NWR Confession question

ring_pop · December 2011

I have committed sins which I know I must confess, but at this time I don't feel like I could do it with a sincere heart.

So, other than praying about it, how do you gather the (strength? courage? faith? I'm not even sure what word I'm looking for...) to feel sincerely sorry for your sins in order to confess them fully?

agapecarrie · December 2011

There's different levels of contrition. Sometimes its difficult (or impossible) to see the harmful consequences of our actions yet we see temporal benefits. Because of this, the "feeling" of being sorry when we don't have full beatific vision to see the whole picture might not be complete. However, because of the church, we have the intellectual knowledge that things are offensive to God (God is only offended by things we do that hurt ourselves).

We don't have to have "perfect" contrition. (Complete remorse out of love of God alone, not just fear of hell). We should always be striving for it of course, but that's the beauty of confession, the grace to stop sin and form our conscience. In other words, if one knows that they have offended God, they are sorry for offending God they can confess and be sincere. One doesn't necessarily have to be completely regretting what seems to be positive outcomes from the actions.

When I was struggling over getting over anger with my dad, I finally got to confess it for the last time... the priest was very wise in sharing something with me...I think it was st. ignatious, but I'm not sure. When we are angry with someone, first we should pray for their eternal soul, then we pray for them to change to stop hurting people, then we pray for their happiness on earth. When we can honestly pray these things for someone who has hurt us, we have properly moved on.

I think there's a similar journey in contrition.

DarciJ322 · December 2011

I don't know if this will help but one time while I was preparing for confession I was reflecting on a fight I had had with my then boyfriend. I had been in the wrong and it made me sick to my stomach to think of how much I hurt him. Then I realized that each time I sinned that's what I was doing to God. Realizing how much it hurts Him helped me to gain perspective and be truly sorry. It definitely moved it from an intellectual level to an emotional one as well. Any time I think of how I may have hurt my fiance or anyone I love I feel so bad about it and I realize that I can't love God any less than that.

chelseamb11 · December 2011

This is totally unrelated to the thread but I love your sig pic! How adorable!

Resa77 · December 2011

Well put, agapecarrie!

I can relate to this struggle. Over time I've learned that imperfect contritiion is better than no contrition, and that confessing a sin that I'm not 100% sorry for still exposes me to powerful grace. There's a subtle difference, though, between being imperfectly contrite, and not believing something is a sin. That's something I've struggled with...where the Church teaches something is a serious sin and I truly, sincerely disagree. If I don't see something as offensive to God, it's so hard to confess it. I believe it should still be confessed, because obedience to the Church's laws is important, and because it can't hurt to expose yourself to that extra grace. But it doesn't mean it's easy!

ring_pop · December 2011

Thank you all, this is so so helpful. (Resa, you put it better than me but yes, I believe that's exactly what I'm struggling with... but you're right, it can't hurt to expose myself to God's grace.) And thanks for the compliment chealsea!

NWR Confession question

Re: NWR Confession question

Choose Another Board

Search Boards