Help! Confession Vs Perfect Contrition

[sixpence]

This is embarrassing, but I'm having major troubles explaining to a protestant why it is necessary to go to a priest for reconciliation if one already has perfect contrition.

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='sixpence' timestamp='1284517079' post='2173313']
This is embarrassing, but I'm having major troubles explaining to a protestant why it is necessary to go to a priest for reconciliation if one already has perfect contrition.
[/quote]

It's a challenge explaining this to most Catholics.

[Sarah147]

Perfect contrition does not excuse us from confession. It is sorrow. Sorrow and confession are two parts. God still commands us to confess to a Priest. Venial sins can be forgiven outside of confession, and Holy Communion can cleanse us of the effects of sins.

Edited September 15, 2010 by JoyfulLife

[sixpence]

[quote name='JoyfulLife' timestamp='1284518864' post='2173320']
Perfect contrition does not excuse us from confession. It is sorrow. Sorrow and confession are two parts. God still commands us to confess to a Priest. Venial sins can be forgiven outside of confession, and Holy Communion can cleanse us of the effects of sins.
[/quote]

can you point me to somewhere that God commands confession to a priest (or anyone)

[Paddington]

I've heard this difficulty treated by saying perfect contrition is soooooo rare. Not everybody sees it that way.

One outstanding fact is that a person can't know he has perfect contrition. But then what happens when he goes to Confession? Is he double-forgiven? The Confession simply doesn't hurt anything or change anything. The priest says "I absolve you" because what else is he supposed to say? He doesn't know the penitent's heart either.

To be fancy, you can speculate that a person with perfect contrition may have received it from their certain future Confession.

You could also ask a smart Catholic if avoiding Confession is an added grave sin in itself. It really doesn't matter for the question as far as I can see, but it might be related to the issue.

I'm interested in the correct answer too by the way, so I'll be reading any other posts tomorrow.

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='sixpence' timestamp='1284519092' post='2173321']
can you point me to somewhere that God commands confession to a priest (or anyone)
[/quote]

Since you're talking with a Protestant, what you need is a Scripture verse, and you won't find it. Yes, Jesus tells the disciples that the "sins you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven," but Protestants simply interpret that differently than Catholics do. A Protestant first has to understand that Catholicism defines the word "Church" differently and views Her marriage to Christ in a far more literal and physical way than Protestants. Then you might start to make some progress.

[morostheos]

This is a great resource: [url="http://www.scripturecatholic.com/confession.html"]Scripture Catholic: Confession[/url]

When we sin, our sin doesn't just affect us, it affects the whole Church. Therefore, we need to ask the whole Church for forgiveness from our sins. Priests act as the Church's representative. Like if you went into a room full of people and stole a birthday cake from them right before they were going to eat it, even if you went to the person to bought the cake and apologized for your stupidity, it affected all of the people in the room, not just the person who bought it. In the same way, when we sin if affects the entire body of Christ, so we need to ask forgiveness from the Church, even if God has already forgiven us because of our perfect contrition.

Also, I think one thing that gives confession a bad rap is the whole idea of thinking it's something Catholics "have to do." Really, it's a gift that was given to us by Christ, something that we "get to do." To go tell another person your shortcomings in private, receive advice on how to overcome them, and then be FORGIVEN. What a gift!!

[MithLuin]

The easiest way to deal with that is to ask...'Do you have perfect contrition?'

If someone does, sure, they're forgiven. Do they get the graces of the sacrament, though? No. So, falling again is pretty easy. The graces of the sacrament help to strengthen us in our walk with Christ.

But seriously...perfect contrition, every time? Most human beings don't have this. There's that brazen attitude of 'I can do whatever I want and God will forgive me' that is difficult to overcome. It's easy to become complacent, to think we still have plenty of time left to make our peace with God... I think that if we had perfect contrition, we wouldn't have to apologize to God for the same sins over...and over...and over again.

[Sarah147]

[size="3"][color="#696969"][quote]
Regaining Grace

A person in mortal sin can regain the state of grace before receiving the sacrament of Penance, by making an act of perfect contrition, with the sincere purpose of going to confession.

1. An act of perfect contrition [i]takes away sin immediately[/i]. Our sins however grievous are forgiven before we confess them, [b]although the obligation to confess as soon as we can remains.[/b] Thus, if one makes an act of perfect contrition after having committed a mortal sin, and then dies before being able to go to confession, he is saved from hell by the act he made.

Let us remember the penitent thief: "And he said to Jesus, 'Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.' And Jesus said to him, [i]'Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise'[/i]" (Luke 23: 40-43).
The Sacrament of Healing: Perfect and Imperfect Contrition
[/color][/size][size="3"][color="#696969"]Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow
[/quote]


It is Catholic Tradition to confess to a Priest.

[quote]
[i]On the evening of the first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he said this, he breathed on them and said to them, [b]"Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." [/b][/i]

This moment, when Jesus breathed on his apostles, constituted both the institution of the Catholic ministerial priesthood and the sacrament of confession. Christ gave his first priests, the apostles, the authority to forgive and retain sins. It was his intention that all sin be forgiven though the Church by aural confession of sins to the priests. We should realize that in Holy Scripture God breathed on man only twice: once when he breathed life into the clay of earth to create man (Genesis 2:7) and the second time when he breathed the life of grace into his Church. Both instances were that of an intimate, riveting moment between God and man. It is clear that the ability to forgive and retain sin given to the apostles, requires that each of us (even to this day) confess our sins to the priests of the Church so that our sins can be forgiven or retained.
[/color][/size][size="3"][url="http://www.saintaqui...fess_essay.html"][color="#696969"][url="http://www.saintaqui...fess_essay.html"]http://www.saintaqui...fess_essay.html[/url][/color][/size][/url]
[size="3"][color="#696969"][/quote]


I hope that makes some sense. I don't have the "Scholar" tag, and it's late, so I'm sleepy. [/color][/size]

Edited September 15, 2010 by JoyfulLife

[let_go_let_God]

[url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?showtopic=106957"]Perfect Contrition[/url]

This was a question I asked about perfect and imperfect contrition. It may help.

God bless-
LGLG

[sixpence]

[quote name='MithLuin' timestamp='[url="http://xisbn.worldcat.org:80/liblook/resolve.htm?res_id=http://www.iris.rutgers.edu&rft.isbn=1284519767&url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:book"]1284519767[/url]' post='2173328']
The easiest way to deal with that is to ask...'Do you have perfect contrition?'

If someone does, sure, they're forgiven. Do they get the graces of the sacrament, though? No. So, falling again is pretty easy. The graces of the sacrament help to strengthen us in our walk with Christ.

But seriously...perfect contrition, every time? Most human beings don't have this. There's that brazen attitude of 'I can do whatever I want and God will forgive me' that is difficult to overcome. It's easy to become complacent, to think we still have plenty of time left to make our peace with God... I think that if we had perfect contrition, we wouldn't have to apologize to God for the same sins over...and over...and over again.
[/quote]

[SaintOfVirtue]

John 20:23-24 "And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."

Here's a good link to a protestant come Catholic convert explaining his take on it.

http://catholicspitfiregrill.com/2008/05/11/he-breathed-on-themwhat/

I didn't read the whole article but the first five paragraphs seemed pretty spot-on.

[CatherineM]

I usually get these kinds of questions from people who wouldn't think twice about telling a psychologist their every sin and failing, and pay them $200/hour for the privilege.

[sixpence]

[quote name='SaintOfVirtue' timestamp='1284522376' post='2173339']
John 20:23-24 "And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."

Here's a good link to a protestant come Catholic convert explaining his take on it.

[url="http://catholicspitfiregrill.com/2008/05/11/he-breathed-on-themwhat/"]http://catholicspitf...ed-on-themwhat/ [/url]

I didn't read the whole article but the first five paragraphs seemed pretty spot-on.
[/quote]

I like this article!!

[Lil Red]

[quote name='MithLuin' timestamp='1284519767' post='2173328']
The easiest way to deal with that is to ask...'Do you have perfect contrition?'

If someone does, sure, they're forgiven. Do they get the graces of the sacrament, though? No. So, falling again is pretty easy. The graces of the sacrament help to strengthen us in our walk with Christ.

But seriously...perfect contrition, every time? Most human beings don't have this. There's that brazen attitude of 'I can do whatever I want and God will forgive me' that is difficult to overcome. It's easy to become complacent, to think we still have plenty of time left to make our peace with God... I think that if we had perfect contrition, we wouldn't have to apologize to God for the same sins over...and over...and over again.
[/quote]
awesome. great post.