This Easter time, it is my duty as a good Christian to remind others that if you desire to continue being a Catholic in good standing, you are to go to the Sacrament of Penance & Reconciliation (if you have committed mortal sin) and Mass.
As Catholics we are required to go to Reconciliation (if we have commited grave (aka Mortal) sin) only one time a year, and we are required to receive Eucharist only one time a year, recommended on Easter. It really is not much of a requirement, but too often neglected. Seeing that we are not to receive the Eucharist with grave sin on our souls, it only makes sense that if we only go to confession once a year, it should be before our annual reception of the Eucharist. (Why a person would willingly stay away from the Eucharist after understanding all that it Truly is, except for once a year, is not within my heart's comprehension...but that is another schpiel, a lecture for another day.)
Considering that this is food for our souls, once a year is practically starving our souls.
I feel fairly confident that most people are open enough to consider going to Mass on Easter Sunday.
Reconciliation though is another matter.
I have discussed Reconciliation with many Catholics and know that many have questions regarding the necessity of going to a priest. I understand the belief that one should only need to go to God, sorrowful of their sins, that meeting with a priest is unnecessary, and that God can and does forgive us on His own, that He doesn't need any human, priest or otherwise to forgive us. And on the surface this makes perfect sense.
But if we delve deeper into the matter with an open heart to God, we realize that this is not a safe practice at all. For one thing, Jesus did not establish the Sacrament of Reconciliaton because He needed a priest to be able to give us His forgiveness. He established the Sacrament because our sins are committed because we have a physical body and we are the ones that need the physical interaction to truly seek His forgiveness in the manner which we need to in order to receive His forgiveness. His forgiveness is always there, it was there from the moment of His Passion on the Cross and therefore it was (and is) there before we even committed the sin. Sins we haven't even committed yet, are forgiven already. So it is the ability to receive this forgiveness that is what is needed from us now.
One very easy point to look at is, do we really set aside time to talk to God about our sins and ask Him for His forgiveness? And if so, do we do a thorough examination of conscience, recollecting our actions that we know are sinful? What most of us do rather, is say a quick "sorry God" after we do an action that we realize is sinful and we regret. We do not approach God and say we are sorry for things that we know are wrong, are sorry for, but don't really want to stop doing. We are not held 'to task' when confiding to no one but ourselves and a nonphysically present God. Sometimes we may lie in bed and regret an action or actions more deeply, and this brings us to a good conversation with God, which is good. But it is a rare person who sets a time apart and examines one's conscience, actively seeking to remember that which we have done which is offensive to God and seperates us from Him. Sins unremembered cannot be repented, so they still separate us from God until we seek forgiveness for them.
Another point is that Jesus has told us "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Matthew 18:20
With this verse we should be able to recognize that it is better to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation as opposed to confessing alone, in our heart.
I had a conversation with a priest recently about how most people who no longer go to Reconciliation stopped going at the age of 14 (as I myself had). His response was that he believed that that is the age of a more adult awareness. When we realize that we are making willful choices that we know are wrong. He also stated that it is a source of embarrassment to admit to another person that we have done wrong.
He then stated that he ' wished people would realize that it isn't him as a human sitting there listening to what other people are saying, that by doing the proper preparation required by him before confession, he himself is in an intense Sacramental state, and even if he was allowed to tell others what he heard in the confessional, he would not be able to remember if his life depended on it, for the preparation he does puts him in an intense Sacramental state so that he is able to sit there in Jesus' stead, though he is still conscious of his actions, he is acting on Jesus behalf in a deeply Sacramental way.'
This hit home with me, I realized that we are indeed in direct communication with God in this Sacrament.
Too often I have spoken to others about this matter and felt unable to respond to their belief that participating in the Sacrament of Reconciliation is reall not that important. I have often been only able to respond that I could not really explain why going to confession with a priest was necessary, but that over time, I have come to realize that it is. I then have requested that they would consider trusting my judgement on the matter. But even as I would make that request, I realized it was not enough. It wasn't enough for me either, when I believed as they.
I have since done more study on the matter in hopes that one day I will again have a discussion regarding the importance of Reconciliation, and I would be better able to support the Church's standing.
The most important thing I have come across is the fact that Confession is a Sacrament. A Sacrament is an extraordinary Grace which is a physical earthly interaction from God, with us. In other words: in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Jesus is there, using the priest as a vessal, to physically hear our words and to physically say to you "I absolve you". In fact, because this is a Sacrament, what goes on in the Confessional is no different then if Jesus was indeed physically appearing before us and we could physically touch him and hear these words directly from His own voice.
How this is different from when we approach Jesus with our sins quietly and in our own hearts alone is, even if we do say the words out loud, we do not hear with our physical ears the words that Jesus says. Jesus is with us spiritually, yes, but we cannot hear Him, we have no physical connection. Because the sins we commit are due to having a physical body, we need to have a physical connection when we confess our sins to God. This is only done through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Jesus recognized this, which is why He gave His Apostles the ability to forgive or retain sins. He did not give this ability to any of His other disciples, it was only to His Apostles. This was a definate distribution of an actual power from the Holy Spirit that Jesus chose not just anyone to have.
Here is an excerpt taken from the website:
"The 40 Questions Most Frequently Asked About The Catholic Church By Non-Catholics"
http://mafg.home.isp-direct.com/que40fwd.htm
22. Why Not Confess to God Instead of to a Mere Man?
Why is it Catholics go to confession to a mere man in order to confess their sins? Is it not easier to go directly to God?
Yes, it is easier to go to God, and probably this is why Christ did not chose this method.
We confess to a man, not because he himself has the power to forgive sins, but because he acts as an agent, or a judge, in the name of God, and forgives sins in His name.
The words of institution prove that Christ intended specific confession of sins:
"He, therefore, said to them again, 'Peace be to you! As the Father has sent me, I also send you.' When He had said this, He breathed upon them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, whose sins you shall retain, they are retained'." St. John 20:21, 22
By these words Christ gave to His Apostles the power EITHER to forgive OR to retain. In order to exercise this judicial power it is necessary for the sinner to accuse himself specifically of his sins. Most sins are committed in secret and the priest-judge would have no other way of knowing these sins, except by specific confession.
Furthermore, the priest as a judge must give a penance or work of satisfaction which is proportionate to the sins and helpful to the sinner. This he can do only if he knows what sins have been committed.
The fact that the priest is a sinner, as are all men, does not affect the power which he exercises. The power comes to him from his office. The same is true with a President or with a judge in our civil courts. The private lives of these individuals does not affect the authority which they have under the Constitution."
The other factor that comes with this being a Sacrament, is that through Sacraments, God has chosen to give us extraordinary Graces which draws us closer to Him. Every time we participate in a Sacrament, we have grown closer to God. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we receive an additional Grace from God which helps us to avoid our favorite sins. After Confession, when we are about to sin again, our spiritual ears deep in our hearts hear the voice of God warning us of the danger of what we are about to do and that we should not do it. It becomes more of an act of will to commit the sin again. This helps us to indeed 'go and sin no more'. I have experienced this myself, but have never noticed it until I heard Fr. Corapi talk about it. Now that I am aware of it, I recognize it, and it affects me even more fully.
The first time I was able to recognize this Grace happening to me, actually took me by surprise, and I have to admit, I was actually a bit irked that it happened. I was about to tell a very trivial little lie, of no real consequence, so I thought. But the voice deep within, was totally unbidden and it told me that it was of consequence. And then I realized that it was definately an act of will on my part to sin, and I couldn't just run to the confessional and report it without acknowledging fully it was an act of will on my part. And in choosing to sin, I make a willful choice to be apart from God. How can that possibly be good? Everything that is good in my life has been given to me by God.
In other words, I have become much more aware of my actions. And I have become much more aware of my own control. And in this world of everything spinning out of control, becoming more aware of that which we do control is very powerful, and liberating. So although at first it annoyed me to be able to hear that little spiritual voice of God telling me that saying that little lie I was about to say, was a sin and did I really want to do that, I have been finding myself very grateful for it. For now I have more control of my will, I am not a servant to my whims of sinful behavior. And this way I am able to become a better person and to have a closer relationship with God and those around me.
Well that is my preaching for the day. I hope you stuck with me on this and read it all the way through.
If you choose not to go to confession before Easter Mass, please at least consider doing a full reviewal, an Examination of Conscience, so that you may be able to truly seek God's forgiveness on your own by spending some time in conversation with Him with full knowledge and sorrow, which is required for God's forgiveness. Here is a website connection that has a very good examination of conscience.
Please note that all the sins listed on the first part here are Mortal sins, and if one has participated in them one must confess them truly to God. The fact that some of these sins are considered "Mortal" may surprise many, for often we do these things thinking they are not so bad. But indeed they are Mortal, and if one wishes to receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist, one needs to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and confess the Mortal sins.
"So if anyone eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily, that person is guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking from the cup." 1 Cor 11:27,28
Not to mention that it is neither fair or right to accept one Sacrament of the Church and deny the other.
If one is truly sorry for one's sins, one will be willing to make this extra effort to go to Confession. If you are not truly sorry for your sins, then please, I pray that you do not compound your sins more by choosing to receive the Body of Christ unworthily. It harms you much more then you realize.
Here is Fr. Altier's Examination of Conscience
www.catholicparents.org/oxcart/Examination%20of%20Conscience.pdf
This is another one that I thought was very good also. It includes the Act of Contrition prayer, though most confessionals already have a printed copy so you can just read it when asked.
www.scborromeo.org/confess.htm
If you do make a choice to go to Reconciliation, you may want to consider doing what I find works for me. I examine my conscience and write down on a little paper what I need to confess. Then I go in say "bless me Fr. for I have sinned. My last confession was blah blah blah" then I tell Fr. I have made a thorough examination and have written it down on a list, which I then read.
Please bear in mind also that many churches, for some reason, do not have the Sacrament of Reconciliation over Triduum (Thursday, Friday, Saturday), so look into going to Reconciliation as soon as possible if you wish to do so before Easter. You can also call and make an appointment, they are supposed to agree to meet you anonymously if you request to do so, behind screen.
Well I sure hope you made it this far with me. If you have, thank you very much for giving me your respect. I respect that these choices are your own and only you can make them. I hope though that you will continue to allow me to share that which I learn about such things.
" For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying." 1 Cor 11:11-30
