What if no priest can hear my confession today?

[samsdad]

If I have committed mortal sin today and no priest can hear my confession and my church isn’t having regularly scheduled reconciliation until Saturday, are there any great intermediate steps I should take until then? I’m a new Catholic. Thanks!

 

[Eichelbaum]

Sure! Your best bet is to make an act of perfect contrition.

I would echo what Colin Donovan says in that article:

There is no way of knowing with an absolute certainty if one has made a perfect act of contrition, but all that is required is the standard of all human action, moral certainty. If you can say an act of contrition in these or similar words truthfully, intending it, then I think you would have moral certainty.

So make that act of perfect contrition, do your best to intend it, and trust in Jesus that He has forgiven you.

… but be sure to go to Confession as soon as you can. We have to intend to go to Confession in order to make an act of perfect contrition in the first place (all things being equal).

 

[Bookcat]

One can call any Catholic Church or Monastery- can go over for confession.

Also if one does not get a Priest today - one could go to a daily Mass and ask before or after Mass (not receiving at Mass if not yet gone to confession).

In any case seek in the meantime to make an act of perfect contrition (sorry out of love of God above all…such as because God is God…Jesus is Lord and your sorry you sinned etc. -even if lesser motives are also present) and you would need to resolve to get to confession as soon as possible. Perfect contrition already involves forgiveness of even mortal sin.

 

[FrancescaMaria]

Yes, tell God you are sorry by praying the Act of Contrition or any similar prayer, and then go to Confession when you can find a priest. My experience is that most priests are happy to make appointments outside of the regularly scheduled times. God is very merciful, and he knows your heart. He knows you are sorry and want to confess.

 

[reagent6]

Dear Samsdad

Have you tried calling the rectory of your own and other local parishes to see if you can make an appointment with a priest? Do you have a shrine near you? They often have daily confession times.

In any case. make a good act of contrition acknowledging your guilt, expressing your sorrow and resolve not to fall again. You can do this silently by yourself. Be sincere. A humble and contrite heart He will not spurn.

If you have harmed someone do what you can to reverse it. Pray for that person.

As I am sure you know, do not receive communion until you have been to confession and had your sin absolved.

I have been in this situation many times. The feelings of distress and discomfort are healthy and remind us to avoid sin.

Peace

 

[Franciscan_Way]

As everyone has said, saying an Act of Contrition directly to our Lord is a great start.

I can say from experience that our parish priests are awesome when it comes to hearing confessions outside of the normally scheduled times. I bet most priests are pretty good about this too.

I have done this on three occasions. Once, about 15
mins prior to mass, I walked up and asked, “Father, can I please trouble you for a two minute confession?” Done. The second time, I called the parish office, identified myself, (ooops) and asked if any priests were available for a quick confession. They said they would check. I thought, “Oh great! They’ll tell the priests who it is and they all run out of the office!” Well, the same priest that I confessed to the night before (yes, less than 24 hours earlier and face to face) answered the phone, identified himself, and asked “Can I help you?” I almost started crying. I said ,“I messed up” and asked if I could make a quick confession. He asked me when I wanted to come in and said he could do 7pm, now or whenever I wanted. I told him I was 5 mins away. He said, " Come on over." He had a box of Kleenex waiting for me and asked, “Do you need these?” Done. Today, I went to another parish that has 6:30am daily mass and Mon thru Fri 7am Reconciliation . Done.

The truth is, I have needed to go since Sun night. I wimped out a couple of times at my own parish. I didn’t want to wait until Tues next week.

The moral of the story is if a priest at your home parish can’t, another parish may have a more diverse schedule or like some else said, grab a priest before or after daily mass or call the parish office. There is almost always a way. I consider mortal sin to be a 911 of the soul and I don’t believe such things should wait.