Can priest absolve me if I think I have no sins since last confesion?

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lifesoldier

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I went to confesion and told priest that I think I haven’t sinned since last time I went to confesion, but I would like God to forgive me if there is something. He asked me why did I go to confesion. I said that I went because God is only judge. He said that he can’t absolvee, he blessed me and sent me out. Did priest have the right to do this? How can I be sure that I am in the state of grace? I don’t want to sin again. Does that mean that I should never go to confesion again?
 
If there is no sin to absolve, there is nothing to absolve. You sound a little scrupulous.

If you were married, I would say, if you think you have no sins to confess, just ask your spouse!
 
You are guilty of the sin of pride…possibly arrogance…self-delusion…narcissism.

Do I need to go on? It is spiritually impossible for a mortal (unless he is in a coma) to complete one day without committing sin. That is our human (fallen) condition. Your arrogance in speaking thus to a priest is quite staggering.

You seem to have managed a bagful…think about it. The Sin of Pride is the greatest sin of all. It caused the fall of Lucifer, Adam and Judas. It is the subltest of all Sin since in our self-righteousness we say ‘This is no Sin.’

PS: Even in this simplest of replies I have committed the sin of Pride…thinking/maintaining that I know better than you. I apologise for this but at least it might demonstrate to you the subtlety and the ease with which PRIDE enters into our lives. Rest assured you are a constant sinner like the rest of us.
 
lifesoldier said:
I went to confesion and told priest that I think I haven’t sinned since last time I went to confesion, but I would like God to forgive me if there is something. He asked me why did I go to confesion. I said that I went because God is only judge. He said that he can’t absolvee, he blessed me and sent me out. Did priest have the right to do this? How can I be sure that I am in the state of grace? I don’t want to sin again. Does that mean that I should never go to confesion again?
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Baltimore Catechism:Q. 780. What sins are we bound to confess?
A. We are bound to confess all our mortal sins, but it is well also to confess our venial sins.

Q. 781. Why is it well to confess also the venial sins we remember?
A. It is well to confess also the venial sins we remember:
1. Because it shows our hatred of all sin, and
2. Because it is sometimes difficult to determine just when a sin is venial and when mortal.
Q. 782. What should one do who has only venial sins to confess?
A. One who has only venial sins to confess should tell also some sin already confessed in his past life for which he knows he is truly sorry; because it is not easy to be truly sorry for slight sins and imperfections, and yet we must be sorry for the sins confessed that our confession may be valid – hence we add some past sin for which we are truly sorry to those for which we may not be sufficiently sorry.

Q. 783. Should a person stay from confession because he thinks he has no sin to confess ?
A. A person should not stay from confession because he thinks he has no sin to confess, for the Sacrament of Penance, besides forgiving sin, gives an increase of sanctifying grace, and of this we have always need, especially to resist temptation. The Saints, who were almost without imperfection, went to confession frequently.
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JimG said:
If there is no sin to absolve, there is nothing to absolve. You sound a little scrupulous.

If you were married, I would say, if you think you have no sins to confess, just ask your spouse!
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Cute!
 
Vico said:
Baltimore Catechism:Q. 780. What sins are we bound to confess?
A. We are bound to confess all our mortal sins, but it is well also to confess our venial sins.

Q. 781. Why is it well to confess also the venial sins we remember?
A. It is well to confess also the venial sins we remember:
1. Because it shows our hatred of all sin, and
2. Because it is sometimes difficult to determine just when a sin is venial and when mortal.
Q. 782. What should one do who has only venial sins to confess?
A. One who has only venial sins to confess should tell also some sin already confessed in his past life for which he knows he is truly sorry; because it is not easy to be truly sorry for slight sins and imperfections, and yet we must be sorry for the sins confessed that our confession may be valid – hence we add some past sin for which we are truly sorry to those for which we may not be sufficiently sorry.

Q. 783. Should a person stay from confession because he thinks he has no sin to confess ?
A. A person should not stay from confession because he thinks he has no sin to confess, for the Sacrament of Penance, besides forgiving sin, gives an increase of sanctifying grace, and of this we have always need, especially to resist temptation. The Saints, who were almost without imperfection, went to confession frequently.
​
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The saints who go to confession are there not to say “forgive if I can’t think of something”. They went to work on perfecting their lives. Confessing venial sins and growing in charity.

If one really feels they have committed no sins, I would say examine your conscience better.

Start looking at how you live out the beatitudes.

Have you been visiting the imprisoned?
Have you been pure in heart?
Humble?

Have you fed the hungry and clothed the naked?

Talk to the priest about how to grow in those areas. How to devote more time to God.
 
lifesoldier said:
I went to confesion and told priest that I think I haven’t sinned since last time I went to confesion, but I would like God to forgive me if there is something. He asked me why did I go to confesion. I said that I went because God is only judge. He said that he can’t absolvee, he blessed me and sent me out. Did priest have the right to do this? How can I be sure that I am in the state of grace? I don’t want to sin again. Does that mean that I should never go to confesion again?
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I’ll bet you are the first person ever that had not sinned since his last confession. Usually my sins to confess are sins of omission

Many examinations of conscience omit sins of omission.

[James]
{4:17} Therefore, he who knows that he ought to do a good thing, and does not do it, for him it is a sin.

Examples of sins of omission:

not praying for the members of one’s family
including one’s extended family and family members in purgatory

not praying for the holy souls in purgatory

not attending Mass
not going to confession often enough
not praying often enough
not helping those in need (recall the rich man and Lazarus)
not learning the Catholic Faith
not reading the Bible
not learning about and imitating the Saints

and on and on and on.
 
How about wishing you had a nice shirt or a new I-pad like a friend. It’s only a venial sin of envy. Also poking fun at someone without thinking. Another imperfection.

It’s not easy being perfect. The devil tempted Jesus… but only Jesus was able to totally resist the temptations.
 
I want to affirm you for going to confession in the first place! As we grow in our faith more is revealed the more we see how we are separate from God. That is really the definition of sin, causing separation from God.

While I would think hearing the sins of a cloistered convent would seem relatively minor to us, my guess is the sisters would have a greater ability to recognize ways in which they were apart from God and therefore may have a greater sense of remorse than most of us outside that environment.

Likewise, as people in the world live a more intentional life focussed on Christ, the more they tend to see the gulf between themselves and Christ.

Thanks for the topic.
 
Jon_S said:
The saints who go to confession are there not to say “forgive if I can’t think of something”. They went to work on perfecting their lives. Confessing venial sins and growing in charity.

If one really feels they have committed no sins, I would say examine your conscience better.

Start looking at how you live out the beatitudes.

Have you been visiting the imprisoned?
Have you been pure in heart?
Humble?

Have you fed the hungry and clothed the naked?

Talk to the priest about how to grow in those areas. How to devote more time to God.
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I am reminded daily of these virtues in the Marian prayer: pure, prudent, humble, faithful, devout, obedient, poor, patient, merciful, sorrowful. Each of those suggests positive actions.
 
Cromwell4 said:
It is spiritually impossible for a mortal (unless he is in a coma) to complete one day without committing sin.
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That does not sound like a very peaceful way to live a life.

I mean, wouldn’t you spend an awful lot of time worrying about which sin you’re about to commit?

This means that unless you happen to die moments after your last good confession, the odds of making it straight to heaven are very low, as the probability of dying with unconfessed sin is very high.
 
987mk said:
That does not sound like a very peaceful way to live a life.

I mean, wouldn’t you spend an awful lot of time worrying about which sin you’re about to commit?

This means that unless you happen to die moments after your last good confession, the odds of making it straight to heaven are very low, as the probability of dying with unconfessed sin is very high.
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To be guilty of an act that would damn a person to hell…it must be mortal, the person must know that it’s a sin and the person must give full consent of the will to commit the act.
 
If you have no mortal sins to confess, that’s very praiseworthy, but what about venial sins? We commit venial sins so often that often we don’t even realize them. It’s just part of our imperfect nature. Thank God that a worthy communion absolves us of these often forgotten sins.

However, the purpose of our spiritual life is not simply to prevent our mortally sinning, but to make us perfect. There’s a practice I follow, deriving from Ignatius’s Exercises, of making particular examens: selecting one fault of mine and resolving during my morning meditation to combat that fault. In the evening I give an account to myself of how I am doing with it, and weekly I give the account to my confessor, accusing myself of those times I’ve not lived up to the standards that I have set.

Perhaps in conjunction with your confessor, you might consider this practice so as to be rather stricter with your examinations of conscience?

God bless.
 
truetofaith said:
To be guilty of an act that would damn a person to hell…it must be mortal, the person must know that it’s a sin and the person must give full consent of the will to commit the act.
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It does sound most probable that most will end up in purgatory, as they’d have died with unconfessed venial sins.

It still sounds like heaven is reserved for those who made good confessions and died very shortly after leaving the confessional.
 
987mk said:
It does sound most probable that most will end up in purgatory, as they’d have died with unconfessed venial sins.

It still sounds like heaven is reserved for those who made good confessions and died very shortly after leaving the confessional.
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Venial sins are forgiven by worthily receiving communion. They needn’t be absolved as in confession, but this in no way speaks against the practice of confessing venial sins. For this reason, the Church takes great efforts to confer the Last Rites–Viaticum (last communion), Anointing, and the Apostolic Pardon–upon the dying, with confession and absolution if the dying person is able to confess. We wish to ensure that every possible sin is forgiven before death.

This forgives us of our sins, but in purgatory we undergo the temporal punishment due our sins if that was not undertaken in this life. The punishment fulfills God’s justice, while the forgiveness stems from His mercy.
 
It does sound like most people are headed for purgatory, 987mk! But wait…remember the criminal on the cross? Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” No purgatory…cool! 👍
 
truetofaith said:
It does sound like most people are headed for purgatory, 987mk! But wait…remember the criminal on the cross? Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” No purgatory…cool! 👍
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Good timing for that guy!
 
987mk said:
Good timing for that guy!
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You guys are completely misunderstanding Purgatory. Purgatory has virtually nothing to do with forgiving sins. We repent of our sins in this life. We trust Jesus and his grace. Even if you went to confession and died as you received absolution you likely still go to purgatory.

Purgatory is where we go to be transformed into holy people. It is where our soul is washed of the grime accumulated in this world.

It is where the temporal ATTACHMENTS To sin is removed from us. Making us worthy of the beatific vision.

The thief on the cross was heaven bound. He went through purgatory, either by his suffering on the cross or after death, or both.
 
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