Confession & Shame/Guilt

It is not at all unusual and is actually a good sign to confess the same sins over and over again.

It means you are still battling them and the struggle is still on.
Your priest will be proud of you in your endeavour to allow Christ to claim the victory.


If it helps, just remember that it is to Christ you are confessing, the priest is there to hear you so he can give pastoral advice and administer the absolution

Turn thy face from my sins: and put out all my misdeeds.
Make me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:9-10 Coverdale Translation 1535)

 

Hi,
Not sure if this is the right spot to post this but I've been really wanting to do a total life examination of all my sins, confess them and in prayer make ammends.
Similar to maybe a 12 step program but not really wanting to go through the drill sargent atmosphere of those programs, any advice?

 

I think a lot of men can relate to this. I'm one of them, certainly. One thing to think about, something I heard from a wise priest, is this: The sin may be the same over and over and over again, but YOU are not. And all God is concerned about when you step into the confessional is you.

 

I have the same desire sometimes and I have to ask myself why. For me, I need to grow in faith that God truly forgives my sins, event those I can't forgive myself - also because I repeat them again and again.
I would be interested in your process... if you like.
Agatha

 

The thought that the priest could "be proud of" me in my "endeavour to allow Christ to claim the victory" helps me A LOT as I am struggling with a lot of shame to confess this sin before priest - who is always a man.

 

A priest can be an excellent accountability partner, because they understand human nature more than other people, being ashamed is good because you know you are doing something bad, doubt the priest will be scandalized if you go over and over with the same sins since this they hear this type of stuff over and over. Just try to get a priest to can give you advice, I would recommend to go to confession with a trad priest.

 

Agatha, I just saw your reply. Yes for sure.
I started a 12 step and now have a sponsor that I won't be ashamed to confess all of my past actions to during my 'housecleaning'. Total disclosure is vital

 

Regarding forgiving yourself I struggle with that. One thing that helps is a talk I heard by Fr. Chad Ripperger. He mentions that when we don’t forgive ourselves we actually stand in judgment of God. We are essentially saying we have better judgment than God. It is therefore really pride to not forgive ourselves. It is the type of pernicious pride that we see, falsely, as humility.


Meditate on that. When you have trouble forgiving yourself remember this.

 

Thank you so much, LavaMe. This sounds so right and I will meditate on that indeed! I know several conferences of Fr. Chad Ripperger and I appreciate them greatly. Do you think of any particular talk/homily I could listen to?

 

Sorry, I can’t remember which talks he mentioned this in. It could have been about self, or pride or something else. You can find talks on YouTube or here on this website:

https://sentrad.org/multimedia/

 

Please search the healing power of confession by Dr. Scott Hahn. It is a really powerful and inspiring speech about the sacrament of confession. I learned that it is a sacrament of unconditional love for us by God.

part 1:

part 2:

part 3:

God bless brothers and sisters!

 

I feel your uneasiness, I often feel too ashamed to participate in the Sacrament of Penance. I still go, every week in fact. I've been doing it for three years straight, because I need the Sacrament to strengthen me. Because I need Jesus Christ. I'm a sick man in need of a hospital. So I have the Church, I have Christ.