Why do catholics confess their sins to a priest

The sacraments are not self-administered. A Personal Encounter with Christ. With faith we believe that when the penitent speaks to the priest, the penitent speaks to Christ, and when the priest speaks, the priest speaks on behalf of Christ.

A Community Representative. Our sins offend not only God, but the community as well. It is not only impractical, but often also ill-advised because of scandal or grave consequences, to admit our sins to others. The Personal Touch. Father Michael Van Sloun is pastor of St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Wayzata, Minn. Rather, Jesus Himself gave to the Apostles the authority to forgive sins. Reasons for going to Confession.

When a Catholic goes to Confession, they confess their sins to God. They tell God their sins but through the priest who is the instrument God has chosen. The priest acts in the person of Christ 1 Cor. Confession is primarily for confessing Mortal sins, extremely serious sins — Jn. There are seven main reasons why Jesus set up the Sacrament of Confession for a priest and desires for us to go:. It is because we are beings who are made up of body and soul. We are both spiritual and physical beings who need to see, hear, touch, and experience.

Therefore, God uses, as He does in everything, physical means to communicate to us spiritual and unseen realities. Building off the above reason, we can know all of our sins are forgiven. He took our sins and guilt. He suffered for us and died in our place so we could be set free! When we state our sins aloud to a priest, we hear what we need to work on. It is very humbling to go before another man. Pride is why the devil was kicked out of heaven, and since pride is the root of all sin, by going to another man, we humble ourselves, conquer our pride, and put ourselves back onto the path of relationship with God.

A person can get advice and help from the priest on how to avoid sin and do better. Also, if you find a priest you like and are comfortable with, you can talk to him often and he can help you through problems, struggles, and hardships in your spiritual or physical life.

You receive special graces and help from God in the Sacrament of Confession that give you the strength to do better in life, to be stronger against sin, and to follow Jesus more faithfully. In addition, when you receive your penance, it takes away temporal punishment which is the damage sin has done that needs to be atoned for. Our sins can be forgiven, but you need to make up for the temporal consequences.

You can go and apologize to him directly and be forgiven, and that is good. But it is not enough. The window is still broken and in need of fixing. So, real repentance confesses and makes right with God, but we also need to make up for wrong doing with our neighbor, ourselves, or others.

Additionally, we need to do our best to avoid doing it again. This is like going to Confession, not just saying sorry, but having a whole life changing experience through it and setting things right. I am sure you have also heard this question or maybe even asked it yourself. It is a fair question to ask. Of course, God is the only one who can and does forgive us our sins, but God in His plan for us from the beginning, chose to show His love, including His forgiving love, through the Church.

Here is a familiar parable, remember the healing of the paralytic by Jesus and the reaction of the crowd? Only God can forgive sins. This power to forgive sins Jesus passed on to the Apostles remember, we are an Apostolic Church.

If you hold them bound, they are held bound. Jesus intended this power to be exercised not only by the apostles, but also by their successors for the good of sinners. So the first reason why Catholics confess their sins to a priest is that God has chosen to express His forgiving love this way.