It is Saturday during Lent.
Please think about going to confession.
You might consider offering to give a ride to someone who is shut-in or without transportation.
It is Saturday during Lent.
Please think about going to confession.
You might consider offering to give a ride to someone who is shut-in or without transportation.
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In your kindness, please offer prayers for us priests who will spend long hours hearing confessions. Last week, my two confreres and I spent six hours each in the confessional. I expect the lines will get longer as Lent now begins. It can get physically tiring to be seated in an enclosed confessional and mentally tiring to focus on each confession after the two hour mark. (I do take a break to stretch and have a snack, which helps a lot.)
Your prayers are appreciated.
I actually went to Confession yesterday before noon Mass. The priest was so kind enough to permit this because of my anguish. I really needed to do this, and I wish I could thank him personally for going out of his way to do this for me.
I’ve been suffering from a case of the spiritual blahs (I’m sure there’s a more theological term for it) lately. It seems like the more often I go to Confession, the worse it gets. It’ll get good for a day or two after Confession, and then takes a deep nose dive for the worse. It seems rather pointless for me to go again today, as I can’t seem to put my heart into it and I would only be going through the motions.
@APX
Sounds like the “more theological term” might be spiritual dryness? Prayers coming your way.
Gonna go tomorrow before Mass! Thanks for the reminder, Fr Z.
@everett
Thanks. Is there a cure for it? Lemme guess. It’s probably prayer and mortification. That seems to be the answer to everything spiritual.
APX–
By all means, discuss this with your confessor. It sounds like you are well above and beyond the minimum requirements of the Church regarding confession, so you shouldn’t feel like you’re not doing enough. Talk with your confessor and come up with a plan of action.
I try to go to confession at least every other month, which has been a challenge on my work schedule (thankfully, I’m changing jobs and should be off of evenings and weekends in a few more weeks). But that has given me time to see a particular confession bear fruit in my life. Every trip to confession turns out to be a step forward, whether or not I know it at the time.
Some confessions are like a lightning bolt, and I come out of the church feeling reborn, re-energized, relieved, and joyful. Some have truly been physically healing. I had been quite sick in November and December, lost my appetite, and reached the lowest body weight of my adult life. After my December confession, I felt hungry that evening and ate well.
But after my most recent confession, I felt more like, “Well, um, okay.” But I’ve found myself applying the priest’s advice from that confession every day, multiple times a day!
Remember that it is Jesus working through the sacrament, and worry less that something is going wrong on your end of things. He works in mysterious ways, and can always find you where you are.
I want to send out a thank you to all the priests who hear confessions. What a beautiful sacrament, and what a gift you give us.
By the way, I hope this isn’t too off-topic, but I was disappointed when I went to a certain parish and they had the old-style confessionals, but with curtains, not doors on the confessionals, and this is in an area where people walk past. So you can almost hear the people’s confessions, and if you’re within range, you CAN hear them, even if the people and the priests are not speaking loudly. I have seen this in several places, two of which I would not go to unless I had to go urgently due to a mortal sin, because the odds are too high that people can hear me (or at least hear the priest). This REALLY bothers me, and I didn’t go today because of it. Why is it like this?
If priests are reading this, will you consider changing this if it’s like this in your parish? I vote for DOORS not curtains, and if there’s concern about abuse or something, then put a glass window in it! I wouldn’t care for that, but it’s better than having my confession overheard! :)
Hello All. Thankfully I did this before the Solemn TLM on Ash Wed I went to. That order of priests always has confessions at least 15 min before Mass begins. They know what’s going on with the reception of the Eucharist. Thank the Lord for that order of priests in my city!
Father G – A great thought! I don’t think the average layperson considers praying for their confessors in light of their sins. And how many times has Fr. Z asked for our prayers in spiritual warfare?
APX – Well there’s two things to think about with regard to your admission. First, to take from the Ash Wed TLM sermon that I attended, the priest mentioned that the Devil is lurking arround the corner, even when one is attempting to or doing good acts! Think about it. He hates the fact that Christ won the war. St Michael kicked his unholy arse down to Hell, and once Christ was glorified and taken to Heaven after his sacrifice at Calvary, Satan can’t win now. He’s going for the consolation prize of keeping Heaven as empty as possible as a last joke and revenge on our Lord. Therefore he gets especially angry with hatred at those of us who do things like go to Mass weekly period, and probably even moreso with the Extraordinary Form with that “God centered mentality thing and those horrible utterings to the `Enemy` in that now sanctified `dead` language once used by the Empire who persecuted Christians“, and also of all Catholics who go to confession reguarly. When he loses his choke chain on your soul in the form of mortal sin, he has a vocanish ash filled nutty, and regroups with his minions as to how to hit you harder to get that chain back on you. He wants you back in mortal sin so he tempts you and pummels your spiritual and mental defenses (and physical too) more! That could be what is happening to you maybe, APX, depending on what your sins are. Even though they may not be mortal, obstainancy in Sin I think is one of the 6 grave sins against the Holy Spirit, so if he can get you not confessing them, maybe then you might go to Hell also? So he wants you to stop confessing. A theologigan or priest could chime in here better on the obstinancy in sin issue. Point is APX, “the Devil wants your soul” (Cue music from “The Devil went down to Georgia”)
The other possibility, is maybe, if you are a focusing type of person who is rule/procedure oriented, it is affecting your mind with the knowledge about sin from the Catechism/Magisterium, maybe you are heading down the road of scrupulosity (like OCD with confession and everything can become a sin, even non-sinful actions and it occupies your mind almost every moment). I am not a psychologist, nor a priest but scrupolosity is something that can really affect one’s spiritual life and you would need help from a mental health or Catholic spiritual professional if you think you might be heading down that road.
Yes, I’m off to Confession this afternoon. It only lasts one hour no matter how long the lines. A pity.
I go early so as to do a good examination of conscience and to offer a few prayers. Its threatening to snow again; I hope the roads are clear for the long drive to a low Mass tomorrow.
Confession done. And prayers offered up for our clergy. I know my confessor really needs them. He is from another country and has a “deep” accent. I find it near impossible to understand him.
There were about 15 people in line when the first gentleman entered the confessional. The ol’ boy left the door wide open and we ALL got to here his confession, which was far more than any of us wanted to know.
I went to confession despite my spiritual dryness and I’m glad I did. My confessor had a lot to say on the subject and gave me some good advice.
I had hoped to go to Confession tonight but after 15 minutes waiting in line, we all realized that the priest was MIA. Oh well, it can wait (or at least I hope it can wait).
The four out of the seven of us who are old enough to go to confession (my wife, my son, my daughter, and me) went to confession this afternoon at a beautiful church literally out in the middle of nowhere. Apparently, there were some Polish immigrant farmers who built this church in the middle of all their fields. The stations of the cross, stained glass windows, and other statuary in the church are all titled in Polish.
And no, it is not a polish national catholic church.
Father, may I interrupt with a plea for _real_ confessionals?
Having avoided Confession for way too long I went too our local cathedral Ash Wednesday — no confessionals and no priest in sight.
Turns out the “confessional” is a screened prie-dieu behind a pillar less than ten feet from the sacristy door. My priest was wonderful (and many thanks to him) but having to stop because someone is walking by is … not good.
/rant