Posted on 04/29/2013 4:18:02 AM PDT by markomalley
The Confessional is not a ‘dry cleaners’ where our sins are automatically washed away and Jesus is not waiting there to ‘beat us up’, but to forgive us with the tenderness of a father for our sins. Moreover, being ashamed of our sins is not only natural, it’s a virtue that helps prepare us for God's forgiveness. This was the central message of Pope Francis’ homily Monday morning during Mass celebrated with staff from the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) and religious present in Casa Santa Marta. Emer McCarthy reports:
Commenting on the First Letter of St. John, which states " God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all," Francis Pope pointed out that "we all have darkness in our lives," moments "where everything, even our consciousness, is in the dark”, but this - he pointed out - does not mean we walk in darkness:
"Walking in darkness means being overly pleased with ourselves, believing that we do not need salvation. That is darkness! When we continue on this road of darkness, it is not easy to turn back. Therefore, John continues, because this way of thinking made him reflect: 'If we say we are without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us'. Look to your sins, to our sins, we are all sinners, all of us ... This is the starting point. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful, He is so just He forgives us our sins, cleansing us from all unrighteousness…The Lord who is so good, so faithful, so just that He forgives. "
"When the Lord forgives us, He does justice" - continued the Pope - first to himself, "because He came to save and forgive", welcoming us with the tenderness of a Father for his children: "The Lord is tender towards those who fear, to those who come to Him "and with tenderness," He always understand us”. He wants to gift us the peace that only He gives. " "This is what happens in the Sacrament of Reconciliation" even though "many times we think that going to confession is like going to the dry cleaner" to clean the dirt from our clothes:
"But Jesus in the confessional is not a dry cleaner: it is an encounter with Jesus, but with this Jesus who waits for us, who waits for us just as we are. “But, Lord, look ... this is how I am”, we are often ashamed to tell the truth: 'I did this, I thought this'. But shame is a true Christian virtue, and even human ... the ability to be ashamed: I do not know if there is a similar saying in Italian, but in our country to those who are never ashamed are called “sin vergüenza’: this means ‘the unashamed ', because they are people who do not have the ability to be ashamed and to be ashamed is a virtue of the humble, of the man and the woman who are humble. "
Pope Francis continued: “ we must have trust, because when we sin we have an advocate with the Father, "Jesus Christ the righteous." And He "supports us before the Father" and defends us in front of our weaknesses. But you need to stand in front of the Lord "with our truth of sinners", "with confidence, even with joy, without masquerading... We must never masquerade before God." And shame is a virtue: "blessed shame." "This is the virtue that Jesus asks of us: humility and meekness".
"Humility and meekness are like the frame of a Christian life. A Christian must always be so, humble and meek. And Jesus waits for us to forgive us. We can ask Him a question: Is going to confession like to a torture session? No! It is going to praise God, because I, a sinner , have been saved by Him. And is He waiting for me to beat me? No, with tenderness to forgive me. And if tomorrow I do the same? Go again, and go and go and go .... He always waits for us. This tenderness of the Lord, this humility, this meekness .... "
This confidence, concluded Pope Francis "gives us room to breathe." "The Lord give us this grace, the courage to always go to Him with the truth, because the truth is light and not the darkness of half-truths or lies before God. It give us this grace! So be it. "
Yeah, it is. It's sad because it denies what the Bible says many times like, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9)
I've always been Catholic.
"It was about Catholic being cold to Christians and treating them with an air of superiority."
I did respond that we are warm to individuals, but will not compromise Catholic teaching for the sake of diversity of opinion or tolerance of error. To expect the Church to no be Catholic is a fools errand.
Peace be with you
I’m not assuming the worst about why people left Catholicism. The thing is, I’ve had plenty of chats with people of various denominations about differences in doctrine. Those people who left Catholicism because they are gravitating to teachings that make more sense to them are not the same ones who shut down or redirect the conversation when they find out what religion I am.
Also, I didn’t mean to sound like people with “issues” with the Church don’t have some good reasons, or that I assume their issues were one-sided, with the Church being always blameless.
"He took all of our sins, past present and future, with Him to the cross."You...nor I...nor Catholic priests...can "dismiss" sins. Read what you quoted from my post, it's the top sentence in this reply.How then do you dismiss the sins against hope, those of despair and of presumption?
Only Jesus can "dismiss" sins...that is cleanse us...with his Blood shed for us on the cross.
Sins against hope are mainly a Catholic problem, born again Christians know they are saved and have a personal relationship with Jesus.
Apparently Catholics believe differently, purgatory, not knowing if they are saved, etc.
Also presumption seems mostly a Catholic problem too.
Many Christians here are categorized as Protestants if they are not Catholic. There are millions of Christians that are neither Catholic or Protestant.
Peace and blessings to you
Wishing peace and blessings upon me from you appears as an empty "signature" you use often.
I get my blessings from God, also my peace.
I don't need it from the world.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.--John 14:27May the peace from Jesus permeate your soul with understanding.And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.--Philippians 4:7
I think you may be trying to anger me, but I’m going to stay cool because I refuse to give Satan the satisfaction. He loves it when good people get into conflicts with each other.
What I was trying to say is that God forgives you right away. You do not need to stew about that until you get to confession. But the fact is that often good people do stew about things until they are “officially” resolved. Or they are ok for awhile, until the remorse hits them again. So, in a sense, confession is a ritual of officially connecting back to God so that the pain of remorse doesn’t keep coming back again. Confession helps combat scrupulousness, which is the sin of not really believing in God’s loving forgiveness, so the sinner keeps dredging up the past and suffering all over again.
Also, I wasn’t trying to play a game with you or introduce a straw man to bother you. I was really trying to share my general understanding of confession and why it is beneficial. I put my heart and intellect into my response to you. I’m sorry it was not of more use to you. God bless you.
An assumption not in evidence.
If...all of our sins, past present and future are already forgiven, why would you need to confess them at all?
Obdience. God likes us to confess to him our shortcomings. He likes to know that we recognize our weakness.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.--2 Corinthians 12:9
"...they have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace..."
-- Ezekiel 13:10a
"It was about Catholic being cold to Christians and treating them with an air of superiority."No you didn't.I did respond that we are warm to individuals.
Just for clarity, here is your post. I don't see the warmth.
"But be not Catholic, and your reception is anything but warm."All I see is a response not related to the post you were replying to.Christian virtues are faith, hope, charity, prudence, justice, restraint or temperance, and courage, but tolerance is not a Christian virtue. Tolerance is an important working principle, but it is not an end in and of itself. Tolerance means respecting people, but does not mean respecting errors.
Too often people expect the Church to do what they personally refuse to do; compromise and go along to get along. Tolerance of grave evil is itself evil and as Christians we are specifically called to reject error, both within ourselves and in others. Opposition to Catholic dogma, whether on issues of divorce, same sex marriage, contraception, Papal authority or abortion will not be tolerated.
Peace be to you
54 posted on Monday, April 29, 2013 12:32:43 PM by Natural Law (Jesus did not leave is a book, He left us a Church.)
May Jesus permeate your soul with the peace that all passes all understanding.
Matthew 18:18 would suggest otherwise, but my point was not about the forgiveness of sins. It was with the contention that future sins were forgiven without confession or repentance in contradiction to Scripture.
May God bless you and His angels watch over you.
What I was trying to say is that God forgives you right away. You do not need to stew about that until you get to confession.
Yes that was my point also.
But the fact is that often good people do stew about things until they are “officially” resolved.
I think praying directly to Jesus with the confession of sin is about as official as you can get.
I realize that the Catholic tradition seems to call for people to get their "official" answer from the Catholic church, but Jesus sees it differently as the Bible makes quite clear.
I put my heart and intellect into my response to you.
Thanks. Sorry my referring to the strawman type comment bothered you, I just wanted to strive for clarity.
Many posters reply to something they make up, and try to make it seem that the poster was saying something he or she wasn't. I'm quite sensitive to that as it has been played on me numerous times.
And God bless you!
"Only Jesus can "dismiss" sins...that is cleanse us...with his Blood shed for us on the cross."I strongly doubt that any scripture denies that "Only Jesus can "dismiss" sins...that is cleanse us...with his Blood shed for us on the cross."Matthew 18:18 would suggest otherwise.
So did Jesus die on the cross with all of the sins of the world upon Him?
Oh I agree with you that it is individual issues that drive people away from the Church. Many of us have had personally bad experiences with the Church growing up at either Catholic school or at our local parishes. I generally err on the side of it was the Church’s fault because the Church has done a really good job alienating people over the past forty or so years.
Will not be tolerated by whom? Sure looks like it's more than tolerated, it's overlooked, winked at - especially if you're a politician or heavy donor to the Catholic Church. When the Catholic Church actually starts putting teeth behind their barking threats, that's all it will be - barking.
You express a legitimate complaint. One of the secondary consequences of that is that every lapsed or CEO (Christmas & Easter Only) Catholic expects to be accommodated to the same degree that Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi have been. When they are not they perceive it as the CHurch being cold and insular. This is an issue that must be resolved by the bishops, not the clergy and laity at the parish level. As St. Athanasius said in the fourth century; "The floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops".
Peace be to you
Why not?
Now you just get flamed!
Likewise...
It's pretty common on FR to have our MORMON FRiends presume the worst about why someone left Mormonism; too.
I've been trying to get an answer to John 6:28-29 from Catholics as to whether it means EXACTLY what it says or not.
Is the following TRUE or not?
John 6:28-29
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
If Purgatory is real; why waste your time confessing to a priest?
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