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What Happens During the Sacrament of Reconciliation?

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Welcome to the second installment of our series on the Sacrament of Confession. You can find our first post in the series here . The Sacrament of Reconciliation and forgiveness of sins involves 4 main parts: 1.             Contrition For you to be forgiven, you must have a genuine sorrow for having offended God and is the most important act of the penitent. Forgiveness of sin is not possible if you don’t have the sorrow and firm resolve not to repeat the sin.   It means that you must be ready to turn away from evil and turn to God and includes the resolve to avoid those sins in the future. The sins may be venial or mortal. “Perfect contrition” is the Contrition that arises from the love of God above everything else. This loving sorrow remits both mortal and venial sins as long as you resolve to confess them as quickly as possible. “Imperfect contrition” is when other motives such as the fear or damnation and the ugliness of seen bring penitents to confession, but it is

How Do Catholics Experience the Sacrament of Reconciliation?

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Welcome to the first post in a series that will delve deep into the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  In case you aren't familiar, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is sometimes referred to as the Sacrament of Penance or as just plain Confession. The different labels provide some insight to the process and the meaning of this wonderful Sacrament. Reconciliation involves, a Catholic priest and a Catholic lay person who has received the Sacrament of Confession. The lay person confesses his or her sins to a priest in the spirit of genuine repentance and through God’s Grace receives forgiveness. The priest represents Christ who uses him as a vessel to forgive sins when the words of absolution are spoken. So, how does a Catholic experience the Sacrament of Reconciliation? Reconciliation can be experienced in three distinct ways: -               Individual reconciliation -               Communal celebration with the opportunity for individual Confession -