Posted on 01/29/2005 3:18:26 AM PST by Catholic54321
Wonderful post.
Thank you so much for posting this.
Great post about a great sacrament.
Good article! I love Confession. My only complaint is that the only time you can go is 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Why not during the work week, when priests are supposed to be, like, working ... aren't they?
Me, too. I rank it right up there with natural child birth.
:-). I have anesthesia for childbirth.
I wish he would have written something about confessing venial sins.
To the best of my knowledge I have not committed a mortal sin in a long time, and I feel that I am wasting the Priests time with my piddly sins. I have even been told that by a confessor, though in more charitable language.
In part of the tradiional Mass the Priest says something like "may your sins be blotted out by the power of the Mass." They might say the same thing at a NO also, but I forget.
So anyways I wonder if I am required to go to confession when I can't think of anything to say. I don't want to appear holier than thou, but I am not the kind of person who tries to justify that my sins are not really sins. I have even told my confessor that "yes, what I did was a sin" when he tried to tell me it wasn't. To liberal confessors nothing is a sin. Which brings me to another fear - that you will not be absolved if the Priest doesn't recognize that you have sinned.
Make sure that the Priest says all the words or you might not be forgiven. I have actually had to ask a couple of Priests to do that.
Thank you so much for this piece! And posted on a Saturday too. :)
Make sure that the Priest says all the words or you might not be forgiven. I have actually had to ask a couple of Priests.
You might look up "scrupulosity" in the Catholic Dictionary or Catechism. You seem to tend toward it.
The tone of that makes a penitent feel real good. You sense it with some, most actually. I hope God hasn't lost his capacity for taking a personal interest in our lives as the individuals we are and not "type" us or put us in little file categories like this priest has.
It's only human that priests would develop that disinerest, callousness, or whatever the physic mechanism is that goes on in yourself when things get too routine.
People in the medical profession get like that, too. You always remember the ones who seemed to take an interest in you as a unique individual and not as a case #.
That priest would have done better for me this morning to write something different.
Just some food for thought. Maybe a little exercise in role reversal or something might do wonders for his soul . . .
Sinkpur how can you discern that by what Argus said. I'm sure many educated, knowledgeable Catholics have had the same experience. I know I have. I've actually had a priest say to me, "Oh why don't you tell me the good things you've done instead."
I've also been given penances that are so vague it is next to impossible to tell whether or not you've completed them. Like, "Do something nice for someone sometime".
I've had similar experiences. Part of it is that they're in a hurry because there's such a shortage, and they're spread very thin, at least in my area.
My regular Priest is acutally pretty good, and is very tolerant with doubts about the Faith, which I'm prone to, and suggests reading material to buck up my belief. But he's an administrator as well, and on a rotation for the Latin Mass. He's got a million things going on. And other Priests are assigned as confessors.
One Priest who heard my confession, asked me if I was finished, in a tone that conveyed, 'is it over yet?' So, if you're saying that a good confessor is hard to find and keep, I agree with that.
The problem with having too many of these experiences in a row, is that it inevitably leads to the question, 'what's the point?'
Read the post again. It's full of fears and doubts.
There is no requirement in Church law to confess at all if one is only guilty of venial sins; these sins are absolved at the penitential rite of the mass or even with an imperfect act of contrition.
However, I should never be in the role of the confessor.
I'd be laughing at some of it, taking notes on some of it, and getting phone numbers whenever possible.
I'm Evil Light. Picture Hitler, only instead of gassing the Jews, he gives them all really bad Noogies, and maybe a Pinkbelly.
You might look up "unscrupulous" in any Dictionary. When it comes to dealing with orthodox Catholics, you seem to tend toward it.
CCC 1458 Without being strictly necessary, confession of everyday faults (venial sins) is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church. Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins helps us form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit.
Don't you have another tsunami warning to post or something?
Obviously, by AmChurch standards, JPII is being overly scrupulous.
Of course confession of venial sins is a pious practice, as long it doesn't lead to scrupulosity.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.