Can I go to confession today?

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Hi everyone, I’ve been having kind of a hard time.

I wanted to know if I could go to confession, and be forgiven, as I’ve committed to 2 serious sins. but I don’t ‘feel’ any fear, or contrition physically. I know contrition is necessary but I’m worried I don’t have any. I want to turn away from one of the sins I committed, and the other sin I would likely not have done (I hope) had I known what I was doing. Though I don’t feel any physical fear for hell, or really anything. I think I regret committing these sins, because they have been detrimental to my faith, but I’m constantly plagued with self doubt.
I don’t feel any remorse, as they didn’t physically hurt anyone. I’ve been praying for better contrition but I don’t think God is answering them.

Edit: I have to wait 3 hours to reply more, so I won’t be able to get back to you all. But I really appreciate all of the replies and help you have all given me. God Bless you all.
 
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If you realize the acts were sinful, you don’t want to do them any more, and you want to be absolved from them, that should be enough for you to go to confession.

You don’t need to be crying and quaking in your boots afraid of Hell.
 
Really? That’s some of the best news I’ve had in a while. I mostly want to be stronger in my faith, and return to state of grace, though wasn’t feeling scared about anything.
 
Many of us aren’t scared because we have learned to trust God even when we fall down. We know that we just need to ask God for help and get back up.

We do feel sorry and a little sad that our sin made Jesus sad or moved us further from God. You saying you don’t want these sins to interfere with your faith life sounds like that.
 
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Yeah I don’t. I don’t think I’m allowed to tell you my sin, though I want to turn away from it as it does hurt my faith.
 
Username7 said:
but I don’t ‘feel’ any fear, or contrition physically.
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Contrition is an act of the will, not a feeling. You can feel nothing yet truly be sorry for your sins. Conversely, you could cry your eyes out and not have true contrition.

Re fear: There are 2 kinds of fear: servile fear and filial fear. Both are in the traditional Act of Contrition:

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because I have offended Thee, my God, Who are all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, do penance, to amend my life, to avoid sin and the near occasions of sin. Amen.

Servile fear is when we are sorry for our sins because we “dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell”.

Filial fear is being sorry for our sins because we have offended God Who is all-good.

Hope this helps. I have to go to church now. 👋
 
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I have discussed this with him, but I don’t think I get much of a clear answer. If he’s not busy I’ll maybe ask him after mass today. Thanks for the reply, God Bless.
 
He does, yes. But I read if you don’t have any contrition then the absolution is invalid.
 
Username7 said:
But I read if you don’t have any contrition then the absolution is invalid.
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The priest is not going to absolve you if he thinks you don’t have contrition.

The only way it could be invalid would be if you lied to the priest and put on a big show of being contrite when in reality you just didn’t care. Obviously that’s not the case or you wouldn’t have bothered to start this thread even.
 
You’ve already posted a thread along similar lines. It would seem that you’re struggling with scrupulosity. You should not ask questions like this online, but instead should seek help offline with a priest and maybe a counselor. Asking online will only drive your compulsions further.

Others would be well advised to stop replying.

You are in my prayers.

-Fr ACEGC
 
You may be right. (I recently came back to the church after 10-12+ years away, so I never really knew much to start with, and I still don’t know much) but I thought turning away from your sins was just repentance.
 
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If theres even a really really small part of you wanting to be forgiven then thats sufficient. Just go to confession 🙂
 
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I think there’s a big part of me that wants to be forgiven, I was just worried that wasn’t enough for forgiveness, because I didn’t really ‘feel’ anything. I know I don’t want to go to hell, but again like I said I’m not shaking and fretting in fear about it, it’s just another thing on my mind, and it comes and goes.

I thought a full on feeling, and constantly thinking (against your will) about eternal damnation was needed for at least imperfect contrition. Though the priest told me just wanting to be forgiven, and making an effort to not commit the same sins in the future (so long as I had full control over them) as well as going to confession was enough for a valid confession, and absolution. I guess I have difficulty listening, and taking what people say who are significantly more credited than myself to heart. Even though I know the priest knows more about this then I ever have.
 
Update: I did go to confession today, he was kind of rushing me so I’m a little concerned it may not have been valid. He absolved me, i may have missed some venial sins, and I hope I confessed all of my mortal sins, I’m also a little worried that I didn’t confess in number, I didn’t intend to but I may have. Thoughts?
 
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