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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Suffering and Graditude	Dian	Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Question: Thank you Bro Ignatius for your reply to my post in this forum dated 2/2/2014. and another in faith and spirituality forum on 2/24/14 where I asked about Bible scripture Mt. 12:43-45. First for explaining very clearly what confession should be... or not be. It is the clearest explanation I have read anywhere and I thank you; I think I can now approach confession in better way, with more understanding priests role and the focus. vs asking for spiritual direction at another time. please pray I do not cry when I go to confession! it is so disturbing and I think it is the devil just confusing and making havoc- I really do. and your insightful comments on Mt 12, a scripture I have felt drawn to and- depending on life circumstances would interpret it with those influences. but it makes complete sense how you explained it. I have felt harassed much since my return to the church, in various ways. before I returned to church, from time of being taken from the church until my return- I was also influenced and harassed but thought this was "just life". can not say I am not experiencing things still...and it often comes through another person and I now see it is not really that person- who is God's child too. or I ask...who is free from being used in this way- only the one who has died completely to Christ. so I am beginning understanding this now, I think.... confession to Jesus through a priest is really asking Christs light to shine upon that sin and when Christ shines his light on this confessed sin....it is remembered no more and this is what disables Satan from being able to harm you with it anymore. would you agree or expand? I pray for your comfort and strength Bro Ignatius and God bless you for your ministry and spiritual direction Blessings, Dian
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r), CCL, LTh, DD, LNDC Dear Dian: I praise God that you have been blessed by our apostolate. I thank you for telling me how our Q&As helped you. The experiences that you had or are having in this parish can be "just life." Demons often times are not the cause of problems but they love to hitchhike on problems that already exist. Human beings can be catty, gossipy, and downright mean all by ourselves without the devil's help. But, when the devil sees a negative situation going on he oftentimes likes to join in to make it worse than it has to be. Regardless of whether or not the problems are purely human in origin, demonic in origin, or a combination of both, our response must be the same. Ultimately, we are not fighting "against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph 6:12). Concerning Absolved Sin and the Devil: Once a sin is confessed and absolved that sin no longer exist in the universe and God no longer remembers it. As such, the devil no longer has access to that sin, he also cannot remember it. But, the devil is a crafty dude. He can make you think that he remembers the sin. He knows that you sin for we all sin, thus he can try to put a guilt trip on you without actually knowing the the specific sin. When he does that we need to remember that our sin was absolved, that it no longer exist in the universe. Therefore we must resist the temptation to feel guilty about it. This is one of the primary problems that we have in our lives — to continue to feel guilty about sins that have been confessed and absolved. Of course, we will feel remorseful about past sins because we are sorry that we committed them, and sorry that those sins may have effected others. But, we are never to feel guilty about sins that are absolved. Guilt is an emotion that leads us to contrition. If we hang onto guilt after confession and absolution the feeling of guilt is then disordered and is most likely an element of pride — the pride of not trusting God when he says he has forgiven us. Thus, we need to let go of the guilt and know that if the devil tries to tempt us with guilt after our sins have been absolved that he is just "whistling Dixie" and is full of hot air because we know the truth that our sins no longer exist. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary 　 For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Suffering and Graditude

Dian

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Question:

Thank you Bro Ignatius for your reply to my post in this forum dated 2/2/2014. and another in faith and spirituality forum on 2/24/14 where I asked about Bible scripture Mt. 12:43-45.

First for explaining very clearly what confession should be... or not be. It is the clearest explanation I have read anywhere and I thank you; I think I can now approach confession in better way, with more understanding priests role and the focus. vs asking for spiritual direction at another time. please pray I do not cry when I go to confession! it is so disturbing and I think it is the devil just confusing and making havoc- I really do.

and your insightful comments on Mt 12, a scripture I have felt drawn to and- depending on life circumstances would interpret it with those influences. but it makes complete sense how you explained it.

I have felt harassed much since my return to the church, in various ways. before I returned to church, from time of being taken from the church until my return- I was also influenced and harassed but thought this was "just life". can not say I am not experiencing things still...and it often comes through another person and I now see it is not really that person- who is God's child too. or I ask...who is free from being used in this way- only the one who has died completely to Christ. so I am beginning understanding this now, I think....

confession to Jesus through a priest is really asking Christs light to shine upon that sin and when Christ shines his light on this confessed sin....it is remembered no more and this is what disables Satan from being able to harm you with it anymore. would you agree or expand?

I pray for your comfort and strength Bro Ignatius and God bless you for your ministry and spiritual direction

Blessings, Dian

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r), CCL, LTh, DD, LNDC

Dear Dian:

I praise God that you have been blessed by our apostolate. I thank you for telling me how our Q&As helped you.

The experiences that you had or are having in this parish can be "just life." Demons often times are not the cause of problems but they love to hitchhike on problems that already exist. Human beings can be catty, gossipy, and downright mean all by ourselves without the devil's help. But, when the devil sees a negative situation going on he oftentimes likes to join in to make it worse than it has to be. Regardless of whether or not the problems are purely human in origin, demonic in origin, or a combination of both, our response must be the same. Ultimately, we are not fighting "against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph 6:12).

Concerning Absolved Sin and the Devil: Once a sin is confessed and absolved that sin no longer exist in the universe and God no longer remembers it. As such, the devil no longer has access to that sin, he also cannot remember it. But, the devil is a crafty dude. He can make you think that he remembers the sin. He knows that you sin for we all sin, thus he can try to put a guilt trip on you without actually knowing the the specific sin. When he does that we need to remember that our sin was absolved, that it no longer exist in the universe. Therefore we must resist the temptation to feel guilty about it.

This is one of the primary problems that we have in our lives — to continue to feel guilty about sins that have been confessed and absolved. Of course, we will feel remorseful about past sins because we are sorry that we committed them, and sorry that those sins may have effected others. But, we are never to feel guilty about sins that are absolved. Guilt is an emotion that leads us to contrition. If we hang onto guilt after confession and absolution the feeling of guilt is then disordered and is most likely an element of pride — the pride of not trusting God when he says he has forgiven us. Thus, we need to let go of the guilt and know that if the devil tries to tempt us with guilt after our sins have been absolved that he is just "whistling Dixie" and is full of hot air because we know the truth that our sins no longer exist.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.