Confession help

[seanom]

So I was reading a newsletter written by a priest and in it he was discussing mortal sin. He basically said if you believe a trivial act is a mortal sin and do it, it’s not the trivial act which is the serious matter but the desire to offend God is the serious matter. So if one commits this trivial thing believing at the time to be more serious, should he confess in confession that he had a desire to offend God or confess the trivial matter or both? Any advice please

 

[Ad_Orientem]

Right, I’d confess both: “Father, I thought X was a mortal sin, and did it anyway.” You *could *just say “I committed a venial sin thinking it was mortal,” but he will likely ask what it was, just to be sure it’s venial.

 

[teachccd]

All mortal sin requires serious matter for it to be mortal. So if you committed a sin with venial matter but did it thinking that it would sever your relationship with God and didn’t care then the serious matter was your assent of the will to separate yourself from God. The actual act committed is not relevant since had it been done under mere weakness it would have been a venial sin since there was no serious matter. That really is the nuts and bolts of your question but you really need the advice of a good confessor to help you with an examination of conscience and an understanding of the ten commandments. It is good that you recognized this enough to ask the question. God bless you on this Good Friday.

 

[Zenkai]

edited by me.