These words of David (Ps. 50:5, DRB) are the words of a man wracked with guilt over a terrible transgression. They are followed by,: “And my sin is always before me.”
Recently while on vacation, I decided to visit the local (Novus Ordo) parish for confession. I knew I was taking my chances in a certain sense. I do believe the absolution (if spoken properly by the priest) would be valid; but the parish has a reputation for being a little off. It would be one thing if it was known to be ugly (a concrete box with felt banners) or irreverent (people routinely attend Mass in the worst beach attire). But this place is known to be downright goofy in a sense.
I encountered that goofiness within a minute of joining the confession line. I had arrive about twenty minutes early not knowing if there would be a long line. To my surprise, for a beach community, there were already about ten people waiting ahead of me. And then it happened. The priest emerged from a sacristy and walked around the corner, stopping to chat in full volume with everyone in the line. “Must be something big going on here!” he joked with the penitents. “I wonder if it involves me? Hahaha!”
So much for an anonymous confession…
Things only took a turn for the worse when it was my turn to enter the box.
I made a very standard confession. “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.” I stated my relative age and my state in life. Then I proceeded to list my sins. I concluded with: “For these and for all of my sins, especially my past sins of X, I am sorry.”
The priest immediately began to tell me that “past sins are already forgiven so you don’t need to ever think about them again.”
Wrong.
First of all, if a penitent feels the need to mention in passing that he still has sorrow for and would like additional sacramental grace to overcome a ruling passion, why would anyone thwart that?
Second, those sins may have been absolved in the confessional already by another priest; but that does not automatically remit my temporal punishment due for them.
In the end, I accepted my absolution and my penance which was to pray (randomly and indiscriminately) for someone who has wronged me. I drove back to our beach house offering a rosary for the priest.
Remember friends, it isn’t only the rubrics and prayers they changed. It was the faith.
Mary, Mother of Priests, pray for us!
Harvey Millican's Blog: Musings of a Trad Dad 