Confession And Forgiveness Of Sins

[Poorly Catechized Convert]

Yesterday I went to confession and my confessor told me that the purpose of confession isn't the forgiveness of sins. He told me that God forgives us before we go. Was this accurate? Maybe he told me that because there were some scruples in this confession, but from my understanding the majority needed to be confessed. There may have been a couple things that weren't sins, but at the time they felt like they needed to be confessed. Well there's also the fact that he has told me this twice before. When I made my first confession he told me to remember that God forgives us before we go to confession. He said a similar thing a couple months ago. I'm positive that both of those confessions weren't highly scrupulous. It seems odd to me because he believes in mortal sin. And mortal sin needs to be confessed, so I don't understand how it can be forgiven before confession. Is my understanding correct? What's your opinion on this?

[cappie]

The answer is yes and no. Certainly God knows when we are sorry for our sins. And since God’s only relationship with us is one of unconditional love, whenever we turn to God with a sincere sorrow for sin and a desire to make a new beginning, God is there to meet us with forgiveness.

 

As human beings, however, we may need a more concrete way of experiencing God’s love for us.  We believe that God has given us the sacraments as a way of showing that we are receiving the gift of his love in very real and down-to-earth ways.

 

There are times in our lives, however, when we may freely and deliberately chose to separate ourselves from God’s love by committing an act that is seriously evil (Mortal Sin). In such a case, when we have definitely cut ourselves off from God and the church, a more definite reconciliation with the church is appropriate and required by Canon Law. The church asks that we make an individual confession of our sins to a priest in such cases.

 

Individual confession and celebration of the sacrament of Reconciliation can be of great value even when we have not committed a Mortal sin. It is a way of taking an honest look at our own lives and “taking inventory” of our relationship with God. “Naming” the tendencies or habits that cause us to drift from that relationship may be the beginning of a process of our re-centering our thoughts and actions on God.