confession question

[Trevelyan]

That’s even if, taking into account all of what I described in all of the above posts, and with my examination of conscience being so poor, even though it was covering a period of up to even ten months at time? I still need not worry?

I apologize for bothering everyone. I know I need help, but it is difficult for me to find the help I need. I have the book Understanding Scrupulosity, but there are so many questions that I have…

Like I said, I have been through it myself; I know that any question like these you have is a scrupulous thought and must not be entertained AT ALL.

Whenever you think ‘even if X?’ or ‘even if Y?’ - banish the thought from your mind.

The answer to your question is of course no, you don’t need to worry, but as soon as your mind is at rest over that little detail, another question may soon arise in your mind. It will go on forever if you do not right now stop thinking about ANY ‘even if’s’ - because you know that ‘even if…ANYTHING’, you do not need to worry - because God’s Grace in the sacrament of Reconciliation covers everything in your past.

So, taking into account ALL that you said in ALL your posts - AND, ALL that you didn’t say and ALL that you may or may not ever remember ever again, you do not need to worry.

God instituted the Sacraments for us weak humans and he knows our human frailty, that is why he does not demand of us a perfect accounting of every detail - which is humanly impossible - and therfore the Church does not want us to confess every detail.

Regardless of the length of time or how poor your examination of conscience was or ANY other detail, it’s all forgiven and in the past, and never ever ever need be thought about again.

And in your case, on the instruction of your confessor - in the person of Christ - to make a fresh start, you must never think about these things any more - do not even just think over this or that detail; any detail and any of these things must not even be thought about at all, you have to banish all such thoughts from your mind.

You know you are in God’s Grace, and you must make afresh start. I can tell you from personal experience -
do not let any of these thoughts stay in your mind any more.
Do not dwell on any of these things any more, do not even think briefly over this or that detail.

Scrupulous thoughts are temptations, and must be treated as such. If through scrupulousity you have many questions - abandon them all right now and know as a fact that the answer to every question is that it is a scrupulous thought and therefore does not need to be thought about or answered - but banished.

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our sins”

“you have cast all my sins behind your back.”

Trust in the infinite Mercy of God, which you have received.

 

[setitstraight]

Scrupulous anonymous

I came across a fantastic resource for people who stress over the details of confession, published by mission.liguori.org/

" All of our products are educational and pastoral in nature. Probably our most well known publication is the Liguorian magazine, one of America 's leading Catholic periodicals."

They publish Scrupulous anonymous and you can find tonnes of questions answered by a priest. Even if you aren’t scrupulous, you will find all sorts of information…I highly recommend reading the 10 commandments of the scrupulous, found at the bottom of this post.

The archives are here: mission.liguori.org/newsletters/archives.htm#SA

Here is the ten commandments for the scrupulous:

mission.liguori.org/newsletters/scrupulosity.htm

 

[mommyof4]

Setitstraight - I agree with that the liguori site is very helpful to the scrupulous person, or even the person who has some questions on the “how” or “why” parts of confession, examination of conscience, mortal vs veniel sins, etc. I also highly recommend the book Understanding Scrupulocity by Thomas Santa. I’m reading it right now, and it has answered so many questions for me, and has brought a lot of peace to my mind.

 

[setitstraight]

Setitstraight - I agree with that the liguori site is very helpful to the scrupulous person, or even the person who has some questions on the “how” or “why” parts of confession, examination of conscience, mortal vs veniel sins, etc. I also highly recommend the book Understanding Scrupulocity by Thomas Santa. I’m reading it right now, and it has answered so many questions for me, and has brought a lot of peace to my mind.

Setitstraight - I agree with that the liguori site is very helpful to the scrupulous person, or even the person who has some questions on the “how” or “why” parts of confession, examination of conscience, mortal vs veniel sins, etc. I also highly recommend the book Understanding Scrupulocity by Thomas Santa. I’m reading it right now, and it has answered so many questions for me, and has brought a lot of peace to my mind.

I hear you loud and clear. I can’t help but noticed that there are hundreds of question about confession, penance etc, on this site… I have read a few disastrously damaging replies by well meaning people who do not recognize that the OP may be torturing themselves over a technicality. Most people provide very thoughtful responses to try and help the person.

When someone doubts that they have been absolved from their sins because the priest may not have used the word " I " in the words of absolution, or perhaps the priest coughed during the words, my advice is that people tread very carefully if they intend on giving a rigid, ’ this is the way it MUST be ’ answer.

I say, save the rigid answers for a spiritual director, Priest or Confessor to convey.

It can be difficult, but I read it best on the Net, from a Priest, I can’t remember who or where, that our Lord did not intend for his followers to lose their salvation over a technicality.

I was unaware that this problem existed or that many people experience it, now my eyes have been opened.

It’s easy to get lost in the ’ technicalities’ and forget about the purpose…approaching God for forgiveness, receiving it, doing penance and doing your best to change your life.

 

[Mom_of_5]

I hear you loud and clear. I can’t help but noticed that there are hundreds of question about confession, penance etc, on this site… I have read a few disastrously damaging replies by well meaning people who do not recognize that the OP may be torturing themselves over a technicality. Most people provide very thoughtful responses to try and help the person.

When someone doubts that they have been absolved from their sins because the priest may not have used the word " I " in the words of absolution, or perhaps the priest coughed during the words, my advice is that people tread very carefully if they intend on giving a rigid, ’ this is the way it MUST be ’ answer.

I say, save the rigid answers for a spiritual director, Priest or Confessor to convey.

It can be difficult, but I read it best on the Net, from a Priest, I can’t remember who or where, that our Lord did not intend for his followers to lose their salvation over a technicality.

I was unaware that this problem existed or that many people experience it, now my eyes have been opened.

It’s easy to get lost in the ’ technicalities’ and forget about the purpose…approaching God for forgiveness, receiving it, doing penance and doing your best to change your life.

Great post !! I get upset when I read posts from scrupulous posters. It makes me sad that the mechanics seem more important than the sincerity and desire of the penitent. It seems that by doing that, more “power” is given to the priest hearing and “absolving/ forgiving” the confession than God. There are many priests who are scrupulous as well as lay people. You are so right, Set it Straight, we simply need to do our best and go on with life, not look in the rear view mirror all the way through life. We miss too much up front.

Love and peace,
Mom of 5

 

[anonon]

Confess your sins anonymously, online at iconfessmyself.blogspot.com