What do you receive in reconciliation?

Answer 1

To receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession for the older crowd), you must be a member of the Catholic Church and baptized. You must have made your first reconciliation and Holy Communion. If you are not, then you should contact a priest to speak with him. If you are and have not been in a while, then you just need to either show up during scheduled Confessions (usually on Saturday afternoon and some priests will hear confessions before or after daily Masses) or call the Office and make an appointment.

When you get to the confessional, you go in, you may either kneel down before the screen or go around and sit facing the priest - whichever is more comfortable for you. You then ask the priest to bless you and tell him how long it has been since your last confession. Then you say, "Since that time I accuse myself of ...." and list all your sins since your last confession. You need to tell him the number of times you have committed each sin, and if there were any circumstances affecting the sin or the gravity of it. For instance, if the priest does not know you, you should tell him: "I am a 35 year old man, married with four children" or whatever your particular circumstances are. For instance, if you confess that you have indulged in masturbation, your age and state in life are very important. Also, if you looked at porn, or something else, etc. You should mention things that are considered sins which the world does not consider sins: for instance, an abortion, a gay liaison, an attempted marriage outside the church, contraception use, etc. If you have done something that you don't know is a sin or not, just ask, priests are more than willing to help you out any way that they can. This is not the Inquisition, this is an heartfelt confession of a son to his father, asking for and seeking mercy.

When you are done, you may mention any very serious sins from your past life which are still causing you problems even if they are already forgiven and you haven't committed them since that time.

You then say, "for these and all the sins of my past life, I ask pardon of God, and absolution and penance from you, Father.

Father will answer any questions you have, and give you advice if he can, he will them impose a penance and ask you to recite an act of contrition, for instance:

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who are all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.

Father will then absolve you, if he can. Please note that for certain very serious sins, he may not be able to absolve you, but will have to refer the case to the Bishop. Also, if you have not indicated sincere sorrow AND sincere repentance (not want to repeat the sin, and firmly resolving to not do it again) he would not be able to absolve you. If you lie about any of these things, the absolution he gives you will be invalid, and you will have added the sin of sacrilege to your list. If you have any questions in this regard, be sure and ask them!

Then he will tell you to go in peace, and possibly give you a blessing, reply "Thanks be to God."

It is a good idea, once you have started, to go regularly, like every week or so. First of all, it will be much easy to remember your sins, secondly, the priest will get to know you and be able to help you out more with regular sins, and thirdly, you will start growing in grace and holiness, and be more pleasing to God.

Answer 2

In a sentence, Reconciliation would be this : I asked to see them again as I was hoping for a reconciliation.

reconciliation - the reestablishing of cordial relations

Answer 3

To receive the sacrament of reconciliation, commonly know as confession, you must be a validly baptized Catholic who has made your First Confession and First Holy Communion. Most cradle Catholics do this in the first or second grade, older converts make their first Confession usually in Lent, before the Easter Vigil, after they have been baptized.

You either need to go to the Church during regularly scheduled times for Confessions, or make an appointment with the priest. Some priests normally hear confessions before or after daily Masses.

You must have prepared before hand and prayed for true contrition. Then when it is your turn to go into the Confessional, you go in and either kneel down behind the screen or go around to sit and talk with the priest. Ask for his blessing, tell him how long it has been since your last confession, if you are unknown to the priest, tell him your general state in life, so that he can better judge your sins: "I am a thirty-five year old man who is married and has small children", would be a very different matter from "I am a thirteen year old boy who has not yet been confirmed" or "I am ninty-five year old man, a widower", etc. Then list your sins in kind and number. At the end also mention any additional serious sins from your past life, the effects of which you still may be dealing with, and any general tendencies you have; for instance:

"I also confess all the sins of my past life particularly presumption of God's mercy, obstinacy in sin, pride and selfishness, for these and for all those sins which I cannot now remember, I ask pardon of God, absolution, penance, and counsel from you, Father."

Father will then give you advice, impose a penance, and ask you to recite an Act of Contrition. Here is an example of an old standby:

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who are all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of They grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Father will then dismiss you with a blessing and tell you to go in peace, or words to that effect, reply, "Thanks be to God." and leave the confessional. Kneel down in the Church and say your penance.

It is a good idea to memorize an act of contrition, as above, so that you always have it ready whenever you need to go to confession. This will pay off when you are in a plane having problems, and there is a priest on board!

It is also a good idea to examine your conscience every night before you go to bed so that by the end of the week (or two) you already have a firm idea of what your sins are. You should never let more than two to three weeks - at the outside - go by without making a good confession. There is no other way to grow in the spiritual life, in holiness, or to make a good Holy Communion. Receiving Holy Communion in a state of venial sin is okay as long as you have made a worthy act of contrition before Mass, to receive Holy Communion while in a state of serious sin is a very grave matter called sacrilege and should be remedied immediately by a good confession. You never want to be in a state of serious sin, life is too short and hell is too immediate.

Answer 4

Reconciliation is often received in the months before receiving the first communion in the catholic church. For children, this is in the second grade.

Answer 5

What you will receive is the forgiveness of your sins that you have confessed.