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These Last Days News - August 8, 2011

The Good Confessor, According to St. Alphonsus...

"The young children must be taken by their parents to the temples--the Houses of My Son--throughout your world. They must learn by habit a good example of cleansing of their soul by confession. The good priests of earth, those who have been dedicated and received this consecration from My Son, must take these tender souls and nurture them in their Faith." - Our Lady of the Roses, November 20, 1975

The New Theological Movement reported on August 1, 2011:

St. Alphonsus teaches that there are four roles which the priest must perform with excellence in order to be a good confessor: He is a father, a physician, a teacher, and a judge. To fulfill these aspects of his duty as a confessor, the priest must, of course, be holy – but personal holiness alone will not suffice. Indeed, the confessor must be well-learned in the matters of moral theology. Here, we recall that St. Teresa thought it better to have a confessor who was learned but not holy, than one who was holy but not learned.

On the feast of the Doctor of Moral Theology, we consider the advice which St. Alphonsus gives to confessors. We should hope that priests would find a renewed zeal to read the works of the Patron Saint of confessors.

Summary of St. Alphonsus’ advice to confessors

1. It is extremely dangerous to hear confessions. A priest will have to render an account to God for every confession he has heard. Without holiness and learning, the priest puts both his soul and the souls of his penitents in grave danger. Indeed, it would be better if such priests did not hear confessions at all.

2. Knowledge: The priest must be learned in order to hear confessions well – this applies especially to his role as teacher. It will not be enough for the confessor to have simply a general knowledge of moral theology, rather he requires a good understanding of applied morals and of the cases discussed in the manuals. For a priest to hear confessions without having consulted the classical works of moral theology (among which, St. Alphonsus’ hold primacy of place) is an act of grave presumption – he risks not only his soul, but also the souls of his penitents.

3. Charity and firmness: The confessor must be filled with charity, which means he must be holy. He is to receive all persons (both saints and sinners, the wise and the ignorant, the rich and the poor) with kindness and to advise them without fear or concern for personal gain. Particular care is required when hearing the confessions of women, since there is danger of impurity.

4. Fortitude: The confessor must know when and how to withhold (i.e. differ) absolution. A confessor exposes himself to grave danger of damnation by either being too rigorous or too lax. As one confessor sins by being too harsh, so too the priest who absolves a penitent who is not disposed for absolution is certainly guilty of sin. “Generally speaking, the greater the rigor with which the confessor treats his penitents, when there is question of the danger of formal sins, particularly against chastity, the more he will promote their sanctification.”

Above all else, the confessor must be filled with a zeal for the salvation of souls!

Excerpts from “The Dignity and Duties of the Priest” by St. Alphonsus

The danger to which a priest exposes himself by hearing confessions:

The great Pontiff, St. Pius V, said: “Give us fit confessors, and surely the whole of Christianity will be reformed.” He who wishes to be a good confessor must, in the first place, consider that the office of a confessor is very difficult and dangerous, and that on account of its difficulty and danger the Council of Trent has called it an office to be dreaded even by angels.

“And what,” says St. Laurence Justinian, “can be more perilous than to assume the responsibility of rendering to God an account of the life of others?” St. Gregory says that no error is more dangerous than that which is committed in the direction of souls. It is certain that if a soul be lost through the fault of her confessor, God will demand of him an account of that soul. […] Hence, according to St. Gregory, a confessor has to render to God an account of as many souls as he has penitents.

This is not applicable to those good priests who, penetrated with a holy fear, labor to qualify themselves for this great office, and afterwards devote themselves to the exercise of it, through the sole desire of bringing souls to God. It is intended only for those who undertake to hear confessions through worldly motives, or temporal interest, or self-esteem, or, as sometimes happens, without the necessary learning.

The knowledge required to hear confessions well

St. Laurence Justinian says: “Many graces and not a little knowledge is needed by him who desires to raise souls to life.” He, then, who wishes to hear confessions, stands in need of extensive knowledge. Some imagine the science of Moral Theology to be easy, but Gerson justly says that it is the most difficult of all sciences. And before him St. Gregory said: “ The directing of souls is the art of arts.” St. Gregory Nazianzen writes: “To direct men seems to me to be the greatest of all sciences.”

St. Francis de Sales also used to say that the office of confessor is of all offices the most important and the most difficult. It is the most important, because on it depends the eternal salvation of souls, which is the end of all the sciences. It is the most difficult, because the science of Moral Theology requires a knowledge of many other sciences, and embraces an immense variety of matter. It is also most difficult, because different decisions must be given, according to the different circumstances of the cases that occur; for, a principle by which a case involving a certain circumstance may be decided will not answer for the solution of another case containing a different circumstance.

Some disdain to read the works of the moralists, saying that to hear confessions is enough to know the general principles of Moral Theology, by which, they add, the particular cases may be resolved. I answer: It is certain that all cases must be decided by means of principles, but there is great difficulty in applying to particular cases just principles, of solution. This the moralists have done. They have labored to explain the principles by which many particular cases may be resolved. […]

We must, then, be persuaded that to hear confessions great science and also great prudence are required; for with knowledge without prudence a confessor shall do but little good, and to some his ministry will be more injurious than beneficial.

The charity and firmness that the confessor should have

Sanctity is still more necessary, on account of the great fortitude which a confessor requires in the exercise of his ministry. “Only he that, is a great saint,” says St. Laurence Justinian, “can without injury to, himself occupy himself with the care of souls.”

A confessor requires a great fund of charity in receiving all — the poor, the ignorant, and the vicious.

Some hear the confessions only of pious persons; but when a poor peasant comes with a conscience loaded with sins, they hear him with impatience, and send him away with reproaches. […] When a sinner comes to confession, the more abandoned he is, the more [the good confessors] labor to assist him, and the greater the charity with which they treat him. “You are not,” says Hugo of St. Victor, “appointed judges of crimes, to chastise, but, as it were, judges of maladies to heal.”

It is indeed necessary to admonish the sinner, in order to make him understand his miserable state, and the danger of damnation to which he is exposed; but he must be always admonished with charity, he must be excited to confidence in the divine mercy, and must be taught the means by which he may amend his life. And though the confessor should be obliged to defer absolution, he ought to dismiss the penitent with sweetness; fixing a day for him to return, and pointing out the remedies that he must practise in the mean time, in order to prepare himself for absolution. Sinners are saved in this way, but not by harshness and reproaches, which drive them to despair. […]

On allotting enough time for the hearing of each confession

But some will say, if we treat sinners in this manner a great deal of our time will be taken up, and others who are waiting cannot be heard. But in answer I say, that it is better to hear one confession well than to hear a great number imperfectly. But the most appropriate answer is, that the confessor has not to give an account to God of the persons who are waiting, but only of the person whose confession he has begun to hear.

Fortitude is required of the confessor

The confessor also stand in need of great fortitude: And this first of all in hearing the confessions of women. How many priests have lost their souls in hearing these confessions! We must treat in the confessional with young girls and young women; we must hear their temptations and often the avowal of their falls; for they also are of flesh and blood. […]

On refusing absolution

Great fortitude is necessary in correcting penitents and in refusing absolution to those who have not the requisite dispositions, without any regard to their rank or power, or to the loss or injury which the confessor may sustain, or to the imputations of indiscretion or of ignorance which may be cast upon him. “Seek not,” says the Holy Ghost, “to be made a judge unless thou hast strength enough to extirpate iniquities, lest thou fear the person of the powerful.”

A Father of our Congregation had occasion to hear in the sacristy the confession of a priest, whom he refused to absolve. The priest, rising up in a proud and haughty manner, said to him: “Be-gone! You are a brute.” But there is no remedy: confessors must submit to such inconveniences and insults. For it often happens that they are bound to refuse or to defer absolution, either because the penitent will not do what they require of him, or because he is a relapsing sinner, or because he is in the proximate occasion of sin. And here it is necessary to examine how a confessor should treat relapsing sinners, and those who are in the occasion of sin. For, in order to save his penitents, the confessor should attend with the greatest care to relapsing sinners, and to those who are in the occasion of sin.           

Danger in being too harsh as well as in being too lax

But, before we enter on this subject, it is necessary to remark, that a confessor exposes himself to as much danger of damnation by treating his penitents with too much rigor as he does by treating them with excessive indulgence.           

Too much indulgence, says St. Bonaventure, begets presumption, and too much rigor leads to despair. […] There is no doubt that many err by being too indulgent: and such persons cause great havoc—and I say even the greatest havoc; for libertines, who are the most numerous class, go in crowds to these lax confessors, and find in them their own perdition. But it is also certain that confessors who are too rigid cause great evil. […] Too much rigor, says Gerson, serves, only to bring souls to despair, and from despair to the abyss of vice. […]   

Such also is the doctrine of St. Raymond, “Do not be so prone,” says the saint, “to declare mortal sins, unless it be clear from Scripture.” St. Antonine teaches the same. “It is very dangerous,” he says, “to decide whether or not something is mortal, if this be not clear from the authority of Scripture, of a canon, or of an evident reason.” “For,” as the saint adds, “he who, without some of the above-mentioned grounds, pronounces an action to be a mortal sin, exposes, souls to the danger of damnation.” […]

Finally, the same doctrine has been laid down more clearly by Gabriel Biel, who flourished in the year 1480. “The opinion,” he says. “that is more probable to me is, that we must never condemn as a mortal sin anything for which we cannot allege either a very evident reason or the formal testimony of Scripture.”

"My child, make it known to mankind that penance and confession is a private communication between the confessor, the penitent, and God." - Our Lady of the Roses, December 7, 1976

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These prophecies came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995.

TRUE FAITH
"You still have time to make restitution and atonement to save your children. You must bring them back to the Sacraments. You must be an example of modesty and true faith to them. Children will learn much by your example." - St. Anne, July 25, 1973

BE PURIFIED
"When a man has stepped over the threshold and allowed himself to fall into mortal sin, he must be purified by trial, but he must also, My children, be purified by the rule of penance and confession. What manner of evil is being set now upon mankind that compels him to lose his soul by rejecting the Sacraments, by no longer confessing to his confessor, but coming to receive My Son in sacrifice, while his soul is degraded by sin of mortal nature!" - Our Lady, September 7, 1976

MAN OF GOD
"A priest is a man of God, chosen solely from the world to be a representative of the Son of God . . . . As a man of God, he brings to you the Body and Blood of your Savior." - St. Theresa, October 2, 1975

MOCKERY
"Do not make a mockery of the Sacraments in My Son's House. Do not blaspheme in My Son's House. My children, you will bring the wrath of God upon you." - Our Lady, December 7, 1976

ACCEPT GRACES
"Each day of your life must begin with prayer and end with prayer. Accept all of the graces that are given to you freely. Do not reject the means given to you through your Sacraments." - Jesus, February 10, 1977

OFFSET EVIL
"My children, you have been given armor. I have repeated over and over and admonished you to wear the sacramentals for a reason. You are fighting a war now with the unseen, the supernatural. In the plan from Heaven there are Sacraments and sacramentals that can offset the evil and protect you and your loved ones from this evil." - Our Lady, November 21, 1977

SEARCHING
"My children, many are turning from your Sacraments--searching for a new world, a world that is abounding with the word love, love! but who knows the true meaning of the word love? How many are willing to sacrifice for this love? How many are willing to starve themselves of their worldly desires, for this love? How many would be willing to give their lives for this love?" - Our Lady, June 15, 1974

RETURN
"Return to the graces of your Sacraments and Holy Church, or condemn yourselves to eternity with Lucifer! Consecrate your home with the Holy Spirit. Use the waters of life to chase the demons from within your homes." - St. Joachim, July 25, 1973

BE AN EXAMPLE
"You still have time to make restitution and atonement to save your children. You must bring them back to the Sacraments. You must be an example of modesty and true faith to them. Children will learn much by your example." - St. Anne, July 25, 1973

PRICELESS HERITAGE
"My children, in your baptism upon earth you have received the road, you have received the keys to the Kingdom. But you do not recognize your priceless heritage, and you cast it aside for a few short years upon earth, gathering the world's treasures and power to yourselves. For what? Each and every one of you with leave upon earth with what you came in with--nothing! Nothing but the merits that you have stored to ransom your soul from purgatory. Nothing but the merits you have gathered to allow you to enter the Eternal Kingdom of happiness and light." - Jesus, December 7, 1978

FOR LIFE
"When a man has given himself, and chosen from out of the world as a priest of his God, he will be a priest for life." - Our Lady, March 18, 1973

A HOLY BOND
"My child, you have been much concerned about the dissolvement of many marriages in your country. It is truly a sad happening among mankind, My child, for it is the hand of Satan reaching in and capturing the souls of many. What God has joined together in holy Matrimony, let no man place asunder. The liberal attitudes now prevalent in My Son's House bring many tears to Our hearts, for they will lead many souls onto the road to hell.
    "Accept your cross, My children, as you struggle through life with your spouse. When you are united in the holy bond of Matrimony, you are responsible for the soul of your spouse. Unto death shall you part and only unto death will you part.
    "Many of Our children have entered onto the wide road to hell and purgatory. And why? Because too few pray for them and they have now fallen into line with many false teachers.
    "When a union in Matrimony is blessed by My Son through a legitimate, legally ordained priest, His representative, no man shall take it upon himself for worldly gain, money, prestige and power to break the tie that has bound them together by Heaven!" - Our Lady, May 15, 1976

GUILTY
"I do not, at this time, intend to point out any individual, but My voice goes out to you, as My Mother; you know if you are guilty of any sins against the Sacraments.
    "There are seven Sacraments commanded of you by Heaven, My children, and you will keep them. You shall not take them apart by using rationality, and modernism, and humanism. This cannot be." - Jesus, June 18, 1987

NEW MODES
"You must not reject the Sacraments in My Church; you must not reject the teachings for new modes of modernism and socialism." - Jesus, June 2, 1979

YOUR FORTIFICATION
"Prayer, and prayer alone, with the graces gained in sacramentals and Sacraments will be your fortification against the agents of hell now loosed in great number upon your earth." - Jesus, March 24, 1973

YOU REJECT
"Through countless years upon your earth, I have cried out in warning to you. O My children, keep your sacramentals about you. Accept and do not reject the Sacraments of My Son's House: Baptism, Confirmation, the Holy Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. And Matrimony, My children-you reject the natural laws of your God. You are substituting a pagan way of life!" - Our Lady, November 1, 1976

COVENANT
"All who have been chosen by the Father to be given the grace of baptism shall have--from that day forward--a covenant with the Lord." - Our Lady, June 15, 1974

CLEANSING OF SOUL
"The young children must be taken by their parents to the temples-the Houses of My Son-throughout your world. They must learn by habit a good example of cleansing of their soul by confession. The good priests of earth, those who have been dedicated and received this consecration from My Son, must take these tender souls and nurture them in their Faith." - Our Lady, November 20, 1975

YOU WILL FALL
"Know, My child, that the heart of the sacrifice is in what you call the Eucharist. You will eat of My Body and drink of My Flesh or you will not have the light within you. You will not have the light within you, but will fall into darkness if you do not eat of My Body and drink of My Flesh." - Jesus, May 22, 1974

COMMUNICATION
"My child, make it known to mankind that penance and confession is a private communication between the confessor, the penitent, and God." - Our Lady, December 7, 1976

Directives from Heaven... https://www.tldm.org/directives/directives.htm

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D89 - Sin   PDF
D91 - Grace   PDF
D92 - Free will   PDF

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Your names have been written in Heaven… "It is not by accident that you are called by My Mother, for your names have been written in Heaven.... But with this great grace you have great responsibility to send this Message from Heaven throughout the world, for if you are able to recover just one more for Heaven, an additional star shall be placed in your crown." - Jesus, August 5, 1975

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