Please Help me?

Question

I have just returned to my Catholic Faith 6 months ago after an abcense of 16 years! I am now ready to go to Chapel. I am going to Confession tonight so I can go to Mass tomorrow and take Communion. I am so worried I am going to look foolish tonight! I dont know what to say in the confession booth and wondered if you still go into a Chapel Pew afterwards and say "Our Lady's" & "Our Fathers"? PLease help! I am in Scotland, UK - just incase confession is different in other places I have mentioned my Location! Also, should I memorize my biggest sins to confess???? Help! I have 16 years worth of sins to confess!

Answer 1

sweetheart, any church that makes you do confession to be welcome, is not even worth visiting. A preist cannot wash away your sins, only God can. the only way you need to confess is by praying alone, to the Father in Jesus name. Jesus is the only mediator between man and God.

Yes, most of the Catholics do still go in the pews and say "Our Lady's" & "our Fathers"...they tend to keep the traditions of man dragging on.

I dont mean to be nasty to the Catholic faith, there are so many beautiful Catholic people, and they are so reverencefull toward God, there are good points, but i guess what im trying to say, is that the traditions that they have, most of them, are unneccessary and you shouldnt have to feel under pressure to enter the house of God! God is not some systematic, conservative guy with a fondness for robot-like followers, no! He is fun, lively, understanding, perfect, and LOVE.

If you must stay in the church you have chosen, just remember, you do not need to worry about looking foolish, or making mistakes, or memorising sin confessions... thats all man stuff... God's not interested in it.. He sees your heart, and He is so so so so so so pleased your coming back to Him! Pray, read your bible, and get yourself in a church that wont make u feel "foolish"...thats not God's house, that is mans-traditional camp. Even if u want to stay Catholic, just go to a church that is welcoming, and teaches the word, not tradition.

Confess to the Father, Pray to the Father, Live for the Father, all in the name of Jesus.God Bless you and your continuing in the faith! :-)

Answer 2

OK, I don't know how you feel about this but sometimes when I haven't been to confession for a wee while maybe a year when I go into see the priest I say my last confession was 6 weeks ago and then my first confession is that I've lied.

But firstly when you go into the confession box you make a sign of the cross saying 'In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The priest will then invite you to have confidence and trust in God. You reply; Amen.
Next tell the priest about yourself, last confession, if your married or not and any difficulties you have in trying to live the Christan life.

Then confess your sins and then the Priest will give you the words of Absolution and at the end you reply; Amen
Then he says Give thanks to the Lord,for he is good
You reply: His mercy endures for ever.
He dismisses you saying: The Lord has freed you from you sins. Go in Peace.
This doesn't need a reply.

You leave and then go to a pew and say your Hail Marys and Our Fathers.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

LoL xxx

Answer 3

Being a catholic, I would suggest that you confess everything that you have to confess. The priest is there in the place of Jesus so your sins will be forgiven all, because God loves you no matter how many sins you have made in 16 years! I would suggest that you find a priest that you can open your heart to. The point of confessing is to becoming friends again with the Lord and with the community. You don't have to be embarrassed everyone can sin because we are human after all. The important thing is that you are sorry for your mistakes and that you want to be in peace with the Lord and your faith. Don't worry about the amount of sins that you have the important thing is that you confess them all, we are not meant to stay in this world and so our time here is given to us only by God. Confess while you still can and remember God is forgiving he will greet you back with open arms!

Answer 4

well why break a good habit? I don't know how it is in the UK, but you do not say ANY hail marys in America during mass, which I assume you mean by "chapel". You do say one Our Father hoever. Try to remember as many sins as you can. You're human and not a computer. Do not purposely leave out any because of that realization. This is why I stopped being Catholic. I need only confess my sins to 2 people, God and myself. A priest is no closer to God than you or I. My very best advice is, find solace in your faith yourself. You do not need the blessings of a human being who merely went thru the schooling to become a cleric. God does not need intermediaries. But, peace be with you if you feel you need the blessing of another human.

Answer 5

hey hunny,dont worry bout it. you are going back to confess which is good enough for the church. no one is going to judge you,my dad went back after 20 odd years and was made very welcome.just go tonight and confess what you feel you should be brought out in confession,yes its been a while but you can always say that its been so long that you have a list of confessions and will release them as the weeks go by and when you visit church more often.

try not to stress and good on you for taking the courage to go back. Father wont be too worried that you have a long list of sins,he will be more intrested in you staying with the church,regardless of how many sins. We all sin,day after day,and we are not judged by the quantity.
Good Luck. Im in Scotland too,east coast near Edinburgh.
xx

Answer 6

Well done you! God has given you the courage to start over and He will help you through what you describe. The priest will be pleased to help you - don't worry, just ask him at the end of your confession what to do next. He will be so pleased to see you and will not expect you to be perfect straight after! (None of us are).

The hardest part will be not repeating the sins, but we are human and often stray again - its easier sometimes to do wrong than not and that's where the real courage comes in - you've proved you have this, but as always God will help you.

You mention the long list of sins - why not make a list, besides you do not have to go into gory details for the sake of the priest! It is God who hears your confession and forgives.

Why not have a practise at home first (in private)? You don't actually need a priest to hear your confession, but I know it is the RC way. Send up a prayer whenever you need that extra bit of help - it works for me! Every blessing for tonight, I wil remember you in my prayers.

Answer 7

I am not a catholic but if you have 16 years of sins to confess I should miss a few out or save some for next time. God will forgive you just repent all past sins and start afresh from now.

Answer 8

I really don't know that much about the catholic faith (I am church of God). I believe we pray directly to Jesus and ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins. We do this on our knees and from deep withing our hearts. If you do this and are really sincere and will try your best to live a Godly life you will feel something come over you. For me it started at the top of my head and washed over me like warm water. This was God's Holy Spirit filling my soul. This was 5 years ago. I still have the Holy Spirit living within me.

I advise you to read the book of Romans Chapter 10 starting at verse 9. It tells you about salvation. It don't say anything about telling you sins to anyone but God. But we must confess the Lord Jesus with our mouth.
God bless you. I hope this has helped in some way.

Answer 9

First of all, congratulations on "re-entering" the religious realm. I am to understand that all Catholic confession processes are the same world wide. If in doubt, get there early and speak with a priest, they will help you with the process. Most of all=One can never look foolish in the eyes of GOD-all else will not matter. This is your faith at work, leave it in the hands of GOD and do not worry about what others think. Remember these words-This is your faith... All things are possible with GOD.
Dr. Tommy Skelton (Minister, PH.D in Comparative Religion)
Houston, Mississippi--Feel free to talk to me anytime.

Answer 10

I am not Catholic, but I believe that I can offer you some advice that might help. Fear is the biggest sin of all because it separates syou from Christ. Do not be fearful of the church or of the confessional booth. The Bible says that God is just to forgive us of our sins if we confess them to him. Just confess your sins to Jesus and let him handle the rest. Have faith and not fear. And please do not stay away from Christ again. the purpose of the church is fellowship. Through fellowship spiritual growth occurs. Always remember that Jesus loves you and that he died for yous. Keep him in your heart 24/7 and the wiles of the devil will never haunt you.