I maybe wrong. But a.person does not need to go to confession and receive communion to go to heaven. My protestants receive Jesus in spiritual communion and sins can be forgiven by contrition. I have seen the Lord work through many Christians of all denomomations.
I don't think we Catholics sign up to 'Free Speech' . Protestants did and this is why they 40.000 sects now. We are subject to the authority of the Magisterium . The question here appears to be what exactly the Magisterium is/was saying. But whatever we believe we can all and should express it with charity, with all firmness and truth. I always take a leaf out of Pope John 23rd's book here. His motto was, 'Obedience and peace'. He comments in his journal that when he is obedient he is at peace. For me that means that Pope Francis is Pope and I listen and obey him. No long paper chase, no complicated reading into old documents and huge debate. I obey and experience huge peace. I am too old now for complicated going into things. One of the great gifts of being a Catholic is I have the Pope to tell me so. Thus I am at peace and find time for more prayer. It strikes me a lot of this maze like tracing into things down many twisting paths is essentially Protestant in character rather than Catholic. Obey the Holy Father , be like little children, set your souls at rest. Leave these high and mighty complicated issues to the high minded and complicated. Follow the Pope. He is the Shepherd we the sheep. Leave the complicated to bury the complicated. It was never meant to be a twisty path , as some imagine. Obedience and peace. Straight as a Freeway and as easy to drive along.
Letter of St Padre Pio to Pope Paul vi ....I know that Your heart suffers much these days on account of the happenings in the Church: for peace in the world, for the great needs of its peoples; but above all, for the lack of obedience of some, even Catholics, to the lofty teachings which You, assisted by the Holy Spirit and in the name of God, have given us. '' I offer Your Holiness my daily prayers and sufferings, the insignificant but sincere offering of the least of your sons, asking the Lord to comfort you with His grace to continue along the direct yet often burdensome way—in defense of those eternal truths which can never change with the times. View attachment 2110
Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. 54He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. 55For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. 56He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him. 57As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me. And to have contrition for sin is not enough.
I believe Jesus makes spiritual communion available to those outside the Church. I can't tell you how many times I've seen non-Catholics on their death bed, reaching in the air and looking like they are eating. A lot of important spiritual work goes on in the last days, hours and minutes of life, when God has the full attention of the soul. Once again, we have a VERY BIG GOD, who loves His children to distraction. If anyone thinks a soul will be excluded from the hope of heaven because of deception and ignorance, I have to ask, "Where is your faith?"
Can you explain what you mean here mac? Contrition and firm purpose of amendment seem to be enough for Jesus. Luke 18: The Pharisee and the Publican 9 And to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, he spoke also this parable: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican. 12 I fast twice in a week: I give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven; but struck his breast, saying: O God, be merciful to me a sinner. 14 I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted. The Woman caught in adultery John 8 v1-11 9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” 11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
This is it for me - I can't go any further than this in terms of my hope for mercy for me and for others. This side of death I cannot understand the way of God. If He was only a just God then I deserve eternal damnation - no doubt about it. Mercy, mercy, mercy. Lord let us have justice in this life and mercy in the next.
1424 It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a "confession" - acknowledgment and praise - of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man. It is called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution God grants the penitent "pardon and peace." 6 It is called the sacrament of Reconciliation, because it imparts to the sinner the live of God who reconciles: "Be reconciled to God." 7 He who lives by God's merciful love is ready to respond to the Lord's call: "Go; first be reconciled to your brother." 8
Why a priest is necessary for this for me is because it is not enough to just tell my sins to God (that he already knows anyway) it is to take that even harder step to tell them to another in this case a priest. The beautiful thing though about God is that when we take that leap of faith to actually walk into the confessional to tell the priest, it is no longer just me and the priest now but Jesus. Jesus is there to listen to us, to love us and to forgive us. This is the great grace and mystery of confession. It is not the priest that is there but Jesus. You are coming to Jesus and humbling yourself in a way that far exceeds just asking God for forgiveness in personal prayer. Between confessions this is when I beg for forgiveness of God every day that I am in sin and every day that I an reflecting back on my sins of the. I beg Him for His mercy and praise Him for His generous abundance of it and make promises to come see Him soon in adoration and the confessional. Now just because I believe in my heart that this is the point to confession I also can't not speak on what happens between God and a soul at judgement. There is so much mercy there to be given but it does not mean that just because God gives it to a soul that they are free and clear on their way into heaven. It is God's mercy that will not condemn us only if the soul can accept such great mercy that is given. Sadly many souls are so dark they can't accept the mercy to be given and repent of their wrongdoings. I personally believe that few in life go straight to heaven and most go into Purgatory for a time to be determined somewhat by us when we were alive and definitely from the prayers of others while we are there. I want to believe in judgement that many many souls are at least saved to the purification of purgatory, but this time there can be vast and the time there is of great suffering to long for God at a greater level than any of us can even begin to understand and not receive Him.
littleme "This is just from the CCC though, so maybe you guys are right, and maybe the protestants have been right all along ( no priest neccessary) ." Just lump anyone/everyone together, I guess anyone who disagrees with you is just "you guys."
littleme, The fact is you are ignoring the teaching of the catholic majesterium since Vatican 2. And you seem to consider yourself "more catholic" than the holy father. And you are right and he is wrong. Same goes for Pope Benedict, etc. And you are the definer/arbiter of the definition of infallibilty and the interpretation of the bible. Thank God you are going to straighten everyone up.
What I mean here Garabandal ,is when Our Lord ,who of course could forgive sin ,instituted the priesthood ,He charged his priests, 'Who's sins you shall forgive shall be forgiven,who's sin's you shall retain ,shall be retained.''
You are missing the point of this discussion. In a perfect world, we would all be Catholics in a state of grace, frequenting the Sacraments and basking in the fullness of Truth. The enemy has been working steadily for the past 2,000 years to deceive the people of God and rob them of all the gifts left to us by Jesus. I get on my knees every morning and glorify the Father for the grace of being Catholic. For it is certainly grace, and not due to my own cleverness. For several years in my twenties, I tried to leave the Church and was restrained, in my spirit, from doing so!!! Do you honestly think it doesn't grieve the heart of God that our separated brothers and sisters are locked out of the Sacraments, due to error and ignorance? And do you honestly think He will cast them out of His presence for eternity due to error and ignorance? Please pray about this. And please pray before you post. I'm sure there are visitors here who are drawn to joining the Catholic Church. We need to be mindful that our words, as well as our tone, reflect our willingness to follow the example and exhortations of Jesus.
Of course the sacrament of confession is necessary for us Catholics to receive the forgiveness of our sins. Christ instituted the sacrament when he endowed his apostles with the authority "Receive the Holy Spirit. "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained." I was questioning Mac's assumption that contrition is not enough: The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines contrition as "sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again" (CCC 1451). For contrition to forgive mortal sins it must arise out of our love of God. "When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called ‘perfect’ (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible" (CCC 1452).
Sorry Mac - we posted at same time. I agree that confession is necessary for the forgiveness of sins. But perfect contrition remits both venial and mortal sins as explained in the Cathechism. For contrition to forgive mortal sins it must arise out of our love of God. "When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called ‘perfect’ (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible" (CCC 1452).
We've already discussed unwillful ignorance here. The Catholic Church has already addressed this for us. I already included their teaching on this on a previous board. Would God cast these people into hell for unwillful ignorance? Of course not. But WILLFUL ignorance is entirely different. Do not think that God does not work in every single human beings life. He calls ALL of us to his Church. He gives graces to ALL. Some are accepted and some are rejected. NOBODY is 'locked out' of the sacraments. If people visit this forum who are contemplating coming into the church, do you think it is good for them to read Verne's statement above that a priest is not necessary? Or to have them read what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches? And please pray before you post.
Vatican 2 did not change Church doctrine. Nowhere have i stated that i am more holy than Pope Francis. I am a sinner, he is a sinner. I have given ex-cathedra statements (google ex cathedra if you are unaware of the infallibility attached to them) and i don't bother trying to interpret the bible as many do on this site, I let the Church do that for me. I'd advise you to read ANDY3 statement above, then reread it until you understand it.
As a Catholic, I feel blessed to have access to the fullness of the faith. Luke 12:48 'Much will be required of the person with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.' As an aside, I am new to this site and have read your many posts with great interest. May God bless you all!
