Sunday 29 December 2013

Preparation for the Sacrament of Confession



Use these notes to help you make a full and frank Confession.....

1. Have you wilfully attended a Latin Mass (aka an EF Mass) since your last confession? If so, how many times?

2. Did you kneel to receive Holy Communion and did you refuse to receive in the hand?

3. Have you been guilty of humming or singing hymns such as 'Faith of Our Fathers' or any hymn in Latin?

4. If you have read the Catechism or any works of Michael Davies or Anne Roche Muggeridge, remember to tell the priest.

5. Have you kept a guard upon your lips? Have you avoided using words such as 'Purgatory' and 'Fatima'?

6. Did you recite the Rosary on any occasion?

7. Have you addressed Jesus as 'Our Blessed Lord' or 'Jesus Christ our Saviour' on occasion?

8. Did you attend Benediction too often and have you avoided the occasion of 'Forty Hours' devotion?

9. Are you addicted to plainchant?

10. Were there any occasions when you genuflected in front of a tabernacle?

 

10 comments:

  1. If you have offended...

    We can't ask you to say traddy prayers like "Our Father" and "Hail Mary" so your penance is to sing "Shine, Jesus, Shine!"

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  2. Did you go to confession?Did you go in a confessional box rather than a reconcilliation room? Were you actually given a penance?Did you go to confession this year? Did you call it confession rather than chat tea and bourbons in the presbytery? Did you call it a presbytery rather than the parish centre or Father's house? Did you call the Priest Father, rather than Bob? Did you call the Priest a Priest rather than parish Administrator?

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    1. Mummy....all excellent points, thank you and a happy new year to you in Stackshire!"

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  3. Surely you must confess if you went to Holy Mass dressed in your Sunday finest instead a Hawaiian shirt and shorts that is so common here in Southern California.

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  4. I was very impressed when, earlier this year, I saw signs in St Peter's Basilica advertising "the Sacrament of Penance". Yes, "penance"!

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  5. Oh dear, if one were to take these practices as being hallmarks of Catholicity, many would fail on nos. 1-3, 5, 8-10.

    Eastern Rite Catholics would NEVER consider kneeling to receive Communion; of course, no one would receive in the hand, as one always - always - receives both Christ's Body and Blood. There's no singing Latin, attending Benediction (doesn't exist in the Eastern churches), genuflecting (we prefer the much more ancient bow) or particular concern about Fatima (which is not a required belief anyway).

    While Eastern Rite Catholics believe in what Latin Catholics refer to as 'Purgatory', it is not a word that is used. The East has a much more positive view of the transition from death to Heaven, which is called "the Final Theosis". This refers to the process of deification by which the remnants of our humanity are transformed, and we come to share in the divine life of the Holy Trinity. It is not primarily an experience of suffering, which seems to be the understanding in the West. The Eastern Fathers described the Final Theosis as being a journey which, while entailing purification, is mostly an experience of accepting that we are - and have always been - loved unconditionally, by God. It is love, not suffering, which purifies and this is an important distinction.

    Eastern Rite Catholics may be only some 1%, but make up 22 of the 23 churches in communion with the Bishop of Rome - and ERC fasting practices make Latins look like wimps!

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    1. Sigh....Parepidemos, I feel I must come out and tell you that I am a Catholic, a follower of the Roman Rite if you will.
      I admire ERCs greatly but we are at odds over many things, many of them inconsequential but, Purgatory, is not up for debate; it is as we believe, a means of reparation for our sins committed on earth, in no way is it a revelation caused through love. Sorry.
      And, I am sure your fasting practices would put a Muslim to shame, let alone us Catholics. I wish you well. I wish you and yours a happy and holy New Year.

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  6. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Guilty on all accounts except the first (last old rite Mass was on Sunday but went to confession on Tuesday).

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  7. Should I ask my bishop to lift any ecclesiastical sanctions I may have incurred for having my son baptised in the old rite, ignoring any dull preparation classes run by seeing hippies that might exist or can any priest absolve something so heinous?

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