Confession and How much detail

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Sooner4Christ

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I have always wondered how much detail we are to give while going into confession.

Especially sins of lust.

For example if one were to look at a woman in a lustful way, are we to describe how we looked at the woman? or just merely state we committed a sin by looking at a woman lustfully?

Or take it to the other extreme, X rated movies, X rated material on the web…

To what degree or extent is sufficient?
 
IMHO the answer is whatever you are comfortable with saying as long as you say enough so the sin and its gravity are clear to the Priest, yet not so much as being “un-necessary detail” that the Priests doesn’t need to know anyway. Oh - and as long as you are honest with yourself as to what the sin is and what you are confessing - Jesus knows 😉

Just saying things like “I have lusted after someone”, “I have had lustful thoughts”, “I exhibited immoral behavior”, etc. is fine.
 
I concur with awalt. It is as important not to bring the confessor into an occasion of sin as it is to let him know the nature of your sin.
 
I would say that the extent is important too.

To look, glance, stare for a few seconds and think a few thoughts is very very different from looking, staring, thinking, imagining and allowing it to linger in your thoughts or move into actions.

One one end of the spectrum it’s venial and the longer it lingers the closer to mortal it gets.

It’s better to ask whether the sin is mortal or not - how else will you know how to avoid it in the future?

I firmly believe that our faithful priests have heard it all - and if they haven’t - Jesus has seen it all, and it’s our responsibility to know the depth of our offenses to God than to say some sugarcoated words and hope we’re forgiven.

my :twocents:

=)
Kat
 
Yes but what happens if you view material which partakes on other sins for instance one may look at lustful material, however at times you have viewed material which invokes homosexuality/lesbian pornography. Is the sin made graver?
 
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