Confession

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Poetpeace

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I am getting confirmed this upcoming Easter Weekend, and am hopefully going to get baptised as well. Now I know this means I don’t have a first confession, but my question is more towards what kind of things does one confess?

For example, if i had a single, immature, bad thought about my partner, should I confess to that? Or If I had impure thoughts about another man, would that be the level of seriousness that needs to be confessed?

A friend of mine at church said something along the lines of “If it damages other people or yourself, confess it.”

Is that the best way to think of it?

Thanks in advance!
 
You might try to find something about doing an Examination of Conscience. Ask at your church if they have something or know where you can get one. A good Catholic bookstoe should have one. Actually, I’m surprised that it hasn’t been suggested that you make your first confession already. I know that when I went through RCIA we had ours a few weeks before the Easter Vigil. Maybe your priest can even lead you through one to get your started.
 
FIRST you get baptized first then confirmed, if on Easter Vigil; then both at the same day.
1855 Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him. (1395)
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1857 For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”131
1858 Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: “Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother.”132 The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger. (2072, 2214)
1859 Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart133 do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin. (1734)
1860 Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest. (1735, 1767)
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Basically what the Catechism of the Catholic Church means by this is you have to confess mortal sin: grave, full knowledge and consent

Means it must be serious, gravely harmful to persons
Means it must be known its a sin before you commit or during committing it.
Means it must be by your own will, not forced upon you.

Thru all of this your singular instance of impure thought is only mortal if you indulged in it furthering its impurity.

It is always good for to confess venial sins.

One thing to take from this is:

Confess everything just talk to your priest, if your unsure confess it.
 
Poetpeace said:
A friend of mine at church said something along the lines of “If it damages other people or yourself, confess it.”

Is that the best way to think of it?
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That is indeed a good way to think of it. Just remember that that damage to yourself can include the distancing of yourself from God as well.

As for impure thoughts… these frequently come unbidden. It’s called ‘temptation’. It’s what we do with those temptations that matters: if you deliberately dwell on them in order to gain satisfaction from them, then yes, that’s a matter for confession, but if you dismiss them, then you’re fine: you did what you were meant to do and you’re improving or sustaining your virtue.
 
I have been with our local RCIA group for the last year and a half, so I have been prepared and properly educated about this. And, yes, I meant Im being baptised then confirmed on the same day.

“Means it must be serious, gravely harmful to persons
Means it must be known its a sin before you commit or during committing it.
Means it must be by your own will, not forced upon you.”

Ah this clears a lot op for me, thank you.
 
Poetpeace said:
I have been with our local RCIA group for the last year and a half, so I have been prepared and properly educated about this. And, yes, I meant Im being baptised then confirmed on the same day.

“Means it must be serious, gravely harmful to persons
Means it must be known its a sin before you commit or during committing it.
Means it must be by your own will, not forced upon you.”

Ah this clears a lot op for me, thank you.
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I would not formulate it per se like that: Here is how the Church formulates it in summary fashion:

Compendium issued by Pope Benedict XVI
  1. When does one commit a mortal sin?
1855-1861
1874

One commits a mortal sin when there are simultaneously present: grave matter, full knowledge, and deliberate consent. This sin destroys charity in us, deprives us of sanctifying grace, and, if unrepented, leads us to the eternal death of hell. It can be forgiven in the ordinary way by means of the sacraments of Baptism and of Penance or Reconciliation.
  1. When does one commit a venial sin?
1862-1864
1875

One commits a venial sin, which is essentially different from a mortal sin, when the matter involved is less serious or, even if it is grave, when full knowledge or complete consent are absent. Venial sin does not break the covenant with God but it weakens charity and manifests a disordered affection for created goods. It impedes the progress of a soul in the exercise of the virtues and in the practice of moral good. It merits temporal punishment which purifies.

vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html
 
Poetpeace said:
I am getting confirmed this upcoming Easter Weekend, and am hopefully going to get baptised as well.
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If your being “conditionally baptized” one would goto confession after such.

If one has never been baptized --one goes to confession later for baptism washes away ones sins.
 
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