Can you help with my confusion over Confession?

[alt101]

i went to confession for years n years worth of stuff and i didn’t make a valid confession. i went back n tried to make a valid confession but left some of the things out that i said in the last confession, because i forgot. also, i’m not sure if i downplayed some of my sins because it had been so long since i had committed those particular sins. i can’t really remember my state of mind at the time. part of me says i did, but i can be scrupulous at times. also, i forgot to ask forgiveness for anything i forgot, and there may have been some mortal sins that i had forgotten. confession was agonizing and i have anxiety and was just wondering if i should go back and do it all over (again), or just trust in God’s mercy even though i have doubts about my confession. my mind is doing summersaults over this. i am completely torn. i don’t even feel good about going, even though i’m glad i got it over with. i just don’t know if it was good enough. i thought that after i completed my penance, i might feel better. i don’t. i’m even more depressed.

should i take that as a sign that i should go back? should i receive communion? i don’t know! the thought has occured to me that i’m just being scrupulous, but then i wonder if i’m in denial. this is driving me absolutely mad. i know when i was in there, i tried my hardest to make a good confession. if i downplayed some things, i don’t know. at the time, it felt like i did the best i could.

what should i do?

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Hi,

By the third sentence I knew that you have a problem with scruples.
You are being quite scrupulous. When one goes to Confession, all ones sins are forgiven–even the ones that are forgotten.

When one remembers a forgotten sin, he just mentions it the next time he confesses–not because it isn’t already forgiven, but as an act of sorrow and repentance.

How you feel does not determine the validity of the sacrament. Your sins are forgiven–now be at peace!

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.