital of the sins from the last month. It’s also spiritual healing and humbling experience. The soul is renewed and equipped with new armor to battle of those temptations. It leads to perfection bit by bit with the help of Gods Grace.
As one priest here said “we need to fight to win” and there’s no other option. If we are not winning against sin with all we have the evil one will easily employ every bit of ourselves we are not using to fight.
Confession is Gods gift to us and we should use it as often as we need, and we need it often.
 
Last edited:
Jesus was angry, he flipped the tables with coins in the Temple. This is what we call righteous anger, not a sin
 
We should use it as often as we need, within reason.

If someone who wasn’t the Pope was wanting to confess multiple times a week, priests might very well take it as a sign of possible scruples and suggest a confession schedule for you that would have you going less frequently. Of course, if someone was mortally sinning several times a week, they have a bigger problem than just needing to go to Confession, and there might be a question whether they were truly repentant of that sin or whether they had some other problem such as a compulsive mental disorder needing medical help.

We also should remember that receiving the Holy Eucharist absolves us of venial sin and strengthens us against sin. Receiving Jesus at daily Mass and not just Sunday is a great help and is something you can do every day if you have access to daily Mass, whereas confession probably isn’t available every day for most people.
 
It’s hugely important for several reasons. Nothing worse than a guilty heart/soul being eaten away. But more importantly because Christ told us…

Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. Those who were foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, “Behold! The bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him!” Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise answered, saying, “What if there isn’t enough for us and you? You go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.” While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins also came, saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us.” But he answered, “Most certainly I tell you, I don’t know you.” Watch therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the [Son of Man] is coming.

— Matthew 25:1-13, [World English Bible]
 
Unless someone suffers from very obvious scrupulousity, I think that a person should go to Confession as frequently as they wish to. I don’t believe people should feel that they are in some way doing something wrong, or being a bit strange if they go very frequently. The issue we have today, I think, is not that people go to Confession too frequently, but quite the reverse. Maybe we should celebrate very frequent reception of Confession, rather than caution against it?

With Confession it sometimes feels as if going very frequently seems sometimes to be regarded negatively. I think this is a bit of a shame really as I think Confession is not simply there to absolve our mortal sins, but to help us grow closer to God. I think go as often as you feel inclined to, take advantage of the opportunity to receive the graces that flow from the sacrament.
 
Last edited:
This is one of the reasons I really like my own faith tradition’s doctrine and liturgy. We uphold both private and corporate confession in our practice and worship. A week never goes by where I do not confess my sin and my pastor declares the gospel to me that my sins are forgiven. It is always a blessing to know what Christ has done for me, and that he has given me the Holy Spirit to sanctify me and keep me in the faith.
 
Brendan_64 said:
With Confession it sometimes feels as if going very frequently seems sometimes to be regarded negatively
Click to expand...
Well, even in the old traditionalist times, people generally went to Confession once a week, not daily, unless they were the Pope or similar.

And from a practical standpoint, given the size of parishes today, the priests probably would not be able to accommodate large numbers of Catholics going daily. It’s hard to even find a parish that offers Confession more than one or two days a week without making an appointment, and obviously the priest, given all of his other duties, is not going to be able to take appointments for confession every day of the week, and certainly not appointments from the same person for every day.

Since we can have our venial sins absolved by receiving Holy Eucharist or even just using holy water, then the only reason someone would need to go to confession very frequently (i.e. more than once a week at the maximum and probably more like once or twice a month for most people), rather than simply going to daily Mass or even to Communion service, would be that they are committing grave, possibly mortal sins very frequently. Which to me would suggest the person has some issues with their lifestyle that need to be addressed, since grave/ possibly mortal sin should not be an everyday occurrence.

I personally think the fact that Confession is not an instant thing - like we can’t just hop on instant messaging or Skype and dial up a priest for confession any old time - motivates a lot of us to avoid serious sin because we know we won’t be able to receive Holy Eucharist for a week and a half and we’ll have to walk around for days with an unconfessed serious sin on our soul. All of a sudden, certain sins look a LOT less attractive to me when I think about that.
 
Last edited:
Tis_Bearself said:
Since we can have our venial sins absolved by receiving Holy Eucharist or even just using holy water, then the only reason someone would need to go to confession very frequently …would be that they are committing grave, possibly mortal sins very frequently.
Click to expand...
Why should the sacrament of Confession be there only in a case of need? I believe the sacrament is not there simply for us to go when we need to have our mortal sins absolved. I believe much grace flows from the sacrament, why should we wait until we are in a state of mortal sin?

There are many things that, as Catholics, one could argue that we don’t actually ‘need’ to go to. Weekday Mass, adoration of the Eucharist, etc, we do not have to attend these, one could argue that we don’t ‘need’ to go to these. Yet they are beneficial to the individual and the Church and we encourage people to attend (the more frequently the better) as much grace flows from these. So why when it comes to the sacrament of Confession does there seem to be a reluctance to encourage people to go ‘too’ frequently?
 
Last edited:
Brendan_64 said:
Why should the sacrament of Confession be there only in a case of need? I believe the sacrament is not there simply for us to go when we need to have our mortal sins absolved. I believe much grace flows from the sacrament, why should we wait until we are in a state of mortal sin?
Click to expand...
Did you read my post? I am saying “VERY FREQUENTLY” as in more than the old traditional once a week. Do you actually think it’s reasonable and appropriate for a Catholic who is not the Pope to be confessing every day, or three times a week? Assuming no mortal sin, why don’t they just go to daily Mass and get the same benefit, including absolution, by receiving Holy Communion? Daily Mass / Communion is a recommended practice and is generally more available on a daily basis than Confession.

I think confession 1-2 times a month is a normal frequency for a Catholic nowadays, and most priests would agree. Those Catholics who are more traditional would likely go once a week. Do you actually think people need to go more often than that unless they are in mortal sin? Do you yourself confess every day, or three times a week, or whatever?

Nowhere did I say in any of my posts that we need to sit around waiting till we’re in mortal sin to confess. I myself confess 1 to 3 times a month. To my knowledge, I am generally not in a state of grave/ possibly mortal sin these days (I live a boring life, I’m old). I think this frequency is reasonable (I try to get in and out of the confessional in about 5 minutes), works well with the parishes’ confession schedules (so no need for me to be pestering priest for a special appointment), and does not burden the priest, nor am I taking up more than my reasonable share of the priest’s time. I try to go to Mass and receive Communion every day and if I miss a day I try to go to two Masses with two Communions on another day to make that up, so this takes care of my venial sin as it’s absolved each time I receive. There is no reason for me to be confessing every day, or three times a week, or whatever. If I do slip and commit a grave sin then I rush to confession ASAP as I can’t receive Communion until I confess. I try to avoid this.
 
Last edited:
Your lucky. I can’t wait to be old. Being young brings upon way more temptation to sin and bad influences. Ugh
 
tomo_pomo said:
Now, anger is not a sin, but it is a temptation and temptation leads to sin, right?
Click to expand...
No, anger is an emotion.

When we are emotional we may be tempted, we may also be tempted when we are non-emotional.
 
Brendan_64 said:
Why should the sacrament of Confession be there only in a case of need? I believe the sacrament is not there simply for us to go when we need to have our mortal sins absolved. I believe much grace flows from the sacrament, why should we wait until we are in a state of mortal sin?
Click to expand...
Because sometimes the real world means that you have 1 priest for 3,000 people and his time is limited, so, brief confessions it is.

Number, kind. Be brief, be bold, be gone.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Did you read my post? I am saying “VERY FREQUENTLY” as in more than the old traditional once a week. Do you actually think it’s reasonable and appropriate for a Catholic who is not the Pope to be confessing every day, or three times a week?
Click to expand...
If the person is not scrupulous, I don’t see how this is necessarily inappropriate. Knocking on the priest’s door asking for a private Confession several times a week (if not in a state of mortal sin) may well be unreasonable, but simply joining a the queue to a scheduled Confession session does not seem unreasonable to me.

Different parishes can have different times scheduled for Confession, and if you’re lucky enough to live near a very large city, you can find many opportunities for Confession without having to bother the priest for a personal appointment.
 
Last edited:
TheLittleLady said:
Because sometimes the real world means that you have 1 priest for 3,000 people and his time is limited, so, brief confessions it is.
Click to expand...
And in reality, how long are the queues to Confession these days? How often, in most parishes, are priests struggling to cope with the lines of parishioners waiting for Confession?

I do find it peculiar that frequent (or very frequent) Confession of others seems to bother some people a little bit. If the Confession queues are so long that Father is struggling to cope with them, then fair enough, but the realities within most parishes (at least here in the UK) would not seem to suggest that is the case. Sometimes (over here anyway) I get the impression that the priest is thankful that a few people (perhaps sometimes possibly even anyone) have turned up.
 
Last edited:
Brendan_64 said:
And in reality, how long are the queues to Confession these days? How often, in most parishes, are priests struggling to cope with the lines of parishioners waiting for Confession?
Click to expand...
At my usual parishes there are long lines for Confession every week and if you arrive too late in the allotted confession time, you might not get in there. The bigger parishes even have 2 priests hearing confessions and still they have a line that gets to be about 5-10 people long.

In 3 years I’ve seen maybe 1 parish that didn’t have a line for confession. It was a very small parish in a rural area of another state.

While I am sure that if it were an emergency, one could make an appointment with the priest outside the regular time, the idea of people going to confession multiple times a week is not practical for the priest given the number of parishioners and duties the priest is handling, and I continue to be suspicious that a normal Catholic should not need to go to confession multiple times a week. I’m muting this thread now as I’m repeating myself.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top