Confession Question

[kwray]

Hi there,

Yesterday I went to confession, and confessed my sins, but when the priest was making his comments afterwards, I realized that he had obviously thought I said a different sin than one I had actually said. The sin I confessed was more serious than the one he thought I said.

Do you think I need to re-confess that sin in a future confession?

 

[LaMama]

This happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I confessed the sin of pride and the priest talked to me about forgiveness. To my surprise and delight it was just what I really needed. I didn’t get what I asked for. I got what I needed. Trust in the Lord and He will provide all that we need.

 

[reggieM]

The priest may well have heard you clearly but was giving you advice to give you something else to think about.
In other words, you can’t judge his knowledge on that. You can’t control his response either. You can only judge yourself. If you confessed sincerely and directly, with contrition, then with the words of absolution, all of your mortal sins are taken away.
When you confess to the priest, you’re confessing to God – through the sacrament.
You cannot possibly be guilty of a mortal sin after receiving sacramental absolution in that case – so no, it’s not necessary to re-confess.

Sometimes, our conscience may bother us even after we confessed. If so, you can always end your next confession with something like:

“I am sorry for all of the sins of my life, even those I have failed to recognize”.

This is not necessary at all (because Confession takes all those sins that we didn’t know about away anyway), but it might help to give a feeling of completeness.

 

[JRKH]

Hi there,

Yesterday I went to confession, and confessed my sins, but when the priest was making his comments afterwards, I realized that he had obviously thought I said a different sin than one I had actually said. The sin I confessed was more serious than the one he thought I said.

Do you think I need to re-confess that sin in a future confession?

I would say no. You confessed your sins honestly and completely and received absolution.
Unless you think that there might be reason for the priest to withold absolution if he really understood the sin. (you robbed abank and haven’t given the money back )

Of course if you feel that the advise you received was insufficiant you might talk to him about it the next time you go.

Peace
James