Sacrament of Penance/Confession

11:00 Every Saturday Morning or by appointment:

All sin is an offense against God and a rejection of his perfect love and justice. Yet, Jesus makes a distinction between two types of sins. We call the most serious and grave sins, mortal sins. Mortal sins destroy the grace of God in the heart of the sinner. By their very grave nature, a mortal sin cuts our relationship off from God and turns man away from his creator. St. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews tell us that “if we sin willfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:26).

The second type of sin, venial sin, that of less grave matter, does not cut us off from Christ. However, venial sin does weaken grace in the soul and damages our relationship with God. A person who frequently indulges in venial sin is very likely to collapse into mortal sin if they persist in their evil ways.
In order for a sin to be mortal, it must meet three conditions:

     •Mortal sin is a sin of grave matter

     •Mortal sin is committed with full knowledge of the sinner

     •Mortal sin is committed with deliberate consent of the sinner

This means that mortal sins cannot be done “accidentally.” A person who commits a mortal sin is one who knows that their sin is wrong, but still deliberately commits the sin anyway. This means that mortal sins are “premeditated” by the sinner and thus are truly a rejection of God’s law and love.

How to make one’s Confession

Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.

I confess to God Almighty and to you, Father.

It has been ___________ (days, weeks, months, years) since my last confession.

I have received absolution and performed (not performed) my penance.

Then you tell your sins. All mortal sins must be confessed in order to make a good confession. Venial sins may be confessed, and it is a very beneficial to do so on a spiritual level. When you have finished, add:
For these and all the sins that I can’t remember, and all the sins of my past life (you can specify one or another), I ask pardon of God and penance and absolution of you, Father.

The priest then may give you some words of advise and he gives you a penance. Then you say your act of contrition.

An act of Contrition

(Traditional Version)

O my God,  I am heartily sorry for
having offended Thee,
and I detest all my sins,
because I dread the loss of heaven,
and the pains of hell;
but most of all because they offend Thee, my God,
Who are all good and deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace,
to confess my sins, to do penance,
and to amend my life.
Amen.

(Contemporary Version)

My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart.
In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good,
I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things.
I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more,
and to avoid whatever leads me to sin.
Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for us.
In His name, my God, have mercy.
Amen.

The priest gives the absolution.   Your sins are forgiven, go in peace

What is different about CATHOLIC Worship?

If you go to some Non-Catholic churches they make look similar to a Catholic Mass.  If you go to other non-Catholic services it will look nothing like a Catholic Mass, but will include a sermon, and worship/praise music.  Normally, when we ask the 'What is different questions' we are talking about what the service looks like.   However, I would like to go even deeper:  What is the GOAL of the service.

If you go to a non-Catholic service, whether it is very liturgical or very loose, it has very similar goals.  The goal is to move the heart of the congregation to help them grow in faith.   The Music is to move the congregation.  The celebration of the Lord's supper or table fellowship is done to move people towards faith.  The goal of worship God is to help the individual grow in faith for their personal relationship with God.  This means that if there is NO congregation then they would NOT do the service.  The service only effects the congregation.  It also means that the congregation must be able to hear and see every part.

However, the goal of Mass is different.   Oviously the reading of scripture and the homily is to move people in faith, however, we are being moved in faith so that we can participate in the Eucharist.  The main goal of the Eucharist is NOT focused on the people.  In fact, for the first 2000 years(up until 50 years ago) the Eucharistic prayer was said silently, and in the Byzantine tradition the priest would go behind an icon screen for the Eucharistic prayer.   So what is happening in Catholic worship during this time?

The bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ.  Then we participate in the One perpetual offering of the Son to the Father for the Forgiveness of sins.   We are participating in the REDEMPTIVE Act of God.  This is an objective Reality of the internal working of God being made available in the world.   The main act of the congregation is to raise their hearts and mind to God offering themselves in  spiritual sacrifice along with Christ.   Since Mass is participation in the Objective work of God, then it even happens without a congregation.  The goals of Mass happen even if the congregation does NOT hear the prayers being said.   Worship is focused on God and the objective works of God.   Then the congregation participates again when God gives himself to his bride in the Eucharist.  The worship becomes ONE with Christ as they receive communion.

It is good to have uplifting music.  It is good to have a well prepared, meaningful sermon.  But it is redemptive, and bring salvation, to participate in the saving act of God that happens at the Mass.   This is the big difference in worship.   Comments welcome.

peace

Reason or Emotions

I have been reading about philosophy.  I have had some very interesting ideas.  During the middle ages scholars accross the board spoke about the emotions as being the most dangerous part of the human intellect.  The emotions tend to be very unstable, and lead to spontaneous and often selfish responses.  They held up REASON as the most important part of the human intellect.

However, in our American culture, if you look at pop culture, emotions are the most important, and reason is NOT very important at all.   Rather than telling a young person to use reason when making a decision, they are told to do what feels right, be yourself, follow your heart.  In other words, your emotions are much more important than your mind.  It is totally different from the medivel mindset.

Why the difference???   Here is my hypothesis.  I would love to hear your ideas and comments.   In the middle ages, life was much closer to the animal world.  Almost EVERYONE lived on a farm.  Animals would have been part of every persons life for food, for travel, and other areas.   Since animals were always present(Wild animals and domestic animals) people wanted to separate themselves from animals.  Animals appeared to just fulfill all their whims.    REASON separated us from the animals.

Today, we are no longer close to animals so we do NOT have to make that distinction.  Today we are surrounded by machines and computer.   Machines and computers are always present, and the thing that distinquishes us from machines is NOT our reason, but our emotions.    Our emotions separate us from computers.   Our emotions make us human (As Spock and Data both showed in the Star Trek programs.)

Emotions or Reason???  It seems to depend on how we want to define ourselves in our environment.   We are made up of EMOTIONS, REASON, and the WILL.   Perhaps it is the WILL that is really important.

peace