Confession

[TheOliverOrder88]

I have been struggling with some habitual sin. I regularly go to Confession every two weeks because of this. I've asked the priest about receiving the Eucharist under this habitual sin and he said because its a habit, the severity of it lessens.

Now with that said, I still go every two weeks (had gone every week). 1) Even though the sacrament provides for ample grace, I still feel embarrassed coming to the same priest with the same sins over and over. 2) The way my normal confessor has said it, I shouldn't need to go every week. 3) I have guilt (something to do with Catholicism..hehe) and receiving Communion that second week I am hesitant.

Is it bad to schedule going to Confession? In some ways it would add to my apathy (if I think I'm going to Confession then sometimes I easily fall into sin).

To shed some light on the situation, I am entering the seminary in the fall. I realize this will help alot in regards to my problems with this particular sin.

[Mateo el Feo]

Are you able to get to another priest for confession, and would this help you?

As far as the idea that habitual sin lessens the severity, yeah...OK. But, don't dwell on this too much, because (at least for me) it leads down a path of justifying the sin and becoming complacent about getting rid of the sin. That's where the apathy enters.

Regarding the relationship between sin and the confessional, I encourage you to make a decision to change your life at this moment. For example, if you're going to confession in a week, don't try to persist in your sin up until you the day of confession.

Regarding scheduling confession, are you talking about calling up a priest outside of the standard confession times available? In this case, you lose the anonymity--if that's an issue for you. I haven't ever done that, though I have walked up to priests and asked them to hear my confession, spur of the moment.

Lastly, I am in awe of your faithfulness and respect for the sacraments. Your respect for the Eucharist (1 Cor 11:29) is wonderful to see. I wish I could think of a devotional reading that would help you in this time of need. Maybe someone else can recommend something...

God bless you!

[Church Punk]

I know how you feel with habitual sin; I think we all have various sinful habits that are difficult to break free of. For my self, I go to confession and mass every Friday whenever possibly for these reasons.
A) I need to receive the Lords forgiveness that much. If I don’t go sins begin to pile up and I can see the adverse affect of sin in my life. It is a way of constant conversion and taking responsibility for what I have done and giving it on to the Lord.
B) Thru each sacrament I receive I always feel strengthened and I am that much stronger to work at over coming what ever vices I am struggling with. From where I was 2 years ago to now is mind blowing, and I can only accredit it to God through the sacraments.
C) When receiving the Eucharist I am very unworthy even if I have just went to confession. There are still the tendancies to sin, however when I am strengthed by these constant commitment to the sacrament, these tendancies seem to dissolve over time.

As for your embarassment with the priest, I also know how you feel, it is always a humbling experiace to go to confession, and actually that is the point of it. But the priest isnt there to judge he is there to forgive he is in the perosn of Christ!

And as for scheduling going to confession Pope Benedict speaks of this in a Q&A he gave to a child, stating that it is important for us to dust clean our inner souls just as we clean our house.

So I think you are bang on in your approach. Take heart. God Bless!

[Tina44]

[quote name='TheOliverOrder88' post='1264409' date='May 4 2007, 04:27 PM']Now with that said, I still go every two weeks (had gone every week). 1) Even though the sacrament provides for ample grace, I still feel embarrassed coming to the same priest with the same sins over and over.[/quote]


I have applied to enter the convent in September, and our vocation directress told us a few weeks ago that it is good to have a regular confessor, a priest we go to all the time for confession on a regular basis. She said that going to the same priest each time allows him to give us insight into our habits and pick up on those patterns that we fall into, helping us to break those habits and follow Christ with our whole heart.

Hope that sheds some light.....

[djc08]

I think that going to confession that regular and with the same priest is a great way to approach the Other Most Blessed Sacrament as I like to refer to the Sacrament of Reconciliation (even though all the Sacraments are of course Blessed and you really can't put one over another, they all work together to give the grace of God to his people). Just don't ever let your frequesnt confessions get habitual and lose true meaning and effect in your faith life as I have seen people do with the Holy Mass.

On a completely side note, what seminary will you be entering in the fall?

Dan

[TheOliverOrder88]

Thank you all for your responses.... this helps alot.


I will be entering Cardinal Glennon College Seminary in Saint Louis.

[Ethos]

I'd take a positive point of view, how happy God must be that you are willing to make amends!

Personally I struggle with habitual sins as well, namely concupiscence (don't we all). I was not religious for most of my life and I developed habits contrary to what the Lord expects of me. As a result I could have likely continued to take communion, but as Mateo said it is dangerous to hide behind habits. Personally I see the same priest, face to face, and confess my sins before taking communion. I have joked that I might as well pop a tent in there because I spend so much time there. I've had to goto confession twice in the same day. Just thank the priest and ask for his and the Lord's patience. The point is to never be discouraged, that is the Devil speaking.

Tina and DJC also had good advice that I can relate to. Regarding Tina I completely agree that having a regular priest for confession is pivotal to furthering yourself spiritually. In a way the priest acts as a counselor since he (and has in my case) can pick up on habits you may not realize that can aid in your growth by expelling. Also I cannot overstate what DJC said regarding losing the meaning of confession. During my years long struggle with concupiscene I was too embarrased to see the same priest so I started going to all the different churches and seeing different priests. By doing this I was easily led to presumption and general indifference to the Sacrament. I was on auto-pilot. Sin, confession, sin. It's something to be very cautious of.

We're human and we fall, but that is irrelevant. Our glory is in our willingness to pick ourselves up and try again. With the Lord's grace you will be able to say as St. Paul did, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

And congratulations (and thank you) on your entering seminary. God willing I will be going to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary next year.

Edited May 9, 2007 by Ethos

[magnificat]

Yay Kenrick Glennon!

In regards to your question, because my confessor isn't in a normal parish setting where one can anticipate when he'll be hearing confessions, I schedule a time. Yes, you lose annonymity (sp?), which I thought would bother me at first. But it's actually helpful, particularly when you're struggling with habitual sins because he can hopefully help you work on it.