General Confession

[Online_Knight]

I know that this question has been asked a few times in the AAA forum, but I haven’t gotten a straight answer…

I am a cradle Catholic who, like many youths, did not fully understand the faith and did not give it the considerations that I should have. In my mid-twenties, I was fortunate enough to find my way back to the sacraments. I have made several confessions and even a general confession. I want to leave my past behind, but I occaisionally remember past mortal sins. Did my general confession take care of this or will I have to continue to confess the sins of my past for the rest of my life?

 

[PhilotheaZ]

As long as your general confession was honest and as complete as possible at the time (i.e., you confessed all the mortal sins you were aware of at the time, not deliberately withholding any), then ALL your sins were forgiven, even those you honestly forgot to mention. If those forgotten sins come back to mind afterward, you can confess them in your next confession (as a matter of justice, and to ease your mind), but it is not necessary to repeat your prior confessions.

However, if we deliberately withhold any mortal sins in a confession, then the entire confession is invalid, none of the confessed sins are forgiven, and the confession must be repeated, to include the sin(s) which were deliberately withheld, as well as the sin of making a bad confession.

If you made your confession as honestly as possible but are still plagued with feelings of guilt or doubt that you have been forgiven, you may be suffering from scrupulosity. The best cure for this is to stick with ONLY ONE trustworthy confessor, explain your difficulty to him, and obey his advice.

 

[otjm]

While it is laudable to tell the sin you remembered after the general confession in the next confession you partake in, there is also the issue of giving way to scrupulosity. You were forgiven. It is time to put them behind your back, as God has done, and start looking forward.

God doesn’t play “gotcha!”.