Did I already confess a particular sin?

[Sophia714]

Hello, my question is…that I forget which mortal sins I’ve confessed and find myself continuing to either confess the sin repeatedly or not at all. In the past I had a very sinful life. Our Heavenly Father has filled me with the Holy Spirit and brought me to Him and I have completely changed my ways. I attend church several times a week, have a regular adoration hour each week, pray the rosary in front of the Blessed Sacrament with our rosary group after weekday mass, never miss a sunday mass, pray the divine mercy chaplet daily, confession monthly, and evangelize all the time. God brought me back to Him this strongly for the past few years. Before that I was a terrible sinner and I am truly sorry and sad and ashamed of my actions. But now I worry that I might think I’ve confessed a particular incident from my past life that I just happened to remember again, but worry “what if I haven’t?” This happens so much.the sins I committed haunt me sometimes. I think I’ll have to make a journal of what I’ve confessed to try to make sure I’ve covered them all. But that plan also sounds unrealistic. Does God know that I’m truly sorry for all the sins of my past life? I’m sure He does as I tell Him in confession and in my daily prayers. Is that good enough or should I keep confessing as memories emerge and I’m not sure if I’ve confessed them yet or not? I just want to add that going monthly helps me keep good track of all my current sins and I have no problem with that. It’s just those fom the past. Thank you and God Bless.

 

[PrayPsalm51]

Welcome Sophia
Truly God has forgiven those sins from your past-even the ones you THINK you forgot. You might consider making an appointment and doing what’s called a general confession. People sometimes do this at a major crossroad in their life, when returning to the church after an absence etc. You prepare by thinking of all the mortal sins and confessing them all. A good confessor will lead you through. After ward you can be confident it’s all gone and I bet you’ll be advised to not look back. A friend of mine told me about her general confession at a retreat and I decided to make one. I prepared for a long time. It was an amazing experience.

 

[captainrick]

Welcome Sophia
Truly God has forgiven those sins from your past-even the ones you THINK you forgot. You might consider making an appointment and doing what’s called a general confession. People sometimes do this at a major crossroad in their life, when returning to the church after an absence etc. You prepare by thinking of all the mortal sins and confessing them all. A good confessor will lead you through. After ward you can be confident it’s all gone and I bet you’ll be advised to not look back. A friend of mine told me about her general confession at a retreat and I decided to make one. I prepared for a long time. It was an amazing experience.

^ Good advice. Don’t worry, you’re fine!

 

[Vico]

Hello, my question is…that I forget which mortal sins I’ve confessed and find myself continuing to either confess the sin repeatedly or not at all. In the past I had a very sinful life. Our Heavenly Father has filled me with the Holy Spirit and brought me to Him and I have completely changed my ways. I attend church several times a week, have a regular adoration hour each week, pray the rosary in front of the Blessed Sacrament with our rosary group after weekday mass, never miss a sunday mass, pray the divine mercy chaplet daily, confession monthly, and evangelize all the time. God brought me back to Him this strongly for the past few years. Before that I was a terrible sinner and I am truly sorry and sad and ashamed of my actions. But now I worry that I might think I’ve confessed a particular incident from my past life that I just happened to remember again, but worry “what if I haven’t?” This happens so much.the sins I committed haunt me sometimes. I think I’ll have to make a journal of what I’ve confessed to try to make sure I’ve covered them all. But that plan also sounds unrealistic. Does God know that I’m truly sorry for all the sins of my past life? I’m sure He does as I tell Him in confession and in my daily prayers. Is that good enough or should I keep confessing as memories emerge and I’m not sure if I’ve confessed them yet or not? I just want to add that going monthly helps me keep good track of all my current sins and I have no problem with that. It’s just those fom the past. Thank you and God Bless.

I would keep a list somehow if you forget what was told. It is important to receive the penance for each sin that is morally possible to confess. We should confess all grave sins that we remember.

Baltimore Catechism No. 3 has some good Q&A on the topic.

Q. 741. What must we do to receive the Sacrament of Penance worthily?
A. To receive the Sacrament of Penance worthily we must do five things:

1. 
   *]We must examine our conscience.
   *]We must have sorrow for our sins.
   *]We must make a firm resolution never more to offend God.
   *]We must confess our sins to the priest.
   *]We must accept the penance which the priest gives us.
   
   **Q. 793. Is our Confession worthy if, without our fault, we forget to confess a mortal sin?
   A. If without our fault we forget to confess a mortal sin, our Confession is worthy, and the sin is forgiven; but it must be told in Confession if it again comes to our mind.
   
   Q. 800. Why does the priest give us a penance after Confession?**
   A. The priest gives us a penance after Confession, that we may satisfy God for the temporal punishment due to our sins.
   
   Q. 801. Why should we have to satisfy for our sins if Christ has fully satisfied for them?
   A. Christ has fully satisfied for our sins and after our baptism we were free from all guilt and had no satisfaction to make. But when we willfully sinned after baptism, it is but just that we should be obliged to make some satisfaction.
   
   Q. 802. Is the slight penance the priest gives us sufficient to satisfy for all the sins confessed?
   A. The slight penance the priest gives us is not sufficient to satisfy for all the sins confessed:
   1. Because there is no real equality between the slight penance given and the punishment deserved for sin;
   2. Because we are all obliged to do penance for sins committed, and this would not be necessary if the penance given in confession satisfied for all. The penance is given and accepted in confession chiefly to show our willingness to do penance and make amends for our sins.

 

[Sophia714]

Thank you all for your replies. I really appreciate your guidance! I like the idea of a general confession very much. The sins are so numerous as it was decades of sins so I’ll never be able to recall them all. But, it will be good to get as many down as I’ve recalled to date and then have the assurance that whatever I have forgotten at that point is not to worry about. If it was one more incident of a particular type of sin for which I had already confessed, then I can be at peace that the good general confession covered it and I have been absolved of it. I just want God to know that I am truly sorry for having offended Him and do so detest all of my sins.