Another question on cofession :)

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Lily0fthevalley

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My first confession is coming soon, the rcia team says to write down what i remember. My question is do i include all the sins i’ve done as a kid and teenage years as well?. I have to admit it’s a bit nerve racking and people keep telling me i’ll feel a while lot better afterwards! 😊
 
Why not look up “Examination of Conscience” on any search engine? What you find will help you immensly!
God Bless!
 
The larger examination of conscience, the better. Confess everything you can remember. If you are not sure, confess it.

And, yes, it does feel better! I was skeptical of the sacrament when I came into the Church. Now, I love it!!
 
The important thing [As well as writing things down] is to pray to the “Holy Spirit” for the grace to remember your past sins.

The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” has a section on the 10 Commandments Pg 136 onwards which goes into detail explaining the commandments and how we sin against them. It is also a good idea to pray for the Priest, so he be guided by the “Holy Spirit” as well so he can help you in the future.

I still find this sacrament difficult as by recalling our sins we come to realize how often and easily we fall into the habit of sinning and how it stops us from going forward in our spiritual journey. But I also know our God is a loving God and there is no sin that can’t be forgiven.Remember also there is probably no sin that the priest would’nt have heard before, so rest assured you will recieve many “graces” from this beautiful sacrament!

Hoping and praying it goes well for you!
 
I was terrified before my first confession (I was in my 30’s when I entered the Church). It’s true, you’ll feel wonderful afterward.

I lived through it, and you will, too. 👍
 
I would say don’t stress about going into detail. Try and see the general trend…

When I made my first confession before being received, I just said ‘I’ve broken more or less every commandment to a greater or lesser degree, but the one that bothers me most is…’
 
My first confession is coming soon, the rcia team says to write down what i remember. My question is do i include all the sins i’ve done as a kid and teenage years as well?. I have to admit it’s a bit nerve racking and people keep telling me i’ll feel a while lot better afterwards! 😊
Yes, you should confess everything you can remember, in both number and kind, and during the confession you also say, “For all these and for all the sins of my past life, I am heartily sorry.” So that sort of covers any you forget, but in case you remember some from there on out, you can then confess them as well. Technically I believe they are absolved, but I am one who does retroactive confession when I remember, because I believe the Holy Spirit has put them in my mind for a reason.

You will feel amazing when you finish! Be sure and spend time afterward thanking Jesus for the gift of his priests so we can have such a sacrament!

👍
 
I was terrified before my first confession (I was in my 30’s when I entered the Church). It’s true, you’ll feel wonderful afterward.

I lived through it, and you will, too. 👍
Same here. I was in my 30’s for my first confession and I was not a good boy. I was unbelievably nervous. I will say this, the feeling I had after my first confession is not a feeling I have ever had since. I am now immensely grateful for that experience.

Just remember, God wants you to confess your sins so that he can wipe them clean, not so that he can hold them over your head. May God bless you immensely as you take this next step!!!
 
What if i don’t remember the number of times i did that sin if it was so long ago?. do you think i could get away with saying several ?
 
Why not look up “Examination of Conscience” on any search engine? What you find will help you immensly!
God Bless!
One that’s for a “General Confession” is best. It’s more comprehensive, but in a general confession way.
 
What if i don’t remember the number of times i did that sin if it was so long ago?. do you think i could get away with saying several ?
Yes, I never mention how many times, I just mention the particular sin. I have never been corrected on this so I’d always assumed I was doing the right thing.

Maybe if it’s on your conscience you could say “a few” or as your’ve already suggested “several” if it keeps bothering you.The people from the RCIA should be able to direct you better here, or can you speak to the priest?

If you do forget don’t stress you can always go back another day.The more you grow in your faith the more the “Holy Spirit” will make you aware of when you do offend God.
 
We are obliged to confess all “mortal sins” in number and kind (adultery 2x, murder 4x, lust 2x,etc) and if something changed the mortal sin…like it was your brother you murdered. Of course after a good examination we may not …after so many years…remember everything…that is ok…we do what we can…God forgives the forgotten ones too (we need of course to be sorry for all our mortal sins…and amended)…then if we later remember one we forgot…we are to confess it in the next confession after we remember it. (this is different from if we intentionally hide a mortal sin…that is a sacrilege and one is not forgiven but has another sin)

Also we may not know the numbers …we do what we can…and if we do not know…we make an approximation…3-5x, 5-10 a month for the last 20 years, somewhere around 50 times, around 10x, or even if needed “many times”, “many many times” etc Depending on what we know.

As to venial sins they may be confessed or not confessed (though it is recommended to confess them…they can be forgiven in many ways). They need not of course be confessed in number.

If you doubt something was a sin…say it was doubtful. If you doubt it was a mortal sin say due to your lack of knowledge …well one can confess it --but note the doubt.

Remember Jesus loves you and wants to forgive you and give you always “true life” in him. He is the Good Shepherd!
 
topdesk said:
Can I just direct you to the scripture “Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”
When Jesus died on the cross the last thing he uttered was “It is finished.” What is finished? The sacrifice once and for all. When Jesus died He became the sacrifice and took ALL our sins to the grave and then rose again on the third day glorious! All He asks from us is that we enter into a relationship with Him and accept His death (where He took our sins away) and His new life (where we are made righteous). When we are born again, which is accepting His death and life we are born into His new life and our sins in the past, present and the future are forgiven. This is called ‘grace’. This is the reason Christ died so He could take our sins away and clothe us with His righteousness so that when the Father looks on us, He actually sees Christ, glorious and resurrected. There is no need to ‘think back’ and remember all our sins to confess. We can go to God now, in our car, or at the park or in our study and just pray and ask God to forgive us for any sin we have committed and He will forgive us. He says so in 1 JOHN 2:12 “I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake” Your sins are in fact already forgiven. They have been since Christ died. All we have to do is accept that and live by faith. “The just shall live by faith”👍
Please start another thread for this, so as not to derail this one.
 
The advice my priest gave me when I went, was something like this:

“Start with the hardest to say first. The ones you want to hide away and pretend didn’t happen…everything else will be so much easier.”

As hard as it was, he was right.
 
What if i don’t remember the number of times i did that sin if it was so long ago?. do you think i could get away with saying several ?
If you don’t remember, you don’t have to say. God (and the Church!) never requires you to do anything that you can’t do. But you probably want to give some general idea, like:

I did X a few times when I was a teenager.
I did Y several times, most of them were at least 5 years ago.
I did Z many times, and I have done it N times within the last few months.

Just tell what you can. And there is no hurry! You can take your time in confession, as long as you don’t treat it as a counselling session. 🙂

God bless you!

–Jen
 
My first confession is coming soon, the rcia team says to write down what i remember. My question is do i include all the sins i’ve done as a kid and teenage years as well?. I have to admit it’s a bit nerve racking and people keep telling me i’ll feel a while lot better afterwards! 😊
Have you been baptized yet?

You probably already know this, so please forgive me, but you do not need to remember and confess sins that occurred prior to baptism. You may choose to do so if you just need to “get it out”, but those sins will be remitted. (My first confession only included sins for the past 8 or 9 years since I was baptized.)
 
From my experience it seems like the priests are more interested in the types of sin you struggle with which may include specific examples of your life. When I had my first confession, the priest seemed to not really be interested as much in actual specific occurences, but if I told him I struggled with Lust or Greed he would talk me through that and provide ways to battle those sins. At some point he stopped asking for “anything else?” and just proceeded to absolve me and gave me my penance, and then I felt that it was enough, LOL.
 
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