Like the Hanes commercial? They don't say "Absolved" until I (thunder clap) say they're absolved.
To get all formal, by analogy, to Make a "Real" baptism, you gotta have a human type person, water, and a Trinitarian Formula.
To make a "Real" confession, the human type person has to bring "true contrition". Now, of course, as we grow, we see the horror of our sins more clearly. So we can reason backwards to say that our contrition in the early years is highly incomplete. But it's real. Sin numbs the moral sense as a rule, I think, and confuses the mind. So we can't "See" what we're confession so very well when we're young or otherwise immature.
But it's enough. A cold kind of deductive perception that, "Yeah, that was wrong and I guess when I think about it it show contempt for God and I wish I hadn't done it and, even though I bet I do it again, right now I sort of a little mean not to do it again," that seems to be enough.
But "I'm planning on doing it again in about three hours," that makes an invalid sacrament.
Sacramental theology is tricky. We use words and language that make it wound mechanical: Put this prayer in here, get that grace out there. But I think that's more because we're struggling to give an account than anything else. Even if the prayers are rattled off by a lukewarm priest with allergies, the actual texts (I'm thinking of Mass here) are requests. "Please God, do what you promised, please."
And while the movies have more fun with the "bad" and "hard" cases of refused absolution (I've never heard of an actual case -- even with the names changed to protect the seal) the ssacrament really is thought of and experienced, at least by some, those who have frequent recourse to it, as "pastoral".
Of course the good jokes depend on penance being thought of as "punishment". And in the early days, those boys gave penances! But I think the best that can be said about a lot of clergy 40+ years ago (from what I hear and read) is that they were pretty legalistic. And as you read in the Inferno people have tried to "game" confession. It doesn't work, sez Dante.
I think the POINT of the Inferno is not likely to be appreciated by a 9th grader. Sin is its own punishment. Every one in Dante's Hell just does more clearly what they did that got them there.
I'm just preparing to tackle the Paradiso in the new translation. My recollection is that it's pretty austere in parts, but a wonderful vision. I LOVE this poem!
Yes, I fully agree. That is certainly how it has worked for me, and I still have a long way to go. :) I confess things now that were just blow offs several years ago.
But "I'm planning on doing it again in about three hours," that makes an invalid sacrament.
Yes, that is what I would have expected. How does it work with public sins? I'm thinking of politicians, who, say, actively campaign for greater abortion rights or whatever. The priest would know that. Can he come in and confess OTHER things and be absolved, even if the priest knows he is still actively sinning without repentance? IOW, is a "partial" confession kosher if the other sins are known and obvious? I could understand a pass being given if a sin goes unconfessed because the person is not yet mature enough to understand it.
Of course the good jokes depend on penance being thought of as "punishment".
What is the correct way to think of penance as practiced in the Latin Church? I just realized I don't know how to answer that. :)
I think the POINT of the Inferno is not likely to be appreciated by a 9th grader. Sin is its own punishment. Every one in Dante's Hell just does more clearly what they did that got them there.
No doubt, I barely remember it. :) I think I will put the whole thing on my reading list.