Failure to recall all sins during First Confession

[Golinde]

I’m attending RCIA at the moment and I recently went to my first adult confession, which I was told had to be done prior to confirmation, and recounted to the best of my memory at that time, all the sins I could remember. After being forgiven for my for my sins and receiving a penance from Father, which I did, I felt good. A recent event however has triggered a recollection of a prior sin and I have now remembered additional sins, which when asked by Father during the confession about those particular sins, didn’t recall them at the time and said I had not committed that type of sin. A couple of these sins are mortal and I feel guilty for not having recalled them at the time, even after having examined my conscience prior to confession. It feels like I didn’t confess properly and I am beginning to feel weighed down by this omission. Any advice on what I should do?

 

[Baloo]

Well, I think I read in a pamphlet that I got on confession said that a part of confession is confessing to not confessing to sins at your last confession. So when you go to your next confession, you can confess to not confessing certain sins.

 

[pentecostbaby]

I would check on this, but: as long as you intended to confess all your sins (i.e., you didn’t hold anything back on purpose), they are forgiven. It is a good practice to confess them anyway; however, it’s not necessary.

Do not feel weighed down! Jesus’s Mercy is infinite. Try saying a Divine Mercy chaplet and maybe read some of St. Faustina’s diary. I promise that these things will make you feel better. Remember that nothing you did is so great that His Mercy can’t forgive it!

 

[LilyM]

There’s no reason for you to feel bad. Remember two golden rules -

1. if you didn’t KNOW at the time you did something that it was a sin, then it doesn’t need to be confessed - it in fact was NOT a sin for you.

You wouldn’t expect your child to apologise when they’re ten or fifteen for kicking you in the knee when they were one-and-a-half and didn’t know any better. Neither does God expect us to confess behaviour that we didn’t know was sinful at the time we did it.

1. we’re humans, not computers or machines. Our recall of anything, even of sin, is usually imperfect. Assuming you’re an adult convert, it’s guaranteed you’ve got a LOT of past that you have to examine, which makes it much more difficult.

God knows all this and doesn’t expect the impossible (ie a perfect recall of everything we’ve ever done in our lives). Again, if you were asking your ten or fifteen-year-old child to apologise for everything they’ve ever done wrong to you in their lives, it stands to reason you wouldn’t be upset that they genuinely forgot a few things (like that kick in the knee when they were one-and-a-half).

Realise that you are, as of now, absolved of ALL your sins, since your intent was honestly and sincerely to confess all you mortal sins. You are even absolved of the ones you forgot to confess.

For future reference, only worry if you DELIBERATELY fail to mention a mortal sin in the confessional. Of course it will ease your mind to mention your forgotten sins in your next confession, so do so. Just don’t think for a moment that you haven’t been forgiven, or that you are at fault in any way for honestly forgetting or anything.

 

[Jesus_N_Cherie]

If the sins are serious, confess them.

But do not feel guilty for not having remembered them. You sound as though you did your best to examine your past sins. First Confessions are just that…the first ones. My 2nd graders just did so. How can they possibly remember ALL of the sins of their past. And you have been sinning quite a number of years more. God couldn’t have expected you to remember EVERYTHING…remember that He loves you.

However, it would be a good thing to confess serious sins that you have remembered the next time you go to confession. Just know that you still made a good confession before.

Realistically, you will probably remember for a while more sins that you had forgotten about. Venial sins you can just tell God you are sorry as they come up. Serious sins you should try to keep in mind enough to remember to confess them.

WELCOME HOME, and CONGRATULATIONS on having your sins absolved for the first time.
I’m really glad you are here!!

 

[melinda_s]

i asked my priest this after my first confession and he said that it’s already forgiven but if it bothers you to mention it at your next confession

 

[Golinde]

I went to see a Priest last Thursday who said that all my sins that were forgotten and not intentionally concealed at my first confession had been forgiven. This obviously put me more at ease.

I would still like to thank members for the suggestions and advice given. Much appreciated.