First Confession

[mpalasp]

2 more hours until my first Confession!!!!

[LouisvilleFan]

Wow... your priest is doing Confessions a lot sooner than mine. We have Confessions on Holy Saturday morning. I guess he wants to limit as much as possible the time available to us to commit a mortal sin.

[kateri05]

my husband had his today

woohooo :

[Scott_TX]

I have mine Monday Evening at a penance service. I am trying to prepare myself for it now.

[LouisvilleFan]

Just out of curiousity, how long first confessions usually last? I'm thinking 20-30 minutes. My RCIA class is having Reconciliation Saturday morning. There are only about six or seven of us, but that could easily take a few hours if everybody takes that long. I kinda hope I'm not the last one to go

[Noel's angel]

It depends really on how much people have to confess and how long the priest wishes to talk. Some people will have many years of sins to confess whilst younger children won't take as long. Time doesn't really matter once your there. It's good to have plenty of time to relax before you go in, and just get your mind settled. No one is timing you either! The best thing is to take your time, and while you're waiting, pray for the others too

[Brother Adam]

My confession and reconciliation lasted about 30 minutes.

[Scott_TX]

I had my first confession tonight and I think I was a little brief. I think I covered everything, but I don't know if I went in to enough detail on some of it. The Priest did not ask many questions so I guess it was ok and he gave me absolution at the end.

[cappie]

[quote name='Scott_TX' date='Apr 11 2006, 02:54 PM']I had my first confession tonight and I think I was a little brief. I think I covered everything, but I don't know if I went in to enough detail on some of it. The Priest did not ask many questions so I guess it was ok and he gave me absolution at the end.
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If the priest does not ask for further info then alls AOK :

[cappie]

[quote name='Brother Adam' date='Apr 11 2006, 05:12 AM']My confession and reconciliation lasted about 30 minutes.
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[Brother Adam]

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I think I emptied half of the bank on the economy of grace that night.

Our RCIA folks just had their first confession tonight. It is so much fun to watch them go in terrified and come out with the biggest grins on their face, even though they try to hide it they are so full of joy.

[Nomadik]

I'm going to have my first confession tomorrow. My RCIA class was a little forgetful about things, and we never really talked about Confession, so I missed it prior to confirmation. My Deacon said it would be fine if I went afterward. SO I want to attend tomorrow, but I really don't know what to do. Can someone walk me through?

[MichaelFilo]

Hmm, it really depends on your priest, but almost ALL will walk you through it. However, I understand being new to this you could use some reassurance so here goes:

It's all about preparation, because you are about to ask the Lord to forgive you, so you better know your long list of things to be sorry about (if you don't, the damned devil may begin to make you feel guilty for not remembering everything, causing unneccessary depression (the opposite of Christian joy!). So, take this guide to heart.

[url="http://www.catholic-pages.com/penance/examine.asp"]http://www.catholic-pages.com/penance/examine.asp[/url]

Take a gandar at that. It's a wonderful guide worth looking at.

Now, some basics

-All sins must be confessed that you can think of that are of mortal proportions
-Other sins are encouraged to be confessed, you'll get better at realizing every fault as you frequent this holy sacrament.
-Along each sin you must also confess the amount of times you've commited the sin (of course, this maybe hard, especially since this is your first, but if you can count, or guess, or even give the general idea, you'll be fine).
-Every detail that is of importance ought to be confessed, regardless of how embarassing it is; confessions used to be much more detailed then they are today, but it is still very spiritually rewarding to be completly humble about all your faults.


Now, as to the actual things to do, well it's very simple, but I think the Catechism of Pope St. Pius the X will illumine you a bit better:

Q. How many conditions are necessary to make a good confession?
A. To make a good confession five things are necessary: (1) Examination of Conscience; (2) Sorrow for having offended God; (3) A resolution of sinning no more; (4) Confession of our sins; (5) Satisfaction or penance.

Q. What should we do first of all to make a good confession?
A. To make a good confession we should first of all earnestly beseech God to give us light to know all our sins and strength to detest them.

Q. How do you present yourself to the confessor?
A. I kneel at the feet of the confessor and I say: "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned."

Q. What do you do while the confessor blesses you?
A. I humbly bow my head to receive the blessing and I make the Sign of the Cross.

Q. Having made the Sign of the Cross what should you say?
A. Having made the sign of the Cross, I say: "I confess to Almighty God, to Blessed Mary ever Virgin, to all the Saints, and to you, my spiritual Father, that I have sinned."

Q. And then what must you say?
A. Then I must say: "I was at confession such a time; by the grace of God I received absolution, performed my penance, and went to Holy Communion." Then I accuse myself of my sins.

Q. Whey you have finished the accusation of your sins what must you do?
A. When I have finished the accusation of my sins I say: "I accus myself also of all the sins of my past life, especially of those against such or such a virtue" -- for example, against purity or against the Fourth Commandment, etc.

Q. After this accusation what should you say?
A. I should say: "For all these sins and for those I do not remember, I ask pardon of God with my whole heart, and penance and absolution of you, my spiritual Father."

Q. Having thus finished the accusation of your sins what remains to be done?
A. Having finished the accusation of my sins I should listen respectfully to what the confessor says, accept the penance with a sincere intention of performing it; and, from my heart, renew my act of contrition while he gives me absolution.

Q. Having received absolution what remains to be done?
A. Having received absolution I should thank the Lord, perform my penance as soon as possible and put in practice the advice of the confessor.

"renewing the act of contrition" is usually said aloud in the Church these days, so a simple prayer like this (the Act of Contrition) will do:

O my God,
I am heartily sorry for
having offended Thee,
and I detest all my sins,
because I dread the loss of heaven,
and the pains of hell;
but most of all because
they offend Thee, my God,
Who are all good and
deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve,
with the help of Thy grace,
to confess my sins,
to do penance,
and to amend my life.

Amen.

Enjoy, this is a most humbling experience.

God bless,
Mikey

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='MichaelFilo' post='956519' date='Apr 21 2006, 05:30 PM']
Hmm, it really depends on your priest, but almost ALL will walk you through it. [/quote]

It was cute seeing one of my little cousins who is only about 4 or 5 (so he hasn't had first Confession, Communion, or anything) reassure me saying, "The priest will help you!" after one of my relatives asked whether I was nervous about Easter Vigil

Confession really isn't that bad once you get started. I listed my sins on a piece of paper and it took a minute for me to start saying them, but once I started I was done in a minute or two. Easy-peasy, japanesy. I wrote a hopefully [url="http://richestmaninassisi.blogspot.com/2006/04/well-its-official.html"]humorous post[/url] on my blog about it too.

[Tony]

I never went through a formality of "okay this is when your 1st confession will be".. it was just a while after I was confirmed, I told myself "man I should try this confession thing".. and did it.

I am going to guess is was human error, that I kind of "slipped through the cracks".. but, yeah I took it upon myself to go that first time, and have kept going ever since.