www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Assurance of Genuine Contrition

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am a Catholic who has been just recently Initiated into the faith (sans baptism...I got that as a baby).

Anyway, I am going to Confession today to confess a particularly grave sin I committed and I have been bothered by doubts about how we know whether our contrition is genuine.

I really made a big mistake. I want more than anything to be truly sorry and to receive our Lord's forgiveness. I just want to put these sins behind me and start over, and I want to be able to come back to Communion.

I hope this post was somewhat coherent.

Knightwolf

It strikes me that you really need to sit down with a priest and discuss this with him.

You freely express your sorrow for what you have done here, and state that you want to start again . This surely is contrition ?

Go to Confession as you have stated you will be doing, and then raise this other problem with the priest .

Go in peace

Dear Knightwolf:

I suggest that you seek advice from a trusted priest in matters like this. The only thought of my own that I will add is that I believe that the fact that you acknowledge your sin as "grave," that you are concerned that your contrition is genuine, that you "want more than anything to be truly sorry and to receive our Lord's forgivess," and that you "want to be able to come back to Communion" all suggest to me that you are truly repentant. However, I am not a spiritual director. I add this thought merely for the sake of offering support for a fellow believer. Again, seek advice from a wise, loving, and trusted priest-and in the meantime, seek out our Lord in prayer.

Peace and Blessings,

Ryan

Thanks for the responses so far (wow you guys were quick, :))

I mean, I want Jesus' forgiveness. The thing that I did was...is hard for me to verbalize. The only reason I think I can do it in Confession is cause I have been taught that the priest acts "in the person of Christ."

I want to be forgiven and cleasened of these sins so that God forgets I even did them. I want the blood of Jesus to bathe me and wash away the stains in my baptismal robes. I wish I hadn't done these sins cause I know that it has screwed up so much in me, not to mention putting me in another situation of doubt which bothers me. I just want to be forgiven so I can come back to Communion, receive Jesus, and start over.

But thanks for the advice about the priest! I think I will be confessing to my regular confessor and he knows alot about what I am going through. I am going to ask him the very question I asked here, I pray that the Lord will speak through him.

Again thanks for the responses so far!

Knightwolf,

As mentioned, talk to the priest about it. The forgiveness he gives is the forgiveness of the Church, the Body of Christ.

As the other posters have mentioned, beyond this there is really not much anyone on a message board can say that is truly appropriate for you. That said, I have some thoughts about this matter. These are just my feelings based on some of the things I've seen and heard; DO NOT take them for dogma or for spiritual counsel, but just as what one person thinks, put out for your information and only to be emulated as far as it's in line with God, the Church who work through your confessor.

In my mind, true repentance is constant and last through our lives. It's good to constantly have in our mind our nature which is alienated from God, who calls us back to Himself. It would be bad to do something destructive because of it. Genuine contrition to my mind means only that you truly mean it, and that you don't consciously deny or are indifferent to your contrition. Your choice to go through the initiation is only the beginning of your spiritual struggle - as my own baptism/confirmation was only the beginning of my struggle.

Again, just my thoughts FYI. Use them as information, not as a substitute for the truly good things your priest will give you.

From a Prayer Before Communion of Simeon the New Theologian:

"Having now recourse unto Thee with a contrite soul, I know,
O my Savior,that no man hath so sinned against Thee as I have,
no other man hath wrought deeds such as I have. But I know, also,
that neither the magnitude of the transgression, nor the multitude of the sins
can transcend the long suffering and
unutterable love toward mankind of my God."

We may feel our contrition to be imperfect; it probably is for
most of us. It doesn't matter. God knows how weak and foolish
we are and has compassion on us, His children. When the priest
absolves you, you are forgiven and there is the end of the matter.
For this we have Our Lord's word.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Edmac