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Joined: Nov 2001
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John Member
Joined: Nov 2001
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Well, perhaps it is nonsense but the fact that I have read as much and have been told as much by priests is not nonsense. For example, from the book, "Confession: A Little Book for the Reluctant" by Msgr. Louis de Segur...
"If, after absolution you remember any sin, it will not be necessary for that reason to return to Confession; above all it is not necessary to deprive yourself from Holy Communion. It will suffice, the first time you come again to confession, to say, 'Father, at my last confession I involuntarily ommitted such and such sin.'"
I have approached several priests about this and they all concur: even though all one's sins were absolved at one's last confession, one must confess at his next confession any grave sins that he happens to recall thereafter.
I don't understand that because to me absolved means absolved. How could you be absolved of a sin, only to be guilty of it, again, by not confessing it at your next confession on the chance that you happen to remember it?
At any rate, like I say, it's as if you're chained to your past for life in that respect, when it seems to me it would be God's desire that once you're freed, you truly are freed. It would make more sense to me if the teaching were, "and if you later recall a grave sin that you involuntarily omitted, forget about it; it was absolved. Never let it plague you again and move on. Look forward to the future, not backwards to the past." Forgiveness is forever. When the priest pronounces Christ's forgiveness your sins are gone, remembered no more by the Lord. The direction to bring up past sins that one might have forgot to confess has less to do with forgiveness and more to do with the priest understanding your spiritual life. How often does the penitent forget his sins? Did he really forget? Or did he forget by choice and convenience? Was his repentance serious? Does someone who commits the same sins repeatedly really repent? Lots of possibilities. The priest (and bishop) are responsible for their flock. The method of suggesting that the forgiveness was not real does a disservice to the doctrines of the Latin Church. [It is true that one of the flaws of the West is the tendency to categorize and measure God's forgiveness.]
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Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 1,760
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Joined: Nov 2001
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Well, perhaps it is nonsense but the fact that I have read as much and have been told as much by priests is not nonsense. For example, from the book, "Confession: A Little Book for the Reluctant" by Msgr. Louis de Segur...
"If, after absolution you remember any sin, it will not be necessary for that reason to return to Confession; above all it is not necessary to deprive yourself from Holy Communion. It will suffice, the first time you come again to confession, to say, 'Father, at my last confession I involuntarily ommitted such and such sin.'"
I have approached several priests about this and they all concur: even though all one's sins were absolved at one's last confession, one must confess at his next confession any grave sins that he happens to recall thereafter.
I don't understand that because to me absolved means absolved. How could you be absolved of a sin, only to be guilty of it, again, by not confessing it at your next confession on the chance that you happen to remember it?
At any rate, like I say, it's as if you're chained to your past for life in that respect, when it seems to me it would be God's desire that once you're freed, you truly are freed. It would make more sense to me if the teaching were, "and if you later recall a grave sin that you involuntarily omitted, forget about it; it was absolved. Never let it plague you again and move on. Look forward to the future, not backwards to the past." Roman, Consider the cleansing of the ten lepers (Lk 17:11-19) Was the behavior of the 9 lepers who were cleansed but didn't come back to thank Jesus considered okay? Isn't that a lesson that we should do some follow-up? That being said, one should always conclude their confession by expressing sorrow also for one's sins which do not come to mind or of which one is unaware. In this case, unless it is a very serious sin, there should be no need to open past shortcomings. Fr Deacon Paul
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Joined: May 2012
Posts: 324
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Well...I don't know. In my case, I'm just going to have to make a decision to leave the past behind, otherwise I'll go batty everytime it occurs to me, "oh, I never confessed that"...which, after 20 years of alot of bad stuff, is going to happen. And it does happen. But I confessed in good faith everything I could recall, which included alot of really embarrasingly awful stuff. The worst of it. There's no way the confessor didn't get the picture when I was finished confessing.
I'm sorry for all the terrible sins I've committed...but I'm done with it. I've got to move on. I can't keep going back to the past every time something pops into my head. I suppose I'll just take a chance that it's okay to ignore those sins remembered and move on.
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 569 Likes: 2
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 569 Likes: 2 |
Allow me to paraphrase St. Isaac the Syrian's words: "The sins of all flesh do not amount to a handful of sand cast into the ocean of God's love!"
Once you have cast your infinitesimal particle of one speck of sinful send into that Ocean, why do you trouble yourself to find it again?!
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Joined: May 2012
Posts: 324
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Joined: May 2012
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Allow me to paraphrase St. Isaac the Syrian's words: "The sins of all flesh do not amount to a handful of sand cast into the ocean of God's love!"
Once you have cast your infinitesimal particle of one speck of sinful send into that Ocean, why do you trouble yourself to find it again?! I don't. Not anymore. I've had done with the past. Thank you Ot'ets; your words have been of immense help and comfort. This is a really good discussion community. I'm very grateful to have found it. So many of you have helped me learn so much. Thank you.
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 357
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Repentance is change. Just contact an Orthodox priest in private. This is one area that really gets agenda driven in conversation, even if we don't mean to do it.
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