Confused? Someone explain.

[thessalonian]

Not about confession. I am an "expert" sad to say. I have to go all the time and so know that confessional inside and out. I can even tell you all about the inside of that confessional. And the more I go the more I know I have a ways to go to be a saint.

But yesterday I was standing in line and there was two people in front of me. This in a parish in which about 3000 attend Mass every Sunday. Now if 20 people go to confessoin each week then that would only be 1000 a year. And I think 20 is not a good average number, especially since most of them I see there, I see often. Oh sure, it gets somewhat heavier on Christimass and Easter.

So what gives. I look back on my life and the many years I rarely attended and the sins I was enslaved in. I won't bore you with the details ( ). How eventually I slid from any serious practice of the faith for a time. Now I cannot go as long as more than a few weeks without the sacrament. And I am not an overly scrupulous person. I need the sacrament to keep peace in my soul. To free me from the bondage of the guilt that sin brings on and to help root out one habitual sn so that I can start working on another habitual sin. It's a long process but fortunatley I can look back and see the progress and so am encouraged to keep going.

So what gives. How can people do without this great grace? How can they go months and even some I know, years without it? How can they have peace? Most of all how can they go Sunday after Sunday recieving our Lord? I am not saying this out of self-righteousness at all. But great sadness.

Any explanataoins? Does the devil just attack me more so that I need to go more?

Blessings

[Aloysius]

when you're dead, you tend not to feel the urge to live.

[inthelight009]

[quote name='Aloysius' date='Aug 21 2005, 10:51 AM']when you're dead, you tend not to feel the urge to live.
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soo true

[Sojourner]

Personally I prefer not to speculate about whether or not people go to confession, and if they don't, why they don't. For myself, I don't go to my own parish priest; I go to a neighboring parish. I hope people at my parish aren't speculating about why they don't see me in line to confess. Although truthfully I don't really care what they think about it.

[prose]

[quote]For myself, I don't go to my own parish priest; I go to a neighboring parish. I hope people at my parish aren't speculating about why they don't see me in line to confess.[/quote]

Me too!!

Another thing is also the fact that the longer you are without something, the less you feel its loss.

For instance, if you have not gone to confession for a long time, the feelings of guilt etc. that you describe essentially become "normal". Many people don't even recognize the loss of the sacrament because they have grown "used to" no having it.

For some, it is easier to not go to confession than to go b/c they think it is too embarassing. Many ask God forgiveness on their own and mistakingly think this is as good as going to a priest to be absolved.

Some people don't understand confession. Many priests no longer address it at the pulpit on Sundays, and if they do, often it is very briefly. So the only time some realize the importance is during the Easter and Christmas season. They just don't know otherwise.

Anyways, I am rambling. I find this area a great struggle with the youth in my ministry b/c many have no example of this being common practice in their family, or worse, many have their parents' tell them it isn't that important b/c they themselves don't go.

Sigh.

I need to go before I give birth. I have been procrasitinating for a while....

[Fides_et_Ratio]

Aside from a FEW parishoners that attend other parishes for confession...

If it ain't preached from the ambo... who's going to know? We have a serious catechesis problem in the US (it's getting better, slowly)-- but there's a huge generation that simply just doesn't know and quite frankly doesn't care.

[ForHimAlone]

Yeah, it's a sad predicament that so few let themselves be cleasnsed by the fountain of Divine Mercy in Holy Confession. I'm like you- I need to go often or I feel like I'm just spiritually drained.

I think the big problem is that a lot of people just don't understand what goes on in the confessional. There was once a Protestant preacher who said to a Catholic priest, "Father, if I believed what you believe about Communion, I would get on my knees and never leave His Presence." How many Catholics just go to Mass receive the Eucharist and leave without giving Christ a second thought? I know I certainly haven't been as attentive to Him as I should be. It's the same for Reconciliation. If you don't understand what's really happening, you'll let it pass you by.

[IcePrincessKRS]

I go to whatever parish is most convenient, so my priest and other parishoners may not see me in line very often. Although I admit, like Prose, its been awhile since I went. Its a terribly lame excuse, but its hard to get out to confession with an infant and toddler in tow. The last time I went I could barely hear the priest over Adrienne babbling.

Edited August 21, 2005 by IcePrincessKRS

[let_go_let_God]

Coming from one of the people that used to seldom go to Confession, a lot of it might just come from a slip in practice or the paranoia that "Oh my gosh someones going to see me and think that I've done something horrible and think poorly of me." That was one thing I suffered from and drove me away from Confession. Also saying "When someone is dead they feel no reason to live." Is absolutely true, so maybe if you know people that don't really go that often, maybe reach out and ask "Hey I'm going to Confession today/night, want to go with me?" More often than not, it works out.

God bless-
LGLG

[SarahB]

For me, it's that I have a hard time talking to men. Yes, I know that we're really confessing to God and all that. But because of something I went through when I was younger, I have a very tough time around most men which makes it difficult for me to go to confession. But pray for me. After I go to Mass tonight I'm going to ask the priest if he'll hear my first confession in 2 years.

[mariology21]

[quote name='SarahB' date='Aug 21 2005, 04:44 PM']For me, it's that I have a hard time talking to men. Yes, I know that we're really confessing to God and all that. But because of something I went through when I was younger, I have a very tough time around most men which makes it difficult for me to go to confession. But pray for me. After I go to Mass tonight I'm going to ask the priest if he'll hear my first confession in 2 years. 
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Much prayers for you! Could you go behind the screen? Then it's not face to face? Just a suggestion. But I'll be praying that you have a fruitful confession tonight!

~Jen

[SarahB]

It doesn't really matter if it's face to face or behind the screen. Half the time I end up forgetting to confess sins because I just want to get out of there. Not because I don't want to confess my sins, but because it's so uncomfortable for me. But, I've known this priest for almost 2 years and I'm pretty comfortable around him so hopefully I'll be able to do it tonight.

[mariology21]

[quote name='SarahB' date='Aug 21 2005, 04:48 PM']It doesn't really matter if it's face to face or behind the screen. Half the time I end up forgetting to confess sins because I just want to get out of there. Not because I don't want to confess my sins, but because it's so uncomfortable for me. But, I've known this priest for almost 2 years and I'm pretty comfortable around him so hopefully I'll be able to do it tonight.
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Then many prayers for you tonight!!! I wouldn't worry about "forgetting" if you're extremely nervous for those reasons! Jesus knows what's in your heart!

I went to Confession a few months ago for the first time in quite awhile. I said a simple prayer that made me relax pretty well. I just asked the Holy Spirit to help me confess the sins that need to be confessed....that He remind me of the ones I may forget....and that He also please show me that it was really HIM I was confessing to.

He did all of that!! Right down to having the priest say something that could ONLY have come from the Holy Spirit!

~Jen

[SarahB]

Thanks for the prayers. I'm definately going to need them. And I know once I get all of my sins of the last two years off my shoulders I'll feel much better. It's just working up the courage to actually get there. I just keep trying to concentrate on that verse in Philippians about being able to do all things through Christ who strengthens us. And I've also been reading Scott Hahn's "Lord Have Mercy" today. Hopefully that will help.

[IcePrincessKRS]

I'll be praying for you Sarah! Be strong! The Holy Spirit will guide you!

[thessalonian]

[quote name='sojourner009' date='Aug 21 2005, 10:36 AM']Personally I prefer not to speculate about whether or not people go to confession, and if they don't, why they don't. For myself, I don't go to my own parish priest; I go to a neighboring parish. I hope people at my parish aren't speculating about why they don't see me in line to confess. Although truthfully I don't really care what they think about it.
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Well the problem with saying, oh well they go to other parishes is that who comes to our pairsh then? I go to other parishes to confessoin as well and I don't see them there either. It's not about judging people. That is not my point. My point is how the heck can people go without this great sacrament. The words of David come to my mind when I think of those days when I avoided the sacrament.

Psalm 32

1: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

2: Blessed is the man to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

[b]3: When I declared not my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.

4: For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. [Selah][/b]

5: I acknowledged my sin to thee, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. [Selah]


THere was deciet in my soul when I did not confess my sins. HOW CAN PEOPLE DO WITHOUT THIS GREAT SACRAMENT. My heart is truly sad for them. This is not a thread about self righteous me. When I was not going to confession, I truly believe that I was among the damned or if not certainly I would have been close to the border of hell. I still doudt my stay in purgatory would be a short one. I am only looking at my life and asking where is the outcry for men to confess there sins? The salvatoin of others is in fact at stake! Are we not to be passionate about others salvation as well as our own?

Blessings

Edited August 21, 2005 by thessalonian

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='Aloysius' date='Aug 21 2005, 09:51 AM']when you're dead, you tend not to feel the urge to live.
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I think that's the best answer there could be for this.

[SarahB]

Ok, well....I didn't go because the priest I have become comfortable with wasn't there tonight, but there's adoration every Monday night so I'm going to go tomorrow and see if he's there. It'll be double awesome....adoration and confession.

[thessalonian]

[quote name='Raphael' date='Aug 21 2005, 06:04 PM']I think that's the best answer there could be for this.
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Yes, it was very succintly put I think. But if it is true these people are on the path to damnation. It can't bode well for the priests who leave them in their lethargy either. What can be done to wake people up.

[avemaria40]

Alot of my friends who went through CCD have no idea how to go to Confession or only go once a year.