Waiting For Confession

[photosynthesis]

ok, so i've been struggling with a lot of sins lately and need to go to confession. Where I live, the churches only offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation once a week on saturdays. i guess i feel kind of estranged from God right now because i was always told that the only way of obtaining God's forgiveness and mercy and grace was through Confession, and I can't go until Saturday. I have a lot of Protestant friends that say they confess their sins "straight to God" but I always thought that God was present in the sacraments.

so i'm in this place where I can't go to confession until Saturday but I still need God to get through the day, but I can't talk to God because I'm in a state of sin. if I make an Act of Contrition with the intent of going to Confession on Saturday am I forgiven or does it only happen in the Sacrament?

[Pio Nono]

JMJ
5/2 - Fourth Sunday of Easter

photosynthesis,

Whatever you do, don't stop praying; God still listens to the prayers of sinners. If you need an example, look to Sampson. He violated just about every Nazarite vow in his short life and, in the depths of his sin, he prayed to God and killed hundreds of Philistines. Of course, this isn't an encouragement to sin; it simply illustrates that even in sin we must pray to God. Getting you to stop praying is the devil's first line of attack.

Second, times in between confessions give one a chance for reflection. Ask a number of questions: how was it that I fell into this? what led up to it?

The most important question to ask is, "How can I avoid it again?" When you encounter whatever sin it is that you have the most trouble with, Adolph Tanquerey says to give it a FIST -

1. FORESEE the occasion of sin - basically, you can see it coming.
2. INHIBIT the urge to sin - make a conscious choice to cut it off as best you can.
3. STIMULATE your will to follow a different path, most preferably the opposite one that the sin suggests, and
4. TAKE direction of your will along that path.

Hope this helps.

Yours,
Pio Nono