What powerful readings today! I am overwhelmed w/ a need & desire to go to confession.
1715: Peace-I desire everyday! I feel more angry the more I avoid confession. How often do all of you go? I want more peace. There has got to be a way to fit it in my schedule. I need to contact our parish and ask! I want to be rid of anger-which is not of God. The stress of day to day life can be so daunting sometimes. To be rid of that and offer it up to God gives me a glimpse of peace already:)
1725: It is so hard to open up to share the ugliest things about yourself to someone I look up to (my priest) This passage reminds me he is just a screen and not be afraid to be vulnerable.
1728: I was moved by the phrase “I cannot love a soul which is stained w/ sin” How scary is that! I want to be loved by Jesus, I do not want to make him angry. I thirst for his mercy. I remember when we suffer the most my mom said we are closest to God-she was right! I love you mom:)
Ok, so for this week’s assignment…again, I have more questions than insights. I guess I’m not really very good at this. But I’ve been going to confession at St. Thomas ever since I moved back, which was in 1998, because in the beginning I was too scared of the priest from St. Joes recognizing me in the confessional, and then after I started being the CRE, I thought it would just be too weird to go to confession to the same person that signs my paycheck! So anyway I’ve been going to St. Thomas and with the exception of a couple of months when they had an assistant priest hearing confessions, I’ve been going to the same priest. Now he’s a real nice guy and everything, he doesn’t yell at me or anything, but he doesn’t really give me any good concrete advice on overcoming my sins. Which may or may not be due to the fact that I confess the same stupid sins every time I go to confession. But anyway, before this assignment, I was thinking that maybe I need to find a new confessor, one that would actually give me advice in the confessional. Now, after reading what Jesus said to St. Faustina, I’m thinking maybe it doesn’t matter who I go to since I’m confessing to Jesus anyway? But what would He say if someone was going to a priest that just yelled at the person the whole time and wasn’t being nice at all? I don’t know. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
At the risk of sending the longest email in the history of email, I would just like to add how grateful I am for the sacrament of confession (all the sacraments actually!). I know that many of our Protestant brothers and sisters really love Jesus and they are very close to Him, and I would venture to guess that many of them are closer to Him than I am, but how fortunate we are to have the fullness of the faith that Jesus gave us! He created us, and He knows how we are and what we need, so He gave us confession, where we can say our sins out loud and hear the words of absolution out loud so there’s no guessing if we’ve been forgiven or not. I can imagine if you just confess your sins to Jesus and then all you hear are the crickets chirping, that wouldn’t be as nice as hearing the words “and I absolve you from your sins, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” I just love hearing that!
# 1715 My first thought was, how many times have I gone to confession thinking of the person, priest, that would be hearing my confession as someone I felt comfortable with or not. St. Faustina wrote, “Oh Christ, you & the priest are one. I will approach confession as if I were approaching not a man but You.” How seldom, if ever, did I give thought to that truth. I never gave thought that by questioning the priests in my mind was a temptation to sin. I pray that I keep this point in mind from now on.
#1725 This is another reminder that we are speaking to Christ Himself. His wonderful reminder that He will fill us with His light if we only make a good , repentent confession & always realize it is He whom we are speaking to!!!
# 1728 When He mentions “pursuing” our souls & how He detests the smallest sins, I have 2 thoughts. The classic poem ” The Hound of Heaven,” comes to mind when God pursues the soul until He catches him. The other part that comes to mind is not to dismiss the “venial,” sins as not a big deal. What I got from these readings is that it IS a big deal because they are hurtful to our loving God. I must be fervent in getting rid of them.
The 2nd paragraph to this note is very sobering, where He talks about anyone leaving His merciful hands, we will run into His justice. How much we need His Mercy!! I must be remorseful, offering my variety of sufferings to His Sacred Heart. Then He adds, if we turn away from Him we are left to ourselves. What an unthinkable thought that is. I remember hearing from a religious years ago that hell was being left totally alone with ourselves for all eternity.
Jane, I think we might be going to the same Priest. I have had a chance to talk to him and I do feel he is a Man of God,totally dedicated. He is also a strong advocate of Divine Mercy. I too, believe that he really is taking the place of Jesus in the confessional and expects us to take care of our shortcomings, big and small. I thank God every day for giving me the parents I had and being born in the Catholic Faith. The faith has sustained me and helped me through the rough times in my life.
Cocoa1943 I am so glad you wrote about the Hound of Heaven. I have read it many times and every time I get some more out of it. You can feel the intensity with which Francis Thompson wrote his feelings. Here is a man that was addicted to laudunum, a mixture of alcohol and opium. They were not aware of the addictive qualities of drugs in his day. God did not let him alone until he broke the addiction “cold turkey”.
My dear brother gave me the copy of this beautiful prose for Christmas one year. I just read it again. I am willing to share this with anyone who would like to read it. He was born way before St. Faustina but it shows how God does not leave you in your time of need. Can’t help but think he was chosen.
“Use it or loose it” is one of the messages I got (the benefit of confession); We who are given much have much expected from us. The importance of confession, for me, was re-inforced by these readings; So, I purposely missed going to confession this last Sunday before Mass and I felt strange, not good, (cannot explain) because of my actions. Something or someone gave me the idea and I fell for it.
(maybe I’m afraid of crickets- just kidding) One step forward two steps back for me! I guess God never said this would be easy.
Nicole
What powerful readings today! I am overwhelmed w/ a need & desire to go to confession.
1715: Peace-I desire everyday! I feel more angry the more I avoid confession. How often do all of you go? I want more peace. There has got to be a way to fit it in my schedule. I need to contact our parish and ask! I want to be rid of anger-which is not of God. The stress of day to day life can be so daunting sometimes. To be rid of that and offer it up to God gives me a glimpse of peace already:)
1725: It is so hard to open up to share the ugliest things about yourself to someone I look up to (my priest) This passage reminds me he is just a screen and not be afraid to be vulnerable.
1728: I was moved by the phrase “I cannot love a soul which is stained w/ sin” How scary is that! I want to be loved by Jesus, I do not want to make him angry. I thirst for his mercy. I remember when we suffer the most my mom said we are closest to God-she was right! I love you mom:)
Love you all,
Nicole
Ok, so for this week’s assignment…again, I have more questions than insights. I guess I’m not really very good at this. But I’ve been going to confession at St. Thomas ever since I moved back, which was in 1998, because in the beginning I was too scared of the priest from St. Joes recognizing me in the confessional, and then after I started being the CRE, I thought it would just be too weird to go to confession to the same person that signs my paycheck! So anyway I’ve been going to St. Thomas and with the exception of a couple of months when they had an assistant priest hearing confessions, I’ve been going to the same priest. Now he’s a real nice guy and everything, he doesn’t yell at me or anything, but he doesn’t really give me any good concrete advice on overcoming my sins. Which may or may not be due to the fact that I confess the same stupid sins every time I go to confession. But anyway, before this assignment, I was thinking that maybe I need to find a new confessor, one that would actually give me advice in the confessional. Now, after reading what Jesus said to St. Faustina, I’m thinking maybe it doesn’t matter who I go to since I’m confessing to Jesus anyway? But what would He say if someone was going to a priest that just yelled at the person the whole time and wasn’t being nice at all? I don’t know. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
At the risk of sending the longest email in the history of email, I would just like to add how grateful I am for the sacrament of confession (all the sacraments actually!). I know that many of our Protestant brothers and sisters really love Jesus and they are very close to Him, and I would venture to guess that many of them are closer to Him than I am, but how fortunate we are to have the fullness of the faith that Jesus gave us! He created us, and He knows how we are and what we need, so He gave us confession, where we can say our sins out loud and hear the words of absolution out loud so there’s no guessing if we’ve been forgiven or not. I can imagine if you just confess your sins to Jesus and then all you hear are the crickets chirping, that wouldn’t be as nice as hearing the words “and I absolve you from your sins, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” I just love hearing that!
Well, I better get to work!
Niece Jane/Cousin Jane
Hello again,
# 1715 My first thought was, how many times have I gone to confession thinking of the person, priest, that would be hearing my confession as someone I felt comfortable with or not. St. Faustina wrote, “Oh Christ, you & the priest are one. I will approach confession as if I were approaching not a man but You.” How seldom, if ever, did I give thought to that truth. I never gave thought that by questioning the priests in my mind was a temptation to sin. I pray that I keep this point in mind from now on.
#1725 This is another reminder that we are speaking to Christ Himself. His wonderful reminder that He will fill us with His light if we only make a good , repentent confession & always realize it is He whom we are speaking to!!!
# 1728 When He mentions “pursuing” our souls & how He detests the smallest sins, I have 2 thoughts. The classic poem ” The Hound of Heaven,” comes to mind when God pursues the soul until He catches him. The other part that comes to mind is not to dismiss the “venial,” sins as not a big deal. What I got from these readings is that it IS a big deal because they are hurtful to our loving God. I must be fervent in getting rid of them.
The 2nd paragraph to this note is very sobering, where He talks about anyone leaving His merciful hands, we will run into His justice. How much we need His Mercy!! I must be remorseful, offering my variety of sufferings to His Sacred Heart. Then He adds, if we turn away from Him we are left to ourselves. What an unthinkable thought that is. I remember hearing from a religious years ago that hell was being left totally alone with ourselves for all eternity.
Cocoa1943
Anita
Jane, I think we might be going to the same Priest. I have had a chance to talk to him and I do feel he is a Man of God,totally dedicated. He is also a strong advocate of Divine Mercy. I too, believe that he really is taking the place of Jesus in the confessional and expects us to take care of our shortcomings, big and small. I thank God every day for giving me the parents I had and being born in the Catholic Faith. The faith has sustained me and helped me through the rough times in my life.
Cocoa1943 I am so glad you wrote about the Hound of Heaven. I have read it many times and every time I get some more out of it. You can feel the intensity with which Francis Thompson wrote his feelings. Here is a man that was addicted to laudunum, a mixture of alcohol and opium. They were not aware of the addictive qualities of drugs in his day. God did not let him alone until he broke the addiction “cold turkey”.
My dear brother gave me the copy of this beautiful prose for Christmas one year. I just read it again. I am willing to share this with anyone who would like to read it. He was born way before St. Faustina but it shows how God does not leave you in your time of need. Can’t help but think he was chosen.
Peace,
“Use it or loose it” is one of the messages I got (the benefit of confession); We who are given much have much expected from us. The importance of confession, for me, was re-inforced by these readings; So, I purposely missed going to confession this last Sunday before Mass and I felt strange, not good, (cannot explain) because of my actions. Something or someone gave me the idea and I fell for it.
(maybe I’m afraid of crickets- just kidding) One step forward two steps back for me! I guess God never said this would be easy.
All of your insights are giving me hope. Thanks!
God’s Love
BB/UB