Confession

Paul S · Apr 27, 2005

bigsierra said:
So would the priest recommend getting rid of the inappropriate contentography, or is that just assumed, by the act of contrition?

He might. Of course, these days, with the Internet, he's not going to say "throw out the computer".

But to be absolved, one must have the intention of never committing the sin again. Throwing it out wouldn't be required, since you could just resolve to put it away and never look at it again, but that might later cause temptation.

When it comes to advice regarding any sin, I've found a few priests will talk for a while, some will say a little bit, and some just get on with the Sacrament.

Ave Maria · Apr 27, 2005

Paul S said:
If you haven't been baptised, all your sins will be forgiven in Baptism. You'll only have to confess sins you commit from then on.

And you should never re-confess a sin, since this is telling God He didn't get it right the first time. But if you forgot a mortal sin, and later remember it, you should confess it.

Yeah I know Paul.

And no, I have never been baptised to my knowledge.

WarriorAngel · Apr 27, 2005

I always say...I confess all my sins. Whether I remember em all or not.

Covers the bases...after I remember the bigger ones. :o

Bradford · Apr 28, 2005

Do I ask, Paul... what si the "coffee penance"? This sounds like something I might be interested in

Paul S · Apr 28, 2005

Bradford said:
Do I ask, Paul... what si the "coffee penance"? This sounds like something I might be interested in

You have to go buy yourself a cup of coffee.

Or do something else nice for yourself - it's a way of making yourself relax, since sometimes too much stress leads to using sin as a method of relief.

Highway of Life · Apr 28, 2005

Paul S said:
Something to do to show you're sorry. The usual penance is several Our Fathers and Hail Marys, but some priests get more creative.

My pastor has the "coffee penance".

Penence can usually range from vacuuming the church for the next month, to helping paint the new rectory, sometimes shoveling snow in the church parking lot in your pajamas.

Sometimes they get even harsher, but I don't think I have commited a serious enough sin to qualify me for the harsher punishments.

Then there are those really nice priest which give you like 4 dozen rosaries and 2 scores of "Our Fathers". So it just depends on what the Priest is like.

Highway of Life

Groovy · Apr 28, 2005

WOW, They really get that bad huh?

Groovy · Apr 28, 2005

I've only heard of as bad as fixing the leaky toilet in the basement (that's if the priest know you are a handyman)

Groovy · Apr 28, 2005

I did get the penance of fixing something before, I don't rember what it is.

Highway of Life · Apr 28, 2005

Groovy said:
I've only heard of as bad as fixing the leaky toilet in the basement (that's if the priest know you are a handyman)

That is pretty rare Groovy, I mean, how many Churches have leaky toilets? plus, he would have to know you are a handyman, AND you would have had to commit a pretty serious mortal sin for him to dish out that kind of penance.

Highway

Zacharias · Apr 28, 2005

I was baptized in a non-Catholic Church at 5 years of age. I have never gone to confession. Will I have to confess all the sins that I've committed during the past 12 years?

Also can a baptized non-Catholic do confession before he is confirmed into the Catholic Church?

SarahEngland · Apr 28, 2005

The thought of having to confess all my sins since baptism is really worrying me. I thought that this would be only from the time I was baptised in the evangelical church 5 years ago. But now I learn that my parents had me baptised as a baby in the Anglican church, So does that mean I have to recount all the sins I have comitted during 33 years of my life!? This feels all wrong,When I joined the Mormons at 19 They baptised me too.I thought after that baptism I had been forgiven of all my sins, until I learnt otherwise from the evangelical christians who taught me all I had to do was repent of my sins and confess them to God and ask for His forgiveness. Which I did, And I was encouraged to be baptised again, which I did and then I thought I have a fresh start, I'm forgiven.
Now though, as I wait until I can be recieved into full communion with the Catholic church, I feel as though I have to go back through my past, which I had put behind me and drag up all the sins , which I had believed were forgiven and forgotten by God, and carry them around with me, so I don't forget them, while having to wait almost a year before I am allowed to confess them, and recieve assurance that I am forgiven. This is causing me alot of worry and I feel really burdened. It don't feel to me that this is right,psycologically it is messing me up.
I just have this picture in my head of a barrier a huge thick brick wall between me and God, which is my sin, and the Devil is standing on the top of the wall piling on more bricks, laughing at me.
Actually its not the thought of confessing that is the problem, it is this time waiting.
Its a bit like being told .. You need a life saving operation, but we will not do it now, we will wait a year, hopefully you'll still be alive by then, if there's emmergency of course we will rush you in, but there's always the risk that you might die before we get the chance to save your life. Try not to worry though.

I'm gonna talk to my priest about this, because it is doing my head in.

Sarah

Ave Maria · Apr 28, 2005

SarahEngland said:
The thought of having to confess all my sins since baptism is really worrying me. I thought that this would be only from the time I was baptised in the evangelical church 5 years ago. But now I learn that my parents had me baptised as a baby in the Anglican church, So does that mean I have to recount all the sins I have comitted during 33 years of my life!? This feels all wrong,When I joined the Mormons at 19 They baptised me too.I thought after that baptism I had been forgiven of all my sins, until I learnt otherwise from the evangelical christians who taught me all I had to do was repent of my sins and confess them to God and ask for His forgiveness. Which I did, And I was encouraged to be baptised again, which I did and then I thought I have a fresh start, I'm forgiven.
Now though, as I wait until I can be recieved into full communion with the Catholic church, I feel as though I have to go back through my past, which I had put behind me and drag up all the sins , which I had believed were forgiven and forgotten by God, and carry them around with me, so I don't forget them, while having to wait almost a year before I am allowed to confess them, and recieve assurance that I am forgiven. This is causing me alot of worry and I feel really burdened. It don't feel to me that this is right,psycologically it is messing me up.
I just have this picture in my head of a barrier a huge thick brick wall between me and God, which is my sin, and the Devil is standing on the top of the wall piling on more bricks, laughing at me.
Actually its not the thought of confessing that is the problem, it is this time waiting.
Its a bit like being told .. You need a life saving operation, but we will not do it now, we will wait a year, hopefully you'll still be alive by then, if there's emmergency of course we will rush you in, but there's always the risk that you might die before we get the chance to save your life. Try not to worry though.

I'm gonna talk to my priest about this, because it is doing my head in.

Sarah

Awww Sarah, I'm sorry to hear that. I don't really know what to tell you though. :hug:

I will pray for you. :crossrc:

Also, you should talk to your priest about that.

D'Ann · Apr 28, 2005

I'm not sure if others mentioned this or not... I have to go and I didn't take the time to go back and read the previous posts...

Please do the following before going to confession: Examine your conscience. Pray and ask Jesus to reveal any sins that you need to ask forgiveness for. Truly seek through your heart... sincerely examine your heart and quietly meditate and ponder. Whatever sins come to your mind... and remembrance... those are the sins that need to be confessed.

Please do not be afride of confession. The Priest is not there to punish you or to put you down or to ridicule you... he is there to help you and to counsel you and give advice as necessary and also you receive absolution... even this is given in the name of Jesus... This is a blessing... I know that it is scary, but believe me... when you are done... you will know that you are forgiven and you will have a lesser burden on your shoulders.

God's Peace,

D'Ann

Gwendolyn · Apr 28, 2005

Confession isn't something to be feared. It is an opportunity to seek healing and reconciliation with God. You shouldn't get caught up in trying to recall each and every one of your sins - examine your conscience like D'Ann suggested, and the Lord will watch over you. He knows your heart and mind. Going to confession regularly allows you to develop a keener conscience - you can more easily recognise the wrongdoings or the misdeeds that serve to separate you from the Father on a daily basis, and in doing so, you can not only build a stronger relationship with Him through the wonders of His grace and mercy, but you can also be transformed.

The graces I have received through the Sacrament of Reconciliation have permitted me to make a wonderful transformation that has seen me truly come home into the Church. It was Reconciliation that began the homecoming, and it is Reconciliation now that sustains it. I had avoided Reconciliation for two years or so because I didn't think I could be forgiven (the mind of a teenager - everything is the end of the world) and so when I finally realised that God's love and mercy spring eternal, I had about five years of sins to confess - things I had held back in the past. Now, it sounds daunting, but really, it isn't. In examining your conscience, the Lord will show you the way.

Jeremiah 1:6-9 - Then I said, "Alas, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am a child." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am a child,' because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you," declares the LORD.Then the LORD stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth."

...Now, I don't mean to be rude, but can a non-baptised individual receive the Sacrament? Can a non-Catholic? It is my understanding that it is not so...

Q-La · Apr 28, 2005

SarahEngland said:
The thought of having to confess all my sins since baptism is really worrying me. ...
Sarah

I actually had the experience of confessing sins before my baptism. That was at a time after I have left the church for a period of time after baptism and has accumulated a certain bulk of things worth confessing. I felt so bad that I decided to ask the priest in the confessional if it is ok to confess even the more remote sins I commited (The gentle priest said it is ok). I still remember at that time walking to the confessional by the side of altar striked great fear in me, for I had a lot of pressure feeling the weight. Now I think about it, it may also be like something did not want me to do the big confession. Anyway trust God, and I pray you will feel the lightness soon. :crosseo:

patriarch · Apr 28, 2005

Highway of Life said:
Penence can usually range from vacuuming the church for the next month, to helping paint the new rectory, sometimes shoveling snow in the church parking lot in your pajamas.

Sometimes they get even harsher, but I don't think I have commited a serious enough sin to qualify me for the harsher punishments.

Then there are those really nice priest which give you like 4 dozen rosaries and 2 scores of "Our Fathers". So it just depends on what the Priest is like.

Highway of Life

In 62 yrs of life as a Catholic my experience has been that the usual penances are much more on the order of "Three Our Fathers and Three Hail Marys" or "Two Hail Marys". I think once I was given the penance of saying a rosary, and another time to spend 10 minutes in front of the Blessed Sacrament. The heaviest penances of my life!

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I get the idea you are trying to be funny here, but this is no place to be cute-- when discussing a sacrament. A neophyte or an unbeliever has no way to tell whether you're kidding or not. In fact, believe it or not, telling a jocose lie is in fact a sin.

BTW, my son suggests to me that one form of an Act of Contrition is "Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you."

Lee

Zacharias · Apr 28, 2005

Also can a baptized non-Catholic do confession before he is confirmed into the Catholic Church?

stray bullet · Apr 28, 2005

Freak4JC said:
Also can a baptized non-Catholic do confession before he is confirmed into the Catholic Church?

Well, it's required. Confession isn't used on the unbaptized because you can't receive any sacrament before it.

If you are baptized and recognize the Church for what it is, then you can go (though you might ask your parish about it_. I went months before I joined and several times after.

Gwendolyn · Apr 28, 2005

patriarch said:
In 62 yrs of life as a Catholic my experience has been that the usual penances are much more on the order of "Three Our Fathers and Three Hail Marys" or "Two Hail Marys". I think once I was given the penance of saying a rosary, and another time to spend 10 minutes in front of the Blessed Sacrament. The heaviest penances of my life!

My usual penances have been to "say the three prayers we all learned as children" (Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be), say those three/spend time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, say a [decade of the] Rosary... my most recent one was to meditate upon Sunday's Gospel passage (John 14:1-12), which was interesting and ended up consuming me for the rest of the day and well into Sunday as well (very profound). I tend to go to the same priest for confession each time, so he knows my heart and mind, and he gives me penances that will help me strengthen my relationship with Christ. It's wonderful.

patriarch said:
BTW, my son suggests to me that one form of an Act of Contrition is "Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you."

I carry an Act of Contrition card in my wallet (hehe), and it says the Jesus prayer: "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner".

Though the Act I favour is the "I am heartily sorry for all my sins" one...

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