Good Confession or Bad Confession?

[camillevincent]

Hi,

I have a very nit-picky and scrupulous question, but it’s bothering me:

I went to confession about two days ago, and made a good confession (told all my sins, was repentant, etc.) but for some reason, without even thinking about it, i told the priest it had been 3 weeks since my last confession. The thing is, in reality it had only been 1 week but i think subconsciously i didn’t want to sound like a nut that comes to confession like every week, especially since i really didnt have much to confess and i sometimes get the impression that priests think i’m wasting their time. this wasn’t a pre-meditated lie, but it just popped out and i didn’t even think about it as a lie until afterward.

so the question is - is a lie during confession (one which doesn’t involve the actual confessing part but is told during the preliminaries) a mortal sin? i mean, do i need to confess it (at this point i’ll have to say “2 days”!) before i can take communion?

Thanks-
Camille

 

[bilop]

Hi,

I have a very nit-picky and scrupulous question, but it’s bothering me:

I went to confession about two days ago, and made a good confession (told all my sins, was repentant, etc.) but for some reason, without even thinking about it, i told the priest it had been 3 weeks since my last confession. The thing is, in reality it had only been 1 week but i think subconsciously i didn’t want to sound like a nut that comes to confession like every week, especially since i really didnt have much to confess and i sometimes get the impression that priests think i’m wasting their time. this wasn’t a pre-meditated lie, but it just popped out and i didn’t even think about it as a lie until afterward.

so the question is - is a lie during confession (one which doesn’t involve the actual confessing part but is told during the preliminaries) a mortal sin? i mean, do i need to confess it (at this point i’ll have to say “2 days”!) before i can take communion?

Thanks-
Camille

No, you’re being scrupulous. You didn’t lie intentionally, you misspoke. You can’t sin subconsciously. Don’t worry.

God Bless

 

[Jsmith17]

I did the same thing last week. First, I got an elderly priest and it went like this:

“Bless me Father…its been a week…
I have some unconfessed sins I need to confess”

The priest then instructed me to pray the Act of Contrition and Absolved me… before I had even confessed anything.

I came out of the confessional confused and still feeling like I needed to confess, so I went over to the next confessional. When Father asked when my last confession was I said a week… even though it really had only been a few minutes.

What say ye about this one?

 

[Simon_X]

I did the same thing last week. First, I got an elderly priest and it went like this:

“Bless me Father…its been a week…
I have some unconfessed sins I need to confess”

The priest then instructed me to pray the Act of Contrition and Absolved me… before I had even confessed anything.

I came out of the confessional confused and still feeling like I needed to confess, so I went over to the next confessional. When Father asked when my last confession was I said a week… even though it really had only been a few minutes.

What say ye about this one?

If you would have said, it’s been 3 minutes since my last Confession, he would have probably been very interested in what you did just walking down the hall outside of his Confessional…

 

[Spirithound]

I did the same thing last week. First, I got an elderly priest and it went like this:

What say ye about this one?

Fine. I’ve heard that the “proper matter” for this sacrament is saying your sins, and so thinking the same thing, you acted in good faith in actually verbalizing your sins to God.

 

[LilyM]

I did the same thing last week. First, I got an elderly priest and it went like this:

“Bless me Father…its been a week…
I have some unconfessed sins I need to confess”

The priest then instructed me to pray the Act of Contrition and Absolved me… before I had even confessed anything.

I came out of the confessional confused and still feeling like I needed to confess, so I went over to the next confessional. When Father asked when my last confession was I said a week… even though it really had only been a few minutes.

What say ye about this one?

The old formula used to be ‘it has been x weeks since my last GOOD confession’ - obviously you were doubtful of the validity of the first confession, so you weren’t wrong.

To the original question - John Paul II and Mother Teresa both confessed at least weekly, if not more often, so no priest should think that weekly confession is too often, and neither should you.

In fact Padre Pio recommended it ‘if you want to be a saint’, which is what we all need to be striving for, since no-one gets to heaven except they’re a saint.

 

[SenorSalsa]

I haven’t been in two weeks, and it feels like forever. I love weekly confession. It’s humbling if nothing else.

 

[Paladin_V]

Well, last week I went to confession on Friday morning… and had to go again on Saturday morning. Stupid persistent sins.

Needless to say, it was a bit embarrassing telling the priest it had been 24 hours since my last confession… I considered it additional penance for being a moron.

Fortunately I didn’t have the same priest as the day before