Dear Joseph:

You are wrong about what I might think. This issue is the most important issue in the universe as it effects your eternal soul. You will be prayed for by our special Spiritual Warfare Prayer Team. You will be on our permanent prayer list, which means that we will continue to pray for you for as long as we exist, or until the Second Coming, whichever comes first.

I praise God that you now understand and have repented of the sin of homosexual acts. But, you MUST bring this to the Sacrament of Confession. Until you do, you are not absolved of this sin and have mortal sin on your soul.

I understand the trepidation in confessing this, but there is nothing to fear. No priest will think less of you. In fact, it is just the opposite. Any priest will REJOICE that you have repented and have reconciled with God and His Church.

The Bible says that heaven rejoices and the joy among the angels when a sinner repents:

(Luke 15:7, 10) "...I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance...  Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." 

When the prodigal son left the father, he was like dead to the father. But, when he father saw his son in the distance returning home, the father rejoiced, and came out on the road to meet him with open arms. The Scriptures tells us in Luke 15:20-24 ~

But while he [the son] was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son." But the father said to his servants, "Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found."

My son, your heavenly Father is waiting for you to return to Him. When you go to the Sacrament of Confession your Father in heaven will say, "Let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." What a glorious day that will be. God loves you so much that He has sent His priests to you to receive the sanctifying grace of forgiveness and reconciliation through His Sacrament. Will you deprive the Father of the pleasure of seeing you come home? Do not let your pride, and that is what it is, pride, do not let your pride deprive you of the grace that your Father has waiting for you, the fatted calf and the feast that He has waiting for you.

Let me tell you a story.

I believe this story is about an experience of St. Teresa of Avila. An old nun in her convent died. All the sisters thought she would go directly to heaven because she was so saintly. One day St. Teresa was praying in the chapel when God allowed the old dead nun to appear to her in an apparition. The old nun seemed to be in pain. St. Teresa thought nothing of it as she assumed her old friend was in purgatory.

The old nun spoke and pleaded with St. Teresa to tell the sisters to not be embarrassed to confess any sin. She confessed to St. Teresa that she had refused to confess one embarrassing sin and died with that mortal sin on her soul. She was now in hell.

Heed the words of Jesus:

(Matt 5:29-30)  If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. 

Our Lady of Fatima said that more people go to hell for sins of the flesh than for any other sin.

Is it not better to cut out your pride and embarrassment and go to heaven than to hang on to your pride and go to hell?

Do not let your embarrassment cause you to lose your soul. GET TO CONFESSION!

Nevertheless, I understand the dilemma, thus I am going to give you some advice about how you can get to confession this very week.

1) What happened to you as a child is not your sin. You did nothing wrong. It is the people who hurt you that sinned. 

2) Remember that you do not have to see the priest face-to-face. Remain anonymous behind the screen when you confess.

3) You do not have to give details. Rather confess the homosexual acts, and all other sins you have done since your last confession, like a grocery list, details and the backstory behind the sins is not necessary and often is a way to try to diminish you sins or making excuses for them, which you should not do. It doesn't matter why you committed the sins, or what the backstory is. What matters is that you committed the sins, period. Unless the priest asks for details, leave out the details and backstory. Just list them one-by-one "as is".

4) If you do not want to confess at your local parish, then go across town to a parish where you will not be attending.

5) If needed, you can drive to another town and go to confession at a parish in a different town.

You now have ZERO excuse to not go to confession.  In Confession, which is like taking a shower to wash clean all the sin from your soul, we hesitate because we think the water is cold. It is not. Just jump into the shower and you will find it warm. When you come out of that shower (Confession) there will be such a feeling of cleanness, and such a weight will be lifted from you, that you will wonder why you ever hesitated. Get to Confession this week.

(1 John 1:9)  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We are praying for you.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary