Why are we scared to confess?

"Forgive me father for I have sinned... my last confession was..."

And I dread those words in my thoughts so it never reached my mouth. I'm not really religious, but I like to call my self spiritual...at some point.

Last leap day, Feb 29 I went to church straight from my Zumba Class and for the prayed. I asked for forgiveness because Lord knows how many wrong things I’ve done and how many bad decisions I made that I’m not proud of.

Why are we scared to confess? 

Source

Because we are all scared to be judged.

What could be worse than a priest saying: You’re going to rot in hell, you will never be forgiven. It’s like having a doctor say, you only have a week to live.

It’s a good thing I have a classmate (who is a Polish priest but on student visa in the Philippines) who I randomly asked about forgiveness on our class’ last day of classes. I asked him if God really forgives no matter how big and how major my sins are.

He said yes. But I must really be “in condition” to receive forgiveness, because otherwise it will happen again. The test of condition to receive forgiveness lies on the sincerity of the person who is confessing and whether we believe it or not, they can tell.

I asked him if I can just go straight to God to confess? He said that the pupose of the priest is to be the intercessor, the prayer warrior,  to help you “get there”.

I also learned that certain cases/sins needs to be escalated to the Bishop, that only the Bishop can “endorse” for forgiveness. And the laws of order in granting differs from one country to another, and it differs also in location of the nearest church of the community to the other.

I asked him some other personal stuff and I felt comfortable because I was talking to him not as a priest but as a “classmate” who’s wearing jeans and with a book on one hand. It’s comforting to know that God’s got my back, have never forsaken me, no matter how bad I’ve been. 

One of these days I'm going to muster up my guts and go to that tiny booth and let it all out and do it the right way.