Posted on 10/25/2013 6:15:15 AM PDT by marshmallow
Confessing our sins is not like going to see a psychiatrist, Pope Francis has said.
The Pope spoke about the Sacrament of Reconciliation in his homily at the Santa Marta guesthouse this morning.
He said the only way of reaching God’s love is to go to him with the same honesty, transparency and simplicity that children have, accepting the “grace of shame” that lets us feel God’s forgiveness.
The Pope warned about the difficulty of life as “every time we want to do good, evil is next to us”. “This is the struggle of Christians. This is our struggle everyday. And we do not always have the courage to speak as Paul speaks of this struggle. We always seek a way of justification: ‘But yes, we are all sinners’”, the Pope said.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicherald.co.uk ...
“Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them.”
Psychologists can’t do that.
That confession is only available once a week in many parishes is another pet peeve of mine.
I know what you mean. On the flip side I've been in some parishes where the mass is packed but the priest sits lonely in the confessional for most of the designated time.
That is why I make an appointment with my parish priest to do confession. Have a hard time with lines myself.
The Pope warned about the difficulty of life as “every time we want to do good, evil is next to us”. “This is the struggle of Christians. This is our struggle everyday. And we do not always have the courage to speak as Paul speaks of this struggle. We always seek a way of justification: ‘But yes, we are all sinners’”, the Pope said.
Agree - he's hit one right out of the ballpark with this statement.
Was not the NO really the Church going back to the early days of the Church, during its first 300 years as a Church?
No. We had this discussion a few days ago dear lady.
There wasn’t anything like today’s serious modernist errors in those early days. The modernists hadn’t been encouraged by Satan at that time.
Some rather good things happened during those first 300 years as the tenets and rubrics were growing. The Douay Bible was collated during that time. Of course many Catholics today don’t know what a Douay Bible is.
I don’t believe in the early days the priest was praying towards the congregants instead of to God Almighty. Thanks to that Bible many of the prayers of that early Church were lifted verbatim from scripture and are still found today in the Tridentine Mass.
Anything not contrary to quiet respectability was what was going on in the early days.
Apparently a 'confession' must go thru a priest to be legitimate...Otherwise people would bypass the long lines and confess directly to God???
Wisdom!!!
Sorry to butt in here but that's gotta be a resounding NO. But suppose that it was true, wouldn't that be like a grown man going back to the way he did things as a child? Dumping all that he has learned over the years and ignoring the fact that he is now an adult?
Since it was restored as a “rite” in the Church a couple of years back, TLM, there should be no problem finding a parish that offers it.
Plus also with the recent changes in the English wording for the NO mass, it has become a lot more reverent. Problem solved.
This is what I get for jumping into the middle of things, I don’t understand your point. I thought you were advancing the theory of antiquarianism. That the TLM may be somewhat more available than it was several years ago doesn’t have anything to do with the origins of the NO, or am I missing the point you’re trying to make entirely?
I agree with Biggirl in this instance and don’t see how anyone couldn’t.
In the early years of the Church, her members were persecuted. Thus, they likely celebrated Mass in secret at various houses. Not in church buildings.
The natural inclination at a home is to gather around a table for such a function. Indeed, in Scripture we read how they “broke bread” together and this was not done at synagogues. It was at homes.
So it’s most likely the priest was “facing the congregation” at such times as the “congregation” were his friends with him as they celebrated the remembrance of the Last Supper together.
To suggest otherwise is just moralistic obstinacy in my opinion. The Church is as has always been comprised of human beings. The earliest Saints were human beings exactly like us. It’s stifling moralism that would suggest they were somehow different than us. So it’s perfectly reasonable to conclude they would behave like we would if (or dare I say when) we are under persecution.
Can anyone honestly say in a state where one’s life is at risk for celebrating the Eucharist, that we would (or even should) be concerned about which way the priest is facing? For fear of repeating myself, I’ll simply say that’s lunacy.
Is this all to say the TLM has no place? No. It’s only to support Biggirl’s contention that early historical Mass probably resembled the “novus ordo” than any other Mass today.
Again, it’s just a human fact.
The members of the Roman Catholic Church are still being persecuted, but since we have properly consecrated churches there is no longer any reason to meet in private homes. This secrecy is still practiced in some evil or communist nations like China, for example. Mexico and Republican Spain butchered their priests and nuns who were forced into hiding.
Secular humanists are pleased with the changes made to Christ’s church where the building takes on the appearance of someone’s home and the priest, ignoring the body of Christ turns to the congregants as though he’s the president of the assembly standing in front of a dining room table.
Your comments are not taken with a ‘grain of salt’, but I believe that you are caught up in this new religion and are complicit in excusing the ridiculous nature of it either willfully or just because your mind has become numbed.
There’s nothing obstinate, moralistic or otherwise in seeing this blasphemy for what it truly is.
Lol!! You have to give him credit on his simple, down to earth choice of words.
Drat, that means we can’t break out in a chorus of “Officer Krupke” from West Side Story when we go to confession!
It’s been a looooooooooooooooooooooooooong day and I needed the comic relief.
Thank-you for your historic presentation. God Bless.
And remember: Confession is good for your soul and can be bad for your reputation.
I don't know where you got that from what I said to you. I was commenting on your assertion that in the early Church, Mass was celebrated "with the priest facing away from the congregation" and your implication that it resembled the more traditional form than the "novus ordo"
I never said if there is the possibility to celebrate in a consecrated church it shouldn't be in favor of homes.
I never said church buildings are better off looking like a 60's Kumbaya session, than one with beautiful forms of art to remind us of our infinite need for beauty that only Christ can satisfy.
And I never said that the TLM isn't a beautiful gift to the Church Militant.
It should be obvious now I actually believe the reverse of the 3 previous sentences. Again, I was only commenting on the nearly laughable claim that in the early Church, the fellowship of the brethren centered around the Eucharist resembled the TLM of today more than the so-called "novus ordo". I can't help but notice though in your "wonderfully insightful" analysis of my Faith you never bothered to demonstrate your original claim true.
Thanks though for picking the log out of my eye, I've seen the light, yeah. The "precious" last word is yours if you need it.
I detonated my Midlife Crisis all over Free Republic. It doesn’t seem to have harmed my reputation.
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