General Confession

[Brooklyn]

A friend of mine last year told me that he wants to do a General Confession, which is when you confess all the sins of your entire life. Frances de Sales recommends it in “Introduction to the Devout Life”:

"“A general confession”, says St. Francis de Sales, “is for the majority of Christians a necessary means of salvation. It gives us a more complete knowledge of our- selves; it fills us with a wholesome shame at the sight of our sins; it relieves our mind of much anxiety and gives peace to our conscience; it excites in us good resolutions; it shows us God’s wonderful patience and mercy towards us; it enables our confessor to direct us more safely; and, finally, it so dilates our heart, that we are ever after able to make our confession with greater confidence.”

My friend told me the reason he wants to do this is because sins from the past keep coming back to his mind. I have the same problem. I was away from the Church for 38 years, and I went to confession when I came back and made the best confession I could, trying to recall 38 years worth of sin. That was 3 years ago and I feel that I’ve grown since then and would really like to unburden my soul.

Has anyone ever done this? I was blessed to be able to go to Father George Rutler when I came back to the Church, and I want to ask him if he will hear my general confession as well.

I found this link on making a general confession:

scribd.com/doc/11584120/Microsoft-Word-General-Confession-and-Examination-of-Conscience

Just looking for feedback on this one and what you all think. Thanks.

 

[RosaryCrusader]

Yes, I’ve done it a couple of times - and although it’s hard - it’s well worth the effort - especially in the context of a 5 day Ignatian retreat. My pastor once said that the reason Christ allows you to remember some past sins and still feel sorry for them is to let you know how much that sin hurt Him and that perhaps enough penance has not been performed in satisfaction.

I would definitely encourage your friend and tell him to carry a little notepad with him so he can jot down notes as he remembers sins over the days leading up to the general confession. It’s very difficult to try to remember everything in one sitting and so the notebook and a few days of prayer and recollection will certainly help.

Painful - but worth it!

 

[Scoobyshme]

I’ve done it once. I highly recommend it. It’s like house cleaning from top to bottom, including the corners, baseboards, ceiling, attic, porch, underneath the furniture, etc. Hospital clean.

 

[nickybr38]

That seems to me like it would create a very long confession.

Would this kind of confession include details or just a laundry list?

I find Confession terribly fascinating which is why I ask. Even as a Protestant confession appealed to me greatly.

 

[Scoobyshme]

That seems to me like it would create a very long confession.

Would this kind of confession include details or just a laundry list?

I find Confession terribly fascinating which is why I ask. Even as a Protestant confession appealed to me greatly.

Good point. Usually you would schedule an appointment with the priest separate from regular Confession. He will go through things with a fine toothed comb, area by area, Commandment by Commandment, and weed out any sins you may not have confessed before.

 

[baltobetsy]

It’s a good thing to do on retreat. I did one confession of my entire life at an important turning point in my spiritual life. The priest at that one told me I did not need to confess these things again, and if I wanted to make general confessions, it should cover the period of time since the last general confession. That worked really well for me. For a while, I was able to go on retreats every year, and my retreat confessions covered both the new stuff from the past week and the previously confessed stuff from the preceding year. It was beneficial to see the patterns of sin and also the progress made over the year.

A general confession of your whole life could be a good thing now that you have a fuller understanding of your sins and such than you did when you returned to the Church.

Thumbs up to Fr. Rutler - he’s a great choice for this occasion.

Betsy

 

[Student09]

For someone who was baptized as an adult, if they made a general confession, would they confess everything from before their baptism or only after?

 

[Scoobyshme]

For someone who was baptized as an adult, if they made a general confession, would they confess everything from before their baptism or only after?

After. Everything before is already taken care of.

 

[puzzleannie]

I have been counseled that a general confession is appropriate when you are entering on a new phase in your life that has followed long discernment and involves a commitment, such as marriage, religious profession, change of career, retirement, for instance. Also at such time as maturity and growth in knowledge of the Faith has given one deeper understanding of reasons why the past actions were sinful, and aroused a deeper, more sincere contrition. It may proceed a bit differently than with someone who is confessing those sins for the first time, and the priest should know that you understand you have already been forgiven and the reasons why you want to make a general confession at this time. A retreat where the time for reflection has aroused that deeper conviction and compunction is also a good time, and usually allows one to spend more time with the priest. An Ignatian retreat, for instance, where reflection on the Passion should lead to deeper conviction of ones faults, should include such a confession. It is not a Saturday afternoon 5 minutes before Mass thing.

Someone may have confessed and been absolved of say, “sins of impurity” in the past, and with maturity now is able to name the old sin specifically with clearer understanding of its sinful nature, and overcome prior embarrassment or unease in making a more honest confession. As long as the penitent acknowledges that Jesus was never in doubt of the truth of his sin, the honesty relates to his own interior perception and understanding of the situation, it can be a good thing to confess again as part of that growth process. If someone has not resolved the surrounding issues that led to the old sinful habit, and is still suffering psychologically or spiritually, confession can help and give the priest another opportunity to assure the penitent of forgiveness and absolution.

As always the person who struggles with scrupulosity should be guided by his regular trusted confessor on whether or not a general confession is an appropriate spiritual exercise for him.

 

[samovila]

I’m having a little trouble understanding the purpose of a general confession. I suppose since I make a good confession semi monthly the purpose is not absolution, correct? The purpose would be more to relieve my own concience of those sins from my past that may not have been properly or thoroughly confessed or continue to bother me even though they were properly confessed?

The idea of sitting down, recalling and confessing my life’s sins does sound appealing to me. There are times I recall sins from my past and wonder whether or not I confessed them years ago at a previous confession. Usually I tell myself that since I make regular sincere confessions those sins are absolved no matter what, but should I make certain by doing a general confession?

 

[m134e5]

After. Everything before is already taken care of.

I would imagine that you would confess everything from before baptism as well, since everything is also taken care of when you do a regular (non-general) confession. The sacramental value of a general confession is no different than any other sacramental confession- sins are either forgiven or not forgiven- there’s no in between here. As any other confession, a general confession gives grace. A general confession deals more with the emotional/physical side of things- it’s to give people an opportunity to talk about everything- as far back as they can remember- so they can put their lives into perspective. People who do them know that many of the sins they are talking about have already been forgiven- they just want to look and have someone else look at where they’ve been and where they are, and figure out where they need to be and how to get there. It should only be done by those who are spiritually and emotionally ready for this type of thing (emotionally stable, not scrupulous, etc.). Since (I would imagine) it’s a pretty intense experience, I don’t imagine people do it regularly. It’s probably something people who do them only do them if they are about to make a big change or pass a significant milestone in their lives- such as marriage, ordination, an anniversary that is particularly significant to them (maybe every 10 years, plus the 25th and 75th- or something like that).

 

[DeepeningFaith]

I would imagine that you would confess everything from before baptism as well, since everything is also taken care of when you do a regular (non-general) confession. The sacramental value of a general confession is no different than any other sacramental confession- sins are either forgiven or not forgiven- there’s no in between here.

I agree. You in no way are ever required to confess anything before your Baptism, but in the case of a General Confession, I recommend it.

Pax!