Transcript

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women.

Blessed art thou among women.

Blessed art thou, Jesus.

Blessed art thou, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God.

Holy Mary, Mother of God.

Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle within us the fire of Your divine love.

Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created.

Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created.

Let us pray.

Oh God, that did instruct the hearts of your faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, granted by the same Spirit, may we be truly wise and they'll rejoice in His constellation, through the same Christ, our Lord.

In the same Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Our Lady of the Cenacle.

Pray for us.

St. Joseph.

Pray for us.

St. Joseph.

Pray for us.

Father Lanteri.

Pray for us.

Fr. Ignatius.

Pray for us.

St. John Bosco.

Pray for us.

St. John Vianney.

Pray for us.

St., uh, Padre Pio.

Pray for us.

All God's angels and saints.

Pray for us.

Pray for us.

Oh, good afternoon.

Happy Ascension Day, right?

Yes, Father.

Beautiful day, isn't it?

Yeah.

Think about Jesus who went to Heaven to prepare a place for us.

That's our prayer when we pray the rosary, right?

He left this Earth to prepare a place for us in Heaven.

Um, so I'd like to start off this, uh, this session with a personal anecdote.

I think this will kind of set the stage.

Uh, some of you have children, right?

Some of you even have teenagers, huh?

Remember those years when we were teenagers, those, those rebellious years?

So, um, my, my, uh, my parents, uh, had ni- nine children, so a pretty big family, especially for an American family, right?

And, uh, so my parents had, uh, they were married, uh, June 26, '54.

My brother was born March, March 27, '55, so nine months and one day, no?

And I'm an Irish twin.

I think you know what that is, right?

So I'm born within that year.

So I'm the same age as my brother, once I hit, hit the end of February.

Uh, by the way, um, next year I'll be 15.

I'm sorry, 16.

Simon, I, I was celebrating my quinceañera for four years.

'Cause I was, I was born a leap year, so you're born a leap year, you're born every celebrate your birthday every four years, you know.

So the next, you're gonna be sweet 16, with, with a Mexican, this is a, this is a quinceañera, I meant for four years, huh?

So my parents had boy, and boy, and boy, and boy, and girl, and her name is Victoria.

Yeah.

Her name is Victoria Anne.

They finally had, had their first, first girl, you know.

And when she was about 15, she went through a stage of rebellion as, as most did in the '70s and '80s, even more so now, right?

Now they're more rebellious than maybe, maybe 50 years ago.

And her rebellion manifested itself in, um, the sense that she, uh, she'd go to mass because no one in the Broome family could ever live in our house if we didn't go to mass.

That was the rule with my dad, you know.

No baloney with, with my, with, with, with mom and dad.

That was the rule, whether you like it or not.

If not, you're out.

There's a gift card from McDonald's.

You're out the door within 24 hours, okay?

Uh, but she wouldn't go to confession and my parents couldn't force her to go to confession.

So, uh, and my mom is a real trooper.

When my mom wants something, she'll usually get it done, by hook or crook, or by prayer and penance, okay?

So after probably close to seven or eight months, my sister came and said to my mom, I will go to confession.

My mom said, Praise the Lord.

My sister said, But under one condition.

So, one condition is just, I don't wanna go face-to-face.

Because the pastor was a friend of the family and she just wanted the, the anonymous character.

My mom said, Fine, you know, Vatican II allows you to go behind the screen and go face-to-face.

So the day arrived, th- the, the fatal day arrived, I can use that expression.

I said the day of doom, but the fatal day arrived.

And my sister got enough, uh, gumption and courage to go into the confessional and she hid behind the wall.

And she said this, Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.

My last confession was eight months ago.

And the, and Father goes after this, Oh, hi Vicky.

Hi, Vicky.

No, there was no bad will in his, he's just a very friendly kind of a father, grandfather-like priest, and he just, he, he, he knew our family.

He knew the voice of my sister, you know?

Hi, Vicky.

And I tell that story because often before ma- major triumphs, the devil tries to prevent us from doing good.

The devil intervenes, and he fills us with a lot of fear and a lot of, um, tension, a lot of anxiety.

So, in other words, he turns a molehill into a mountain.

You ever hear that expression?

Or miguel de montaña if you speak Spanish, eh?

He'll, um, make something which is relatively simple into something overly complicated.

That's when he complicates our life.

So, this topic today is we're gonna be preparing you to make a general confession.

General confession means a confession of your whole life.

I'm looking, some of your hair just turned gray when I said that.

Some even white, you know?

Uh, it's not as bad as you think.

On the contrary, making a general confession is a huge blessing.

When I say general, I don't mean abstract, abstruse, or nebulous, but rather general confession means a confession of your whole life, get it all out.

Get it all out.

Okay.

Uh, so let's, let's explain, um, the reasons why and how to do it.

Why should we make a general confession?

Do you want to come in?

I've been driving for an hour, Father, so my legs are hurting.

So I'd rather stand if that's okay.

Oh, okay.

Thank you, though, I appreciate it.

Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, right?

I've said that on Instagram.

Oh, good.

It's a good one.

It's a good one.

It's e- it's a good one, right?

Yeah, really good.

Okay.

Uh, so I'll give you the reasons why it's a good idea to make the general confession.

First is because Saint Ignatius made it, and he said we should do it.

I think that's, that's probably the best reason.

Saint Ignatius is a saint.

He's the one that gave us this program.

I didn't.

I, I created my own program, which is a spin-off of Annotation 19.

But if Saint Ignatius says we should make the general confession, I think we should follow the saints, right?

And he made a general confession, you remember, in, in Montserrat.

It took him in between four and five days.

It's not gonna take you five days to make this, okay?

Otherwise, I'm gonna come out with white hair or bald, you know?

I mean, my dad used to uh, he was a jack of all trades and a master of many, I would say.

He, he, he basically did everything.

He even lead he even learned how to cut our hair.

But when he started off, he was kind of an amateur.

You know, he said, The worst haircut in the world can be remedied in four or five weeks.

You know?

Yeah, I know there's a there was a delayed reaction in laughing at that day behind.

Another reason why is, uh, Saint Ignatius says, You make a general confession that cleanses your soul so you can make better communions.

That's important, isn't it?

Make more fervent communions, because the more clean the soul, the more clean the interior window of your soul, the more abundant will be the light of God's graces as Christ beams through the interior window of your soul.

Guys, I'm speaking like a poet now.

Okay?

Mm-hmm.

Your soul is like a windowpane.

You cleanse it not with Windex, but with the blood of Christ.

Christ, the Son of God breaks through that interior wi- window and he fills you with his love.

Amen?

Amen.

Now and then I'll b- break out in some poetic expressions with your permission, okay?

But our soul, the interior castle, trees of apple.

The more cleansed it is, the more, the more joyful God comes to live within the depths of our soul.

Another reason why is that growing in humility and self-knowledge.

Go to confession, it takes humility.

You go to confession also you grow in, in knowledge of yourself.

There's a poet who would say, Every man is an, an enigma, a mystery unto himself, you know?

And as John Paul II says, Christ reveals us to ourselves, especially in the sacraments.

He reveals us to ourselves who we really are.

Another reason is this Have you ever been afraid and ashamed in your life?

Yes.

Remember Adam and Eve, they committed original sin, and because of shame, they actually hid themself, right?

They hid themself in the garden.

They didn't want God to, uh, to find them.

There are certain sins in our lives that are very embarrassing.

Embarrassing.

They, they, they cause, uh, maybe a lot of shame.

And often when you get shame, you get fear.

Shame and fear, sometimes they work together.

Fear and shame, they're kind of like twin sisters, no?

So, if it is such that there is some sin that we didn't confess because of fear or shame, what type of confession is that?

Sacrilegious.

What's that?

Sacrilegious.

Yeah?

Y- y- say it again.

Sacrilegious.

Sacrilegious is the is the word, yeah.

Sacrilegious means you're when you're, you're making a bad confession.

No, I don't wanna uh, I, I, I don't wanna cause scrupulosity, or, um I don't wanna, um, cause you a conflict of consciousness if this is not your case.

But it could be.

So, God sent you here to do these exercises to make this general Confession.

And be honest, there are some sins that are very embarrassing, especially against the sixth and ninth Commandment.

You know, maybe, maybe a, a homosexual act, maybe an act of masturbation, may- maybe looking at pornography, uh, maybe stealing something, uh, maybe adultery, hm?

Maybe adulterous thoughts.

I think we gotta be dead honest there are certain sins that are very embarrassing, and they're shameful.

And, uh, that could cause us problems, and not to be willing to open up and tell that sin.

If that's done, what type of Comm- what type of Communions are we receiving?

Yeah.

Sacrilegious.

Same thing, right?

So, there's a connection between a sacrilegious Confession and sacrilegious- sacrilegious Communion.

Or what happen if you receive Confirmation in that state?

Well, you got, you gotta you gotta triple there, huh?

I don't wanna go into what a cycle is.

In baseball, that's a single, double, triple or home run.

I mean, you could get actually You get a, you get a cy- a, a, a moral cycle too, huh?

It's very easy for us to lie to ourselves and to rationalize.

The ability to rationalize, to justify, to intellectualize, the human person is very capable of doing that.

Look, I'll give you an example.

Wh- when we commit a sin, often what we hear is, Well, everyone else does it.

He deserved it.

It's really not that bad, right?

Hello?

No.

Hello?

No.

Yeah, that's the Devil.

The Devil.

Well, no one's perfect.

He deserves it.

No one's perfect.

That might seem in comparison to what they're doing there in Hollywood, it's a peccadillo.

It's barely anything.

The Devil is very crafty.

Those are the words of the Devil.

I mean, I wasn't born yesterday.

I mean, I s- the other a week ago, we celebrated my 33rd anniversary, so I have as a priest, I have a little bit of experience, no?

Maybe or probably three-quarters of a million Confessions.

That's a lot, right?

So, I'm not the I'm not the new guy on the block.

And as Oblates, my founders said, We should die in the pulpit or the confessional.

Uh, yesterday, I probably heard at least 150 Confessions just yesterday.

It's a lot, isn't it?

Somebody had asked me, How could a priest hear 150 Confessions in one day?

Can I respond to that?

You gotta sit in the confessional.

Right, Eric?

It has to be done that way.

Yeah.

Well, one, as I heard the Confessions of the, the kids that are making their First Communion.

They had at least 100 of them, and each one was about two minutes, so that would be most of them.

But then I was there from 4:30 to 8:30, uh, hearing Confessions as always, no?

So, um And happy, you know?

Mm.

I went to bed half dead, but happy, you know, to be able to be a, uh, uh, to, uh, uh, uh, an instrument to bring souls to God.

I mean As a priest, it's the most demanding probably, but it's the most necessary.

After, after Mass, I would say, is the most important thing as a priest.

For our founder said, We should die in the pulpit or the confessional.So one day if you come in behind the screen, you don't hear any response after confession- you'll know I'm a very good Oblate priest, huh?

My father would be proud of me, huh?

.

Die in the pulpit or the confessional.

Okay, let me give you another reason, another reason is, um, I've said this over the past 10 years, and I think that there should be, uh, there should be a- a- a book, not that the book has to be very long, a book written on this topic that I'm gonna explain to you right now.

And what I'm gonna tell you right now is one of the principle reasons why marriages are falling apart among Catholics, because the divorce rate among the Catholics and non-Catholics is about the same.

It shouldn't be that way though, 'cause we got, we have the sacrament of matrimony.

I think it's in between 50 and 60% of marriages end up in divorce now in the United States.

About that, one out of every two, a little bit, and it go, it's- it's not diminishing, it's actually going down, going up rather.

Okay, so let me, let me paint the scenario.

Okay, let's say that, uh, uh, John and, John and Susie wanna get married.

They've been, um, dating for a couple years.

They're both Catholics, not the best of Catholic, but they're Catholics.

They got the wedding date.

And, uh, okay, as is most common today, uh, they could not control their passions and had relations before they got married, which is par for the course today.

Now, it's not the way it should be, but that's life, you know?

So, uh, what are most couples thinking about the week or weeks or month before they get married?

Be honest.

The wedding.

The reception.

The wedding, the reception, the party-

The dress.

uh, the dress, uh, the-

La relatives.

relatives coming in from Manila.

Okay.

Or maybe Cebu.

.

Or maybe La Ciudad de Mexico, okay?

They're all thinking, thinking about these transcendentally important aspects, right?

Um, also should- should they throw rice or bubble stuff, you know, those bubble stuff.

.

What color, what color, uh, are we gonna have chocolate cake or carrot cake?

You know, those are really important things, right?

.

A matter of life and death, right?

So you're- you're, they're thinking about this, and the wedding arrives, and they never went to confession before they got married.

So what's gonna happen on the, uh, what's gonna happen on their da- their- their wedding day?

Can you get it right?

.

You're- you're- you're half right.

A double sacrilege, right?

Why double?

Okay.

Communion as well as the sacrament of marriage, so it's actually double sacra- sacrilege on the day of your wedding.

So they have, the, ever since they're married, they're really not They- they're never at peace.

They're fighting.

First kid comes along, and then another one comes along, and they're fighting and they're bickering.

It's getting worse and worse.

And, uh, after eight years, there's a real blow up and they-

They break up.

and they separate.

Is that a big yes?

They never receive the sacramental grace of marriage.

Hello?

Anyone at home?

Is that true?

I got a question.

Would that be a case of anomaly if you it doesn't go through-

Not- not- not really.

Okay.

It's not-

Not- not- not- not really.

No.

Okay, okay, here's a theological question.

I'm gonna be starting a course on theology next Sunday if you'd like to come.

Uh, what would How Could they activate the sacrament so that it's operative?

How?

By saying things.

N-

Confession.

Shit, they have to go to confession.

Soon as they make a confession then the grace of sacrament of marriage becomes operative.

I just have a question.

But- but unless you, unless you do these exercises, you're never gonna be aware of that, and you're gonna be living with a constant confusion, sadness, depression, anger, bitterness.

'Cause, you- you- you know me, I've got tons of defects but no- no one has ever said I'm not clear.

uh, in 33 years.

I'm very, very clear.

Isn't that true?

Yes.

Uh, I'm- I'm blunt and to the point, no?

Uh, some people feel maybe offended by that, but l- uh, most people really like it because you know you're hearing the truth.

That's why I think it's a good idea to, to write a theological treatise on this, maybe 25, 30 pages, 'cause this, I really believe is one of the principal reasons why Catholic marriages in the United States and the Philippines and Mexico are falling apart right and left.

As we say in New York, most marriages stink to high heaven.

They stink.

You like that word stink?

It's a good word.

Uh, they're lousy.

They're bad marriages, because as Fulton Sheen says, It takes three to get married.

How is my wife in Christ?

Christ is not in that marriage if you're living in mortal sin, right?

Now, thi- this, this will not happen, this will not happen to, uh-

No.

this will not happen as often in this parish.

Do you know why?

They have good communication.

they have good communication.

They help each other.

Because-

On the cross.

uh, uh, the other priests do weddings, but I do, like, uh, I, I do about 75% of the weddings.

I, I do the weddings, and, um, I, I think it's great.

But, uh, I do the weddings, but I have what is called mentoring couples, Spanish padrinos espirituales.

Mentoring couples, and once you get married, I give you a mentoring couple that're gonna be working with you every week for a year.

Oh.

Oh.

Okay?

Or, or, or at least six months, depends on if you'll, if- the couple wants to get married in six months, okay, six months.

But if they're gonna get married in a year, they'll have a mentoring couple working with them every week for a year.

That means in more than 50 talks they will have from mentoring couple.

When I was living here in the old church, there was one of our Hispanics who was sitting down preparing a couple, and the kid that's going, so not the kid.

The young man that's gonna be married was in my Confirmation class about 20 years ago.

I know him very well, no?

Is that one-on-one or a group session?

It's one, it's like, uh, you got a couple like you and your wife would sit down with this young couple, and you would pray with them.

You, uh, you would pray with them first.

Then I give you a basic Catechism because today barely anyone knows their Catechism.

Okay?

For example, uh, next week I'll be starting giving a course on theology and have decided the first 50 minutes is just gonna go through vocabulary.

Uh, lady, uh, most people don't even know what the word theology means, much less eschatology or ecclesiology.

They don't even know what the word is.

So part of, um, part of learning thing is you have to learn the vocabulary.

I tell you something that may, that, that, that may be somewhat funny.

Uh, is a few years ago I was reading a very scholarly, uh, treatise.

And I ha- I have a, I have a degree in English literature from Villanova, so I'm pretty good in English.

I couldn't understand half of the words of the article.

You know who wrote the article?

Dr. Michael Broome.

Know who he is?

Uh, your father?

Not my father, but my older brother.

Oh.

And he was writing a very detailed treatise on back surgery, and he's using these words, I've never even seen these words before.

Why?

Because in medicine you have a specific language that you don't If I were to start to use theological words to Confirmation kids, what language is Father Broome speaking?

So, uh, the point is that in, um, in, uh, with, with the couples you gotta start by giving them the basic Catechism because they don't know anything, most.

Father Bennett Groeschel said they don't know the difference between a sacrament and a bicycle pump.

Okay?

Is there a difference or are they the same?

No.

In other words, that's, that's New York sarcasm for they don't know anything.

Hmm.

'Cause there's a, a, a sacrament and a bicycle pump, they are different, aren't they?

Californian pick up new New Jersey humor.

And then we give them a, uh, a primer on marriage, and then the couple prepares them to make a general confession.

So all those who are gonna get married have to make a general confession.

If they don't make the general confession, I don't wanna marry them.

So I don't wanna be, I don't wanna be instrumental in them starting off on the wrong foot.

Since this is about probably the only parish in LA that has this, I create programs, pastoral programs, and my programs are always the most demanding in LA.

He's known as the tough priest.

Well, yeah.

Yeah.

Why?

Because I don't believe in, um, insulting your intelligence.

Why should I promote mediocrity?

That's an insult .

right?

That's an insult, you people.

I believe as an athlete, raise the bar.

This program is tough, right?

This is the toughest program you've ever made in your life, right?

And a lot of people bail out because it's too tough.

Should I lower the bar?

No.

Should I say, Okay, starting tomorrow, just do eight minutes of meditation when you feel like it, okay?

Should I say that, Mary?

Eric?

No.

No.

Do you give my, do you give th- your stamp of approval?

No.

No.

No.

Up it to, to, uh, to an hour and 10 minutes, right?

Let's keep, let's keep lo- raising the bar.

You're called to become great saints.

You are.

And no one challenges you, you're gonna be living a life of mediocri- mediocrity and probably die, you'll make it, but you're gonna hit 500 years in purgatory, no?

Maybe more, no?

Maybe 1,000, no?

I'm pretty good.

Let's raise it high.

Let's work hard in this life and rest forever in heaven, right?

That's right.

Amen.

Amen?

Amen.

Let's work hard now, we can rest forever in heaven.

Life is short, okay?

La vida es dura, pero dura poco, como dicen los hispanos, huh?

Life is short, but it's, life is tough, but it's, it's very short, right?

So, I, I really, uh, the, uh, people come to the exercise, and there's, it's a real blessing because a lot of us have a lot of, kinda, trash, trash, basura, that is still in the basements of our hearts.

You gotta get it out.

You gotta get it out.

They might call it moral cholesterol in our veins, huh?

Hey, there's a good one, huh?

Moral cholesterol in our interior veins.

You gotta get it out.

Otherwise, you're gonna get a spiritual heart attack, huh?

Get it out.

Maybe some of you moms have used Drano to unclog the pipes, huh?

Have any of you heard of Drano?

Yeah.

I'm gonna put that in because it's- it's a lot of dregs just blocking the sewage system, hmm, hmm?

Gotta do that spiritually.

Gotta do it spiritually.

Got cancer?

Get it out before it kills you, huh?

You need to get it out.

The cancer's gonna kill you.

Sin is spiritual cancer.

You wanna, wou- be walking the street like a leper?

Sin is leprosy.

Let's cleanse it.

Let's get it out.

And so hopefully I've given you reasons why it should be done, and hopefully you'll all promote the general confession.

Did you ever read the life of Vincent de Paul?

Uh, uh.

I love the lives of the saints.

You know, um, I don't know if you've ever read his life, Eric or Ed or Mary, but there's one, there was one, um, little episode in his life that is re- re- really kinda shocked me.

You've probably heard of Vincent de Paul.

He worked with the, he worked with the poor, but he would go off to the rural areas, like in the islands in the Philippines or Los Compe- Los Campos in Mexico, and he would preach to the poor people, like Saint Alphonsus, who brought the Redemptorists to the Philippines.

He preached to the poor people and, but this is what he noticed.

He made this comment that these poor people- were making bad confessions, and that kind of floored him.

And he's like, If you're making bad confessions, they're gonna go, they're gonna go to hell.

And so he formed what was called, uh, Mission Socie- SVD, Society of Vincent de Paul.

He formed a group of priests, like Anthony Mary Claret, to help the poor and to teach people how to make good confessions.

So he was a s- he was a real promoter of general confessions, Vincent de Paul.

Who else did that?

John Bosco.

John Bosco was very strong on the general confession.

So there's a whole group of saints, and I feel myself more and more called to promote general confession.

You know, in lent, uh, in lent, um, I was in Texas, in Houston, and I was in Vero Beach which is close to Orlando, Florida.

And I was there giving, uh, a Lenten mission.

You know what the whole focus of my Lenten mission was?

Preparing the people to make a general confession.

That was the whole focus of those four day Texas, five days.

Vero Beach was, like, three and a half, four days.

The all, all of my talks was in preparing these people to make a general confession.

They didn't know it when I arr- they did not, they didn't know it when I arrived, otherwise they probably wouldn't have invited me, no?

But after their, after they finished, they were so happy.

They were so happy.

Well, I think it was the second day, the second day, but you have to kind of warm them up.

The second day in, um, in Houston, I got up, like, at 4:00 and went to bed about 10:00.

Uh, I probably heard nine, 10 hours of confessions.

Had to give, you know, three-hour talks, no, but all the free time, uh, I, I didn't have enough time.

You say, What a blessing not to be married, because, uh, uh, if you're ever married as a priest, When are you gonna come for lunch?Well, I'll come at 10 o'clock in the evening.

What about, wha- what about, what about your real lunch?

That's the only thing I'm gonna be eating until 10 o'clock, you know?

Just, just give me some coffee though, okay?

So it was almost like one of those days where just, just in the confessional until I basically dropped dead at 10 o'clock in the evening, you know?

But happy.

Seeing these souls coming back to God.

They never made a maybe they, maybe, maybe they never made a really well-prepared confession their whole life, you know?

And the beauty is this.

Uh, it doesn't depend so much on me.

As long as I can lift up my hand and I can say the words of absolution, you're forgiven.

That's the beauty.

Okay, well, you know, priest giving you lot- a lot of good advice and- giving you a pep talk, uh, fine.

But you know, who if you don't get the advice and the pep talk, you're, you, you have the words of absolution, you're still forgiven.

I like that.

And this is, uh Scott Hahn once said, The beauty of the Catholic faith is not like the Pentecostals.

It doesn't depend on feelings.

It de- it depends upon faith in Christ and the power of the sacraments.

The sacraments work in and of themselves, if you open up to the sacrament.

I could be half dead and I've got lang- laryngitis, I could barely speak, Hey, my friends, I say, I now absolve you of your sins in the name of the Father, and the Son, the You're forgiven.

Irrespective of, you know, what happened before that, you know?

Isn't that a blessing?

Yes.

Yes.

That's a huge blessing.

Huge blessing.

Huge blessing, right?

Okay, so, uh, how are you gonna make this general confession?

Let me give you let's go from theory to practice now.

Uh, number one.

Those who have never made the general confession, we want all of you to sign up.

Uh, half of you have done the general confession, but those who have not, sign up.

There'll be a shi- sign-up sheet after.

You'll be confessing either Friday or Saturday this week.

You got a good five days m- to prepare for it.

Number two is, give yourself the better the preparation, the more abundant the graces.

So I would suggest that you give yourself a whole morning or a whole afternoon, uh, with calmness and silence and prayer.

This is a spiritual exercise.

But usually, for most people, it takes four hours to prepare.

Sometimes more.

So some people have said, Father, it took me two weeks, you know?

I've been preparing for, for two weeks, right?

Give yourself, give yourself a block of time where you're not gonna be disturbed.

You're not gonna be disturbed.

Okay?

So make sure that your husband's not sneezing when you're oh God.

Okay.

Like that was a good one.

You got good lungs.

So, uh, make sure that you prepare yourself well.

Give yourself a whole morning.

Or, if you don't have time in the morning, give yourself the afternoon.

So the better the, the, the this could be the most powerful spiritual experience in your life.

And beg the Lord for the grace to really do it well.

Now, where are you gonna do it?

Uh, probably best in the quiet of your room.

Or you could do it in front of the Blessed Sacrament, if you like.

But you don't wanna be, you know, if you have your phone, radio, TV or, uh if there's noise, you're not gonna, you're not gonna be able to do it.

Because the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit works when there's silence.

There's a lot of noise, you know, you, you can't do it, you know?

You have to have silence.

God speaks in silence.

So then start, as we've mentioned before, start by praying to Mary.

When you speak it.

And then pray to the Holy Spirit, because you're gonna be making it right before Pentecost.

What a perfect time, which is the birthday of the Church.

Beautiful.

You're gonna be born again for your, with your perfect timing, right?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So pray to Mary and pray to the Holy Spirit.

And then, we're gonna be giving you a little booklet.

This is the booklet we're gonna be giving to you.

I've written another one which is better than this, but it hasn't been approved yet.

Uh, so, uh, you'll be using this.

This is pretty darn good.

My, mine is a little bit more mo- modern and it's m- mine is 25 pages, which is pretty long, you know?

But once it's approved, we'll start to give it out and see how I think it'll sell like pan- like, like hotcakes, you know?

But it's gotta maybe be approved by the, uh, the authorities of the archdiocese before I can start to promote it.

But I, uh, I think, uh, it was pretty done, pretty well done.

But this is good.

Father Altier from Minnesota.So read through the introduction, um, the Loss of the Sense of Sin.

I said the, The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.

There you have it.

Father Altieri is once again quoting Pope Pius XII.

Then you read through it.

Okay, now, uh, I, I don't remember if I mentioned this because I have a lot of classes, but, uh, you have to know what a mortal sin is, right?

Un pecado mortal, if you speak a bit of Spanish.

You have to know what a mortal sin is.

And before I forget, okay, this general confession, you can't make it if you don't write out your sins.

Was that your question?

Yes.

You gotta write 'em out.

I can't remember.

Otherwise, do any of you ever suffer from senior moments?

Ever happen?

I don't think so.

I can't remember.

You can't remember.

How about a good one, huh?

We all have moments where we have a memory blank, especially when we get n- we get nervous and you don't confess it, and then you leave, and then, Oh, I forgot to confess the most important thing.

Let me get in there.

And you got 10 people on line.

No, hit the line, pal.

Hit the line.

So write, write out your sins.

But don't put your notebook on the kitchen table.

It's called top secret, right?

I think the kids would love it.

Oh.

Top secret.

What if you've already done it in a home confession?

I don't know.

Have you done it here or another place?

Another place.

Uh, do it here.

Okay.

Yeah, sign up.

Yeah.

So, okay, then let, let's go through the steps.

You want to make sure you write it out.

Then I mentioned what a, what a mortal sin is.

Now, if you're, if you're about my age or older, you were taught what a j- what a mortal sin is.

But the younger generation, like these younger, these, this young whip- I shouldn't say whipper-snappers.

But this younger generation, you don't know what a mortal sin is, I doubt.

But, uh, you who were brought up and raised with the Baltimore Catechism, some of you had that.

Yeah.

Remember that?

We learned it.

Oh, yeah.

And if you-

I think we did catechism every year, not just for Sabbath.

Yes.

Yeah, CCD.

Well, the, the Dominican nuns they had in New York, I mean, they taught that along with my mother, is that a mortal sin has three conditions.

And if you, if you know it, thanks be to God.

But most of you probably don't know, try to memorize this.

And I feel if you don't know this, you're, you're al- you're always gonna be living with a little bit of doubt and turmoil.

Is that a mortal sin I did or not?

Can I receive communion?

I'm not sure.

You're always gonna be li- living with a little bit or you're gonna be living in a state of doubt.

And that wreaks havoc in your soul if you're always living with doubt and confusion.

Okay, the conditions would be grave matter, number one, grave matter.

Number two would be full knowledge.

Number three would be full consent of the will.

You got that?

Grave matter, full knowledge, full consent of the will.

W- I think I was in second grade, the Dominican nuns taught I never forgot that.

It just was engraved in my memory, probably because God wanted me to become a priest.

But it just, it sunk in there, no?

No, that, that was probably 1960, '63, or something like that.

I don't remember what, you know, how many home runs Mickey Mantle hit that year or Mari- Roger Maris, or but I do remember that.

What about some of the sins that you're not aware of full knowledge after reading this, this book, so at least you-

Well, okay.

Just, uh, just write 'em all out.

Now, what I'm saying, if because of shame or fear you did hold any mortal sin back, you gotta do this.

Yes.

I was always told that if you did something, you could kind of say it nicely in confession.

Though your heart is there thinking of what you really did, to the priest you could kind of say it nicely.

That sounds nice, but it's lousy for me.

Now, that's, uh, now, uh Okay, I'll tell you that Saint, Saint Faustina Kowalska, you've heard of her, right?

Yeah.

She said there are three signs of a good confession.

This is Saint Faustina in the diary.

Transparency, humility and obedience are the three good conditions.

Transparency, humility and obedience.

Now, transparency is the, the opposite of what you're saying.

It's kind of nice, it's kind of murky, kind of blurred.

Uh, e- even the catechism of the Catholic Church, as well as canon law says, you have to specify number and species.

You know what that is?

Yeah.

Number and species means you have to tell the number more Species is a sounds like a biological word, but it's used in theology.

It would be, you can't just say the sixth and ninth commandment, because sixth and ninth com- it could be, it could 20, 25 different things.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um, so number and species.

Yeah.

I, I don't like that's, uh that's not good theology.Okay?

You have, you have to be transparent.

You gotta be clear.

Okay?

they say in Spanish, okay?

You gotta be clear.

Yes?

Just, I don't know, this might relate to a little bit of what, and Father, you'll have to, um, just, uh, elaborate.

There is a priest responsibility too, in that, not to shame or to repeat.

Yes.

So-

Yes.

that might make the ability to be more transparent.

A good priest is not going to shame you-

Yes.

in contrition.

In the state of California, by law, they can't repeat what they're hearing, and it's canon law as well.

Correct?

Mm-hmm.

He's not gonna go gossip about-

Well, uh, the seal of the confessional also-

Yes.

they're trying to get the priest to break the seal, and, uh, we were talking with the new bishop about this, the n- uh, Bishop Mark.

We were talking with him about this a week ago, and he said, It's the craziest thing in the world because then the priest has to decide either to give up the priesthood or, or go to jail.

Any good priests will decide to go to jail.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

He said it very bluntly, you know?

The secret's-

It's dumb.

not going to-

Because it's called the seal of the confessional.

Yeah.

You say something, uh, if you say something, I can't say, I can never say anything.

And if you start to talk, you start to talk to me about that outside the confessional, I, I look at you, I don't, I don't know who you are.

I don't know what you're talking about.

Unless you say, What, what I said in the confession with you, if you want, you can bring that out in the open forum.

You know?

Open forum means you can talk about it.

But unless you give me that permission, then, uh, we're, we're excommunicated from the church.

It's one of the most serious canonical punishments.

We're excommunicated.

Mm-hmm.

We mean we, we're no longer, we're no longer, uh, we can no longer exercise our priesthood.

Unless we would have to go to the Holy Father, there are some sins that are reserved to the Holy Sea, and that would be one of them though.

Now, though desecrating the Eucharist is another one, or forgiving s- an accomplice in sin, like a priest has relation with a, with a man or woman in adultery and gives her absolution, that's, that's pretty serious too.

But Father, when you do confession, do you forget, after absolution, you forget the penance?

You, you sh- well, you know, you have-

So if they ask you, I don't remember.

Yes.

Yes.

So it's all academic what they're doing.

Yeah, but they, y- y- e- th- there's a, there's a, there's a lot of, uh, yeah.

No, and it, what you say, once they give absolution, I don't know anything.

Correct.

Unless you, you know, say for example, I'm ha- I'm maybe in spiritual direction with you, and you bring up something you said, By the way, Father, what I'm saying now, I told you this in confessional an hour ago.

You can use this in our conversation.

Okay.

You gave me permission.

But unless you say that explicitly, not implicitly, explicitly, I don't know anything what you've said.

So people, and you, you'll later, you gotta be careful.

You gotta be careful.

And even with that explicit permission, it still stays between the two of you in that confession.

Well said.

You know your canon law.

Yeah.

But you-

If that doesn't happen-

Just talk.

we can't go into confession to that priest?

Because I've had this experience.

Yeah.

I have too.

That's why I'm being very careful, and I'm actually-

Let's-

a licensed marriage and family therapist, and I live under the same laws you live under.

Yeah.

So-

Yeah.

You, you have to, you may- maybe, 'cause all priests today, the church is really divided.

Yes.

I studied in Rome, you know, the priests here in LA, they studied in LA, they studied in different place, they had a different formation.

For me, it's very clear, once you say something, I don't know anything, unless you, you give explicit ex- uh, explicit permission, Father, you can use that.

Uh, so in that case, you gotta be very, very careful.

You know?

And it's gotta be that way or you can't bring your shame, period.

Yeah.

Right.

I mean, yeah.

Who, who would go to confession if they knew the priest is, in, in open form, we're gonna be talking about your sins publicly?

Right.

No one would want to go to confession.

N- no one at all.

Yeah.

Okay.

Uh, thank you for the clarification.

Thank you.

Um, so let's go through this.

Okay.

Now, try to, try to memorize then those three conditions, grave matter, full knowledge, full consent of the will.

If you have that, then you have what is, what is a mortal sin.

Okay.

Let's go through the, let's, let's go through the five, the five classical steps of any good confession.

First is you examine your conscience.

You might say, On what?

Remember the rich young man said, Lord, what must I do to etern- inherit eternal life?

And he said, Obey the commandments.

So you examine your conscience on the Ten Commandments, and this little booklet has the Ten Commandments.

Okay?

Uh, mortal and venial sin.

Well, my, my booklet that I wrote, there was mortal and venial sin also.

Uh, so you want to specify in your confession- the number of mortal sins.

And this is also canon law.

Myself, as a confessor, I'm a real stickler on, on this, in the sense that if you commit a mortal sin, I'll often say, How many times?

Because if you don't tell the number of times, it's incomplete.

It's incomplete.

We have to name them?

Yes.

Now, it's incomplete in this sense.

Here's the analogy I give.

Okay, you as a woman, you got breast cancer.

Okay?

The operation is gonna be very long and difficult.

The operation turned out to be seven hours.

What's the first thing you ask the doctor when the anesthesia wears off?

Can you take it all off?

What?

Can you get it all off?

Yes.

Sin is, sin is moral cancer.

You wanna try to get all of it out.

Some of you are gonna say, It's impossible for me to remember all of it, you know, species and number.

My response is this, Maybe you're not good at mathematics, but the Holy Spirit is very good.

You'd be surprised.

If you rely upon the Holy Spirit, you start to rewind the film of your life and you basically see what you've done.

I mean, you gotta be, you, you gotta give yourself those four hours.

It's like a film that's rewinded.

Wow, I didn't, I never confessed that before.

Wow, I mean, I, I did that not just once, I did that 10 times.

Wow.

And I, I even have to say this.

I mean, I don't want to get too detailed because we don't have time.

But if I were, I, I were a married person with four kids.

I miss mass on Sunday.

Okay?

And the kids are 9, 10, 11, and 14.

And you live three miles from the church, and the kids didn't go to mass.

Jesus.

Speaker<|agent|><|en|>

Now, unless I tell you this, it's compound, the guilt is compounded.

Compound means it's exacerbated.

It's worse because it's a scandal.

Now, you probably never confessed that before, and But I think we have to recognize, our sins have consequences.

Why is it that your kids no longer go to church when they're, when they're 19 or 20 because you didn't go to church for a full year when they were 14 or 15, and you relayed the message to them that mass is really not that important?

Hello?

Now, unless you do these exercises, this is never gonna surface.

But, uh, our lives are important.

Our lives are important.

You, you, you live three years with your, your, with your girlfriend.

Then you get married and your daughter's doing the same thing.

Well, is it a surprise?

I mean, she's just doing what you did.

What I'm trying to teach is our actions have consequences.

And a prayer that I'd like to teach you eventually is a prayer of reper- We have to do a prayer of reparation for our many sins, and there are many.

That's why until we die, we should be perpetual penitents, offering reparation.

Okay, and again, I'm gonna say something very consoling to you.

When I celebrate mass, I'll often offer my mass in reparation for all of your past sins and mine, and prevention of future sins.

That's huge, isn't it?

Mm-hmm.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Now, one mass is enough to repair for all the sins in the world, because it's the blood of Christ.

But more and more as I get older as a priest, I'm recognizing how powerful the mass is.

Can you believe it?

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Thank you.

Powerful, the mass is.

Yes.

Thank you.

And I'm gonna be praying for you today in two of my mass that you'll make the best confession of your life.

Thank you.

What'd you say?

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Thanks.

Again, you're gonna be secondary intention.

I've got two of the, I've got the two last masses today in our, in our parish, you know?

But you're gonna be on the altar, so I really want you to make a good confession.

Do you know what dispositive grace means?

You receive graces in as much as you're disposed.

The graces are commensurate, commensurate with your disposition.

In other words, the better the disposition, the more abundant the graces.

The fault is not in the sacrament, but in the recipient of the sacrament.

One communion could make you a saint, if you're open.

One communion could make you a saint.

Can you believe it?

You're looking at me with doubting eyes, right?

But it's true.

One communion is enough to make us a saint if we're open.

Right, Lucia?

Mm-hmm.

Okay, then the next step is, is This is the most important step.

There are five steps.

Now, if you get the first step and there's nothing more, it's just gonna be a, it's gonna be a dead ritual.

It's gonna be a facade, a dead ritual.

Second is you gotta be sorry.

You can't just be paying lip service.In other words, you gotta go from the You got You gotta go from the mind to the heart.

You gotta be sorry for your sins.

Therefore, you You got You gotta beg for the grace.

Uh, it's a supernatural grace you have to beg for.

It's not natural, but supernatural, transcends nature.

That's why I'm praying for you that the blood of Christ will open your minds and your heart to make the best Confession in your life.

Now, there's two types of sorrow.

There's attrition and contrition.

Know the difference.

Attrition is imperfect sorrow.

You're sorry because you could lose your soul.

It's a gift of the Holy Spirit called Fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom.

So I don't want I don't wanna commit that sin.

I'm sorry, because if I die, I could go to hell because of that sin.

That's imperfect, but it's good enough to go to Confession.

Good enough.

But you wanna go beyond that.

Motivated by fear of the Lord, there's That That's good, but there's something that's much better, and it's called contrition of love, Father Greg Staub would write.

Contrition of love, or perfect contrition.

I don't wanna sin because God loves you so much and He wants you to love Him back.

Amen?

Amen.

Amen.

God loves you so much, He wants you to love Him back.

What it is Some of the key The The key themes in classical literature and poetry is love not corresponded to, the broken heart syndrome.

Yeah.

Someone loves you.

You love the person, but the person doesn't love you Love you back.

The heart is broken.

We can break the heart of God, too.

He loves us, we don't love Him back, we're breaking God's heart.

If you see your Confession in this personal light, it's gonna be the best Confession in your life.

It's not a rote ritual, but it's a personal experience with Christ, who suffered and shed His blood because He loves us so much.

Now, for most Catholics, I would say Ca- Uh, l- Our Catholic faith is basically a lot of rules, a lot of hoops to jump through.

But I would say our ca- Our Catholic religion is basically It's a love affair.

Women understand that better than men usually, but it is.

It's a love affair between us and Christ, the tremendous lover.

Boylan, right?

Yup.

Beautiful book by This Tremendous Lover by Eugene Boylan, right?

I don't wanna sin because Jesus loves me and I wanna love Him back.

When I die, I'm gonna love Him for all eternity in heaven.

Amen?

Amen.

Because the s- The The sacrament is an encounter with Christ.

It is.

Every sacrament, it's an encounter with Christ.

An encounter with Christ.

The encounter can be It can be poor, mediocre, good, better, and best.

So the diff- The different degrees depends on us, because Christ, He always has His arms open for us.

We can run away from Him.

His ours Arms are always open.

Are we gonna launch ourself in loving Loving arms of Christ?

That depends on you.

For those hard The come to me all of you who are weary, I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, I'm meek and humble of heart.

My yoke is easy, my burden is light.

Come to me all of you, not just some of you.

Now, the third step is connected to the second step.

They're inter They're interconnected.

That is, uh, firm purpose of amendment.

Now, what does firm purpose of amendment mean?

It means that you're sorry, but you're gonna try to avoid every person, place or thing or circumstance that could lead you into sin.

In other words, you don't want to be playing with fire, want to avoid the near occasion of sin.

He who plays with fire will get burnt.

He who walks on thin ice will fall in.

He who walks on a slippery slope will fall.

He who plays in danger will perish in danger, the Old Testament teaches us.

Okay, now listen on this point.

Uh, do you people take Confession seriously?

Do you?

Yes.

Probably Probably, I'm making a general statement now, probably in the Confession, this This step, this third step is where we're weakest.

And you have to kind of examine yourself.

You're confessing the same thing over and over again.

Oh, why?

Probably because you're not stepping back, rewinding the film of your life to see, Ah, ah.

A, B, C, ah, I fell into sin.

So next time you examine your conscience, you see you're weak, you're about to fall one or the other direction.

You understand?

Mm-hmm.

Otherwise, the Confession's going to be el disco rayado.

It's gonna be the broken record, where you're doing the same thing over again.

Takes a lot of work, a lot of effort, a lot of humility, and a lot of courage.

Self-knowledge is tough.And looking at ourself in the mirror, it is tough.

We don't wanna see the- the gray hair, or the wrinkles, or the splotches, or the warts on our- on our nose.

We don't wanna see it.

Painful.

And self-knowledge is indispensable to growing the spiritual life.

Desert Fathers, a two-word axiom, Know thyself.

What about Socrates?

He who does not know himself is, you know, uh, uh, A life that's not examined is not a li- is a life not worth living.

Was it Toynbee that said, He who does, uh, does not know history is condemned to repeat the same errors?

Right?

So, by now, you've done the capital sins, right?

Yes, yeah.

Uh-huh.

Hello?

So all of you know what your weak point is?

So you see the connection between that w- how I- how I wrote out this program?

The capital sins help us to see these bad tendencies.

So you're going to confession, you- you- you know your bad inclinations.

So really, the- the- the- this program is all building up to- to this general confession.

I don't tell people when they start, I don't wanna scare them off, no.

But it's kind of like a crescendo that's building up to this, because you see these bad tendencies you have within you.

Okay.

So, you know, you're- you have a tendency to go on the weekend to be with your friends and you end up by drinking, and then after drinking, something bad happens.

You can't go there.

You know, you go out with this person, this person, this person is a near occasion of sin to you, you can't do it.

You're gonna get married in a couple weeks or in a couple, maybe four months, you really love your boyfriend, but when you're alone, uh, the temptation is powerful, you- you can't.

When you're by yourself, the temptation to look at pornography is overpowering.

Well, you know, try not to be alone so much, you know?

You have a tendency when you're really nervous just to- to overeat.

Okay, well, before you eat, calm down.

Calm down and pray calmly so you don't go overboard in eating.

You take one whiskey, you have to take another five whiskeys.

Hey, look, you can't drink.

You gotta be cold turkey.

If you- if you don't go to the first Mass in the day, you're not gonna go to the other Masses because your Sunday's a busy day.

There are people like that.

They don't go to the early Mass, I mean, they got all these activities.

Well, I'll go at seven o'clock in the evening, then you're out picnicking with your relatives, it's already 8:30.

Oh, happened again.

Gotta go to the Gotta go to Saturday evening Ma- You see how practical I am?

Mm-hmm.

Hello?

Yes.

Yes.

This is the practical point of this confession, of- of examination.

You have to kind of rewind.

You see, I'm- I'm really- I'm really weak in that area.

The capital sins, ah, gluttony, no big deal.

Lust, no big deal.

But I tend to be, I really tend to be envious.

I- I'm always comparing myself with my brothers and sisters, and I end up become I- I'm- I'm a gossip because of that.

I badmouth them.

Hey, next time you're with one of your sisters and you have another four sisters that you're kind of jealous of, and you're with the other that's kind of jealous.

Hey, be careful.

Maybe don't go, d- don't be alone with her.

You're gonna badmouth her or badmouth the others.

You know?

And if you don't know your- your primary weakness, uh, give me seven minutes and I'll help you to find it.

I will ask pointed questions.

It- it's painful, but I'm a- I'm a- I'm a soul surgeon where you have to kind of, you gotta lance the pus, you know.

Otherwise, you're living with pus, and that pus turns into what?

Gangrene, right?

Then you get the saw, an amputation.

No, really, the two most important things we can do in our life are receiving communion and going to confession.

Amen?

Amen.

Right?

Yeah.

Because they're in conscience with Christ.

The two most important things we can do are to receive our Lord in the Eucharist with love, and fervor, and devotion, humility, and hu- Aquinas says, With hunger and thirst.

Hunger and thirst for the Eucharist.

But confession, gotta do it well.

So the better the preparation, the more abundant the graces.

If we want you to ask those intense questions during our confession, can we ask you

Oh, no, that would not be the time.

Oh, there's no-

Yeah, yeah.

real exact-

I mean, maybe apart from that.

No?

Like, during the-

Yeah.

I'm glad you brought that up, because you wanna try to get your confession done, w- try to get done within 10 minutes.

I'm sorry they say that, but 10 minutes because we got This is a smaller session, but we just had probably 80, something like that, 80 people here.

This is a one session of the four sessions.

Maybe we're 50 here, but we have another four s- three sessions.

Apart from that, you have maybe set up an interview with a priest, uh, um, but Because they say, for example, you're there 40 minutes at confession, the people are gonna, they're gonna strangle you afterward, you know.

No, they won't strangle you, but uh, knives will be coming out of their eyes at you.

And at me too, you know?

Okay, let's hit the fourth.

The fourth step is you gotta confess your sins to the priest.You can't say, Yo me confieso con Dios, as they say in Español, right?

You have to confess to the priest, and the priest represents Christ.

Now, you know, some- some people, and they you- you- you- you'll refer to this indirectly, some people, they- they'll leave the church for many reasons.

Well, I had a bad experience with the priest in the confessional.

Okay.

You know, we- we- we do make mistakes.

Uh, but- but don't generalize.

You got I've gone to confession-

Not Mexico though.

But I've gone to confession more than you people with priests, and the priest, they're always good.

And whatever they give me a penance, I probably deserve worse than that, no?

Um, uh, I go to I go to the priest and h- he gives me absolution, I'm forgiven.

And I'm thankful that I've had opportunity to go to confession to another I'm always very thankful.

Thank you.

You know, thankful.

Father, pray for me, you know?

The healthy way for you to look at it is, um, there are broken people everywhere.

Yes.

You're gonna bump into it everywhere and you just find your place, and-

Yes.

Do you ever-

find yours.

Do you ever, uh, listen to Scott Hahn?

I've been listen-

Have you heard of him?

to Scott Hahn.

I really like, uh, Monsignor Sweatland-

Yes.

and I like Father, uh, Richard Simon.

Yes.

I listen to them a lot.

Uh-

Father Matthew, I- I like him too.

He's, he's a young priest.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So those, uh-

They're good.

I've read one of Scott Hahn's books.

One, one thing he said in confession is this.

When people say, you know, The priest is a sinner, like all of us, is, uh, he said that he once went to a doctor.

I think he had, um, something maybe with his lungs, and the doc- the doctor was a doctor for many years.

Well-educated, well-trained.

The doctor overate.

He smoked, he drank, 100 pounds overweight, had bad breath, all that, no?

The doctor gave him the right medicine and he got better.

So Scott Hahn was saying, the priest could be, uh, much more sinful than you people, but if he giving you absolution, you have to recognize that Christ, the grace of God works anyway.

Right.

Ex opere operatis is the word you hear in Latin.

Okay?

Okay, then the fourth is, uh, when you go to confession, once Faustina went to confession, she came out, she was not at peace.

And she asked Jesus why.

And Jesus said, Because you didn't pray for the priest before you went in the confessional.

Not like that.

So make sure you say Hail Mary for us.

Pray to my guardian angel, pray to yours.

Okay?

O- okay.

Tha- that's the fourth.

And then when you enter in, make sure that you close the door.

Otherwise, the people are gonna be listening to you.

Okay?

That's ouch.

No, really.

People leave the door open and I- I- I will sometimes get up and close it because I don't want I mean, this is between you and me and God, no?

I've never understood how someone could leave the door open, but- but people Maybe we New Yorkers, no one we- we believe in common sense, no?

Mm-hmm.

Close the door, right?

Hm.

Okay then, how do you start?

Okay, you can go behind the screen or you can go face-to-face.

But, um, here in LA Here in LA, if you're going to confession here in LA, I think you should always start rather than wait for the priest.

Mm-hmm.

And I'll tell you why, because I don't know what lang- language to speak.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

It's a problem.

So I usually, uh, it's a confession, I wait for the person to speak.

Otherwise, if I start to speak and I'm not speaking the right ang- right language, I'm angry inside.

So I'm already angry.

So you got me in a bad mood.

Because here it's Spanish or English, and it's probably half-and-half.

So you take the initiative.

You should start off You should start off making the sign of the cross, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and you should say, Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.

My last confession was a month ago.

These are my sins and this is a general confession.

That's excellent.

Nobody does that today.

But if you were if you were brought up and raised when I was a child, we were taught to say that.

Right?

You oldies, but oldie, oldie but goodies, remember that?

Yeah.

You know, I was taught to say that.

Eric?

And I taught my little grandkids-

Okay.

this system.

Great.

Yeah, yeah.

But I would say since Vatican II, no one does that anymore and, uh, it- it- it's still, it still is valid, but that helps to set the scene.

Another analogy would be if someone goes to my brother, the doc surg- uh, the back surgeon, they're gonna tell him, When was the last time you saw, you saw a doctor?

Well, uh, Dr. Michael, it was about, you know, about, uh, about four days ago.

Another one says, 45 years ago.

There's a huge difference, right?

Four days and 45 years.

So we are soul surgeons.

If you tell me your last confession was two weeks and or y- or then you say it was 60 years, there's a huge difference.

That sets my mind.

Okay, then after that, in your general confession, you're just gonna you're gonna read the list.

It may, it may seem to be somewhat, uh, mechanical or perfunctory, but in the general confession, just read through the list without any commentary.

Okay.

If you wanna clarify something later, talk to the priest.

And the reason why is we don't have that much time.Is that clear?

Yeah.

Re- read through the list.

These are my mortal sins.

Okay?

Go through the list a number of times, and as I said earlier, the confession has three conditions; transparency, humility, and obedience.

And you don't wanna be saying this, Now Father, I yelled at my husband, but if you knew him- you would cut me some slack.

Okay.

That's, uh, that's pride.

That's pride.

You know, con- confes- confess your sins, not of, not, not your husband's sins.

Remember Dragnet, with Joe Friday?

Just the facts, ma'am.

Just the facts, ma'am.

Remember that?

Remember Dragnet?

Just the facts, ma'am.

Just the facts, ma'am.

Just the facts, ma'am.

I have a question-

Yes?

about the, the, the species.

When I go get a sin, I use the species just right out of that book that woman gave us.

Is that-

Good.

That's good enough.

But, uh, yeah, uh, s- uh, because if, if you, if you confess a sin, especially against the sixth and ninth commandment, is there a difference I mentioned this, I think, two weeks ago.

Is there a difference between fornication and adultery?

Yes.

Yes.

Is one worse than the other?

Yes.

Yes.

Okay.

Why?

'Cause it's worse than adultery.

'Cause i- Okay, adultery, that's a, there's a sacrilege there.

You know, you're, you're, you're breaking your marriage vows, right?

How about a homosexual act?

It's worse because it's against nature, right?

So there's, there's even, those are, they're all mortal sins, but one is more serious than the other.

One is more serious than the other.

So especially in the sixth and ninth commandment, you have to specify, uh, what type.

Was it fornication or adultery or homosexual act?

Uh, and you have to mention the number of times.

Couple about to get married, Okay, well, Father, I had premarital sex with my girlfriend.

Once?

Turned into a coyote, Woo.

No, it wasn't just once.

Rather, it was every week.

Every week for how long?

Well, for five years.

Well, you know, it's, it's good.

Uh.

You, you get about 275 times, huh?

There's a, there's a big difference between one and 275, right?

So you have to make an effort.

That's why you have to give yourself time.

All right.

Uh, then once that's done, it's a good idea to conclude, Father, I'm sorry for all these sins.

And this.

Remember the-

All these sins.

This is big.

As well as the sins I'm not aware of.

I beg for absolution and penance.

Then you say the Act of Contrition.

Do you know the Act of Contrition?

Mm-mm.

Not-

I just heard

I just paid for it.

Well, no, good.

The, the classical one.

Yeah.

And if you don't, we will give you a card.

But I think it's a good idea, th- the younger gen, try to memorize an Act of Contrition.

Do you have it memorized already?

Not yet?

Not yet.

Okay.

The younger people, they don't, because in Catechism, they don't insist upon memorizing.

It's good to memorize it.

And if you've ever read Catechesi Tridendi of John Paul II, which was his document on catechi-, he says we have to go back to memorizing.

Memorizing the basics, the Ten Commandments, the Act of Contrition.

Uh, try to memorize the Act of Contrition.

You know, because of the, because of the modern, um, technological world, uh, basically our memory is becoming lazy.

It is.

Yeah.

It's becoming lazy.

In other words, the whole idea of memorizing certain things, because everything is just click, click, click.

In other words, you, you young people, you have a memory, but you've never really cultivated it.

It'd be a good idea to cultivate, see if you can learn the Act of Contrition.

Memorize certain Biblical phra- passages.

Memorize something from Shakespeare.

I mean, we got a memory, but i- it's fallow.

It's never been cultivated.

See, we have a memory for bad things, right?

But memorizing good things, not that easy.

And then the priest gives you absolution.

If it ever happened that the priest doesn't give you absolution, you have to tell him, Father, give me absolution.

Otherwise, it's, you're, you're, you're not forgiven.

Like, if I don't say the words of consecration, you got bread and wine, my friends.

You don't have the body and blood of Christ.

Sacraments have to have matter and form and intention, right?

Matter and form.

You have to have bread and wine, right?

You have to have, you have to have holy oil for the anointing of the sick.

Okay, then you finish.

The last step is you have to carry out the penance.

Carry out the penance.

Now, don't arm wrestle the priest to get a smaller penance, okay?

Father, you gave me six Hail Marys.

How about three?

That'd be mean.

People do that?

So sad.

Okay.

For your penance, I'd like you to do six rosaries because of that.What?

Is it a problem if a priest forgets to give us penance?

Good question.

She- she says, Is it a problem, i- if a priest forgets to give you penance?

That might happen.

Sometimes there's no bad will, um, because what happens is when- when we- when we're there in the confessional a long time, the mind gets tired.

Yesterday af- after those he- those hundred kids, uh, went to the hospital to visit someone, it was kind of a relief, no?

But, um, what you should do is very gently say, Father, wha- what's the penance you'd like to give to me?

So ask him.

Well, it's happened that I've left the confessional and I realized that-

Oh, I see.

Yeah.

You know, what I would do is maybe- maybe choose a penance yourself, and yeah, yeah.

You choo- my- my- my- my formator in Rome said, Whatever the pa- priest gives you, always double it.

I've always tried to do that.

So if he-

Mm-hmm.

says pray a decade, I'll- I'll usually try to pray a whole rosary.

I just I wanna be generous with God.

But, uh, next time you go, if try not to forget.

The priest shouldn't forget, but if he does because you're awareness, Father, by the way, um, what's the penance?

Otherwise, the- the confession is incomplete.

It's incomplete.

There- there are five steps, so then after you have done that, my friend, you're forgiven.

Okay, I'd like to, I'd like to end with o- one last point to give you a lot of encouragement.

Do you know what a plenary indulgence is?

Yes.

I just don't get these.

No, but l- let me tell you.

Yeah, I don't understand them.

Okay.

Y- yeah, I'll try to be as simple as possible.

Plenary indulgence is this, the church through the Pascal mystery, the passion, death, and resurr- resurrection of Jesus Christ, has an infinite treasure of graces that the church wants to give to us if we want them.

Okay, try to imagine that after this talk, in the old church, there's a huge recipient of d- uh, of diamonds.

Each diamond is worth a million dollars, and there's a billion diamonds in that recipient.

Can I tell you, people, go and grab as many as you want.

You hear me?

You're gonna be rushing out that door like a buffalo, probably stampeding others to grab on to as many as possible.

The reservoir of graces that comes from the paschal mystery, the passion, death, resurrection of Christ, is infinite, and it's applied to us through the mystical body which is called the Church.

The mystical body of Christ is the Church, and it's communicated most, most specifically and most powerfully through the sacraments.

There is what is called a plenary indulgence and a partial indulgence.

Before you, eh, those, the older books you'd have number of days.

Remember that?

Mm-hmm.

Now it's just plenary and partial.

Now the plenary indulgence is this, if you receive it, all your sins are forgiven as well as the temporal punishment, 'cause if you're forgiven in confession, your sins are forgiven, but there's still temporal punishment which you might have to do some acts to expiate your past sins.

Okay?

Forgiveness is one thing, but expiating our past sins, we have to pray and fast and do certain acts of penance.

But the church offers us a plenary indulgence under these conditions, and I want all of you to receive it.

And it means with a plenary indulgence, all of your sins are forgiven and the temporal punishment is like being born again, like a second baptism.

If you were to die, you go right to heaven.

And I'll tell you what the plenary indulgence is next week.

No, I won't.

I'll tell you now, okay?

Okay.

Okay, listen.

If you- you- you can understand this, you die, you can go right to heaven.

Confession.

A really good confession.

Second, mass and communion, a fervent communion.

Third is, now there's indul- there's acts, ah, certain actions or practices that you have to perform to do it, and these are the, these are for the plenary indulgence.

Praying the rosary in your family.

The popes are always saying you gotta pray the rosary in your family for world peace and for your family.

Do it.

Or if you can't in your family, in front of the blessed sacrament, which we've got exposed.

Even though it's not exposed, it's in the tabernacle anyway.

Or it could be meditating upon the, meditating upon the Bible half an hour a day.

You do an hour a day.

So every day you're meditating upon the Bible and the commentary, or the way of the cross, the station of the cross.

Got that?

Okay, two other things.

You have to pray for the intentions of the Pope, otherwise you can't receive it.

The Pope is our spiritual father.We have to constantly be supporting him by our prayers, our sacrifices, always.

Always support the Pope by your prayers.

And the fifth is this.

This is the clincher now.

Are you listening?

Yes.

You gotta be detached from mortal sin and venial sin.

There's where the rubber hits the road, huh?

But if you're doing these exercises well, you have that attitude, right?

I mean, we've given you, we've given you four weeks already.

Yeah.

If you're doing the exercises well, we're tryi- w- w- we're kn- we're, we're sinners, but we're fighting against them, right?

We're trying to c- we're trying to push sin out of our life and bring Jesus and Mary into our hearts.

Not You're gonna fall.

We're gonna fall, but we don't, we don't want sin in our lives.

We wanna, we, we wanna keep that away.

That's poison.

Okay?

If you do that, when y- you receive a plenary indulgence, all of your sins are washed away.

You die, you go right to heaven.

Wow.

Like it?

Yes.

Try to memorize that when you're teaching catechism.

And it's not, it's not a, it's not a dead ritual.

Most important is our heart.

I love God and I don't wanna sin.

That's the center of it.

Otherwise, just formalism, you know.

In our, in our hearts, I don't wanna hurt God because I love Him so much.

That's the most important part.

And you receive the Eucharist with that love, you're forgiven by confession, you're praying to Mary.

I mean, you're, you're a gangbuster.

That's spiritual dynamite.

I love preaching the plenary indulgence because it gives so much consolation, doesn't it?

Yes.

I try to receive one.

I try to receive one.

You can receive one every day.

I try to receive one at least once a week for me and for soul in purgatory.

When I die, I'm gonna go right to heaven, don't you?

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, we hope.

But, but if you understand this, you try to live this, there's a good chance that every one of you in this class, when you die, you're gonna go right to heaven if you live this out.

Now, 99% of Catholics don't, don't have the foggiest idea what I've said, so you're a very privileged group.

Thank you.

Really, you're really, you're re- you're re- you're a really privileged group because you know it now, and I don't think you're gonna forget it.

Are you?

No.

I hope not.

Yes.

The intentions of the Pope, is it for that month or just the Our Father?

Uh, yeah.

No, it's just in general.

If you pray the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be for the Pope, that's enough.

Okay.

Yeah.

Can I ask a second question?

Yes.

Can you have a list of Biblical sins?

They ha- I have a list over 500-

Biblical sins?

Yes, over 500, because there's a claim that no Catholic priest was able to extract it from the Bible, but a Protestant did, and some of the Catholic churches are using that.

But you can highlight what you're s- Can we use that?

Or we just focus on what you're doing?

Uh, you could.

I, I would say you could, but don't forget, you don't have too much time.

I know.

I know.

Okay?

Unless you do an interview or you have an appointment.

Yeah, maybe later.

Maybe stick to this.

Otherwise, that could prolong it too much.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It sounds good though.

Yes, a very good class.

Yes.

Um, you started to talk a little bit if you've done this before and did a general confession before.

Have you done it here in this parish?

Yes.

Okay.

Well, you know, the thing is, what you can maybe do is, uh, maybe the following week, you can maybe make another confession.

But once you've done the general confession- um, you don't have to do it again.

Okay?

And the fact is, we have a lot of people who have not.

We wanna give them priority.

What you might do is maybe once a year renew your SAR for the past year.

I try to do that.

But this is, uh, for those who have not made their confession.

Yes.

Yes.

Me?

Yes.

I had a confession with you at the Divine Mercy Conference-

Yes.

not knowing any of this, but I did give you a lot of background because people told me, so I still need to do a general?

Yeah.

In your case, I would say yes.

Might be going through the formal process here.

This is pretty detailed.

Yes.

Very meticulous.

And not to say another place it wouldn't be well done, but we're really we're honing in on, on a lot of details that you're probably not learning in other places.

Okay.

Great.

Okay, so I'll pray for you.

Great.

Thank you for your questions and comments.

It was a great class.

God bless you all.

Thank you.

Pray for me and I'll pray for you, okay?

Thank you, Father.

Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end.

Amen.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us.

May God bless you.

May God bless you.

Okay.

Good.