Confession and The Sin of Presumption

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Hello, I have a dilemma. I am currently in mortal sin. I know I need to go to confession. I go to confession quite frequently, so I’m not one of those people who hasn’t gone in a while. However, I’m not sure if I should go today or not.

Yesterday, I had a very bad day of sin. While I was committing sin after sin, and I knew that what I was doing was wrong, a small part of me kept saying “keep going, you can be absolved of it tomorrow”. I am well aware of what the “sin of assumption” is, along with the notion of taking gods mercy for granted. However, I’m not sure if I myself was willfully generating those thoughts, or if they were intrusive thoughts, OCD related in my case. If they were intrusive thoughts, then it was just weakness on my part to resist temptation. However, if they weren’t, then it makes my sins even worse. I’m just not sure whether or not these thoughts were intrusive or not.

Anyway, I bring this up because, in the past, when I’ve had such “sin of assumption” debates with myself, I’ve always felt that I should delay a little until I go to confession. My reasoning is I feel like I need to prove to god that I truly am sorry, and that I’m not trying to use his mercy as a get out of jail free card. So, by delaying a few days, and avoiding my sin over the course of those few days, I feel like I’ve at least shown god that I’m not taking his mercy for granted, and that I genuinely want to break free from my sins. I know many will say that this is the devil manipulating me, and trying to get me not to go, but it really feels like the only way to show god I’m not trying to make a mockery out of him.

However, there is another twist to all of this. Whenever I enter into mortal sin, which is quite often unfortunately, I become very afraid of sudden death, and immediately going to hell. So, in the past, even though I’ve felt that I should have delayed going to confession for the reasons I’ve stated above, I’ve gone out of fear. I’m contemplating doing the same thing again, but I just feel so inauthentic about it, as if I’m just doing it to save my own butt, and not because I truly am sorry for having offended god. I truly want to be that person that wants to put god first in all things, including offending him as my number one reason to not sin. Unfortunately, I guess I’m just too selfish of a person to do so, at least at this point in my life.

So, wrapping this all up, for anyone that reads this over the next few hours, what are your thoughts? Should I go today, or would it be more respectful and genuine towards god on my part to wait a few days, and then go? Thanks.
 
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I personally think you should go to confession, because that’s what you want to do. As many times and as often as you need too.

Then you should either speaks to your priest, parents, friend or someone you can trust to help you understand why you are constantly falling into this sin you keep doing. You even know a head of time you are going to fall into this sin again… like you cant help yourself.

Also always go to God, you dont have to prove anything to Him, or lie to Him. He already knows what you are truly sorry for and what you arent sorry for. He hears it all and still loves you. He knows, so you might as well just be straight up with Him.

Talk to Him He can get you the help you need to keep you in His grace.
 
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If you are conscious of mortal sin on your soul, go to confession and do not delay! If you want to work on perfecting your contrition, that’s perfectly fine, and something you can work on outside of confession with the graces you’ll receive from going to confession. But do not let it keep you from fixing your friendship with God.
 
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If you are struggling with OCD, you need to seek help for that offline, and in consultation with your mental health professional, work out a healthy routine for going to confession. If you start going to confession obsessively, this could create problems for you both psychologically and spiritually.

Others would do well not to respond.

-Fr ACEGC
 
You need to find a priest and discuss all this with him in person.
You are way, way, way overthinking this, and you said in your first paragraph you have OCD. I presume you’re gettig some medical treatment for that as well.
Your whole thought process sounds like somebody suffering from OCD.
Making threads on the forum like this is not helpful to you and may make your condition worse.

Edited to add, sorry I didn’t notice Father already said this right above me. I agree with him.
 
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Hi Father,

I don’t necessarily disagree. I also don’t think it is necessarily bad to talk here. Not sure why you think you can just shut down all conversation. I happen to have some expertise myself in morals and also in this particular phenomenon.

-K
 
kapp19 said:
spiritual work of mercy for which I am extraordinarily well equipped
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Um, even if you’re somehow “more equipped” than a priest, I thought in cases of a poster with a disorder like OCD relating to confession, the forum had a longstanding protocol that said we were not to be giving them advice on here, and that they should talk to a priest in person and to their mental health counselor in person, because these kinds of threads might be harmful to them.

I’m not seeing why the protocol should not be followed for this poster in this case.
 
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kapp19 said:
You won’t make me feel bad - or convince me that I am imprudent - for doing a spiritual work of mercy for which I am extraordinarily well equipped. Sorry.

Peace…
-K
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OCD is not a spiritual matter. I agree with Father that the OP should seek help from a medical professional and not here.
 
kapp19 said:
The mods can do as they see fit. I want to help people as I can. How many people who are told to “go see someone” actually do?
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It’s probably less likely that people will seek professional help if they get used to seeking reassurance from strangers on the internet.
 
kapp19 said:
No doubt. But maybe you assume too much. I see many scrupulous people post on the forum… I don’t reach out to all this way.
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The priests and lay members in these forums all tell the OCD and scrupulous people to seek help outside these forums and to stop asking questions here.
 
kapp19 said:
You don’t know anything about the OP. But you know that the OP has a very specific psychological problem? At the extreme end of the schedule? I don’t think so.
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The OP used the term OCD, not @Montrose.

This is silly. I have no doubt your intentions are good, but the place for the OP to seek help for these issues is offline. OCD is a mental disorder. No reputable professional practices solely by exchanging anonymous messages on an Internet forum.

Telling a priest giving this standard (and good) advice that he’s trying to shut down the conversation is…well, it’s a bad look.
 
kapp19 said:
You won’t make me feel bad - or convince me that I am imprudent - for doing a spiritual work of mercy for which I am extraordinarily well equipped. Sorry.

Peace…
-K
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That’s not the attitude to take with a priest. I think he knows better than you on this matter.
 
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