Having difficulty trusting in God's mercy

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Monica4316

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I went to Confession today and said all my sins, but I feel anxiety that I havent been forgiven šŸ˜¦ I think thatā€™s false and I should trust in Godā€™s mercy. I really want to trust Him becaue I know distrust hurts Him. But I dont know how.

Can you please say a prayer for me that God would help me to trust in His forgiveness, and that if indeed I havenā€™t been forgiven for some reason, that He would show me and help me make another confession.

Iā€™m choosing to trust, but I still feel nervousā€¦ I dont know whyā€¦ but during the confession, after I said my sins, I felt peaceā€¦

I know itā€™s not about feelings, I just dont understand whatā€™s happening here :o

Thank you so much šŸ™‚

God bless.
 
Read LUKE; 7, 36-50 ā€œThe Penitent Womanā€. At the conclusion just ask yourself, has my love been ā€œsmallā€, i.e. not truthfull in the confession, not sincere in your effort to avoid sin. Go to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and cry before Him. Wash His feet with your tears, and He will heal you of your mistrust.
 
usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt2.shtml

Catechism of the Catholic Church

IX. The Effects of This Sacrament

1468 "The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to Godā€™s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship."73 Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious disposition, reconciliation "is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation."74 Indeed the sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about a true ā€œspiritual resurrection,ā€ restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the most precious is friendship with God.75

1469 This sacrament reconciles us with the Church. Sin damages or even breaks fraternal communion. The sacrament of Penance repairs or restores it. In this sense it does not simply heal the one restored to ecclesial communion, but has also a revitalizing effect on the life of the Church which suffered from the sin of one of her members.76 Re-established or strengthened in the communion of saints, the sinner is made stronger by the exchange of spiritual goods among all the living members of the Body of Christ, whether still on pilgrimage or already in the heavenly homeland:77
  • It must be recalled that . . . this reconciliation with God leads, as it were, to other reconciliations, which repair the other breaches caused by sin. The forgiven penitent is reconciled with himself in his inmost being, where he regains his innermost truth. He is reconciled with his brethren whom he has in some way offended and wounded. He is reconciled with the Church. He is reconciled with all creation.78
 
Contrition

Merciful God, I have sinned against others, against myself, and against You. I am unworthy to be Your child. I have offended Your goodness and Your dream of who I really am. I may have denied You the joy of blessings that You wish for me and for others through me.

You alone know the entire consequences of my failure. Yet Jesus assures us that You joyfully celebrate my return from sin, and run to welcome and reclaim me as Your own. I want to value myself as Your child, knowing that all worth and holiness comes from You.

In trust, I will not accuse myself for sins already forgiven and absolved or for temptation if I have not actually sinned. I believe that temptation can be overcome by Your grace, inspiring greater faithfulness to the Gospel and the Sacraments.

Look on those tasks of love and service that I fail to undertake or to complete, and bring them to completion. Please bring out of my failures, such fruits of these new opportunities enhanced beyond all previous expectation, for from our human betrayal of Your divine plan of Creation, Your mercy wrought the magnificent plan of redemption that reverberates through time and eternity!

In Your mercy, please transform into good all that in weakness or ignorance I may spoil. I want to give blessing that is abundant beyond original possibility, to anyone I ever harm or deprive. May I so belong to You, may I be so transformed by Your love, that nothing in my life can foster anything that impedes Your will. This, my soul in trusting confidence implores.
 
Our Father who art in heaven
hallowed be thy name
thy kingdom come
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven
give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgvie those who trespass against us
and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil
Amen
 
thanks everyone :hug1:

I said all the sins I could think of in the confession, and I didnā€™t try to deceive the priestā€¦ During and after the Confession I felt peace. But once I got home I started wondering if I should have made them more clearā€¦with one sin, I said the circumstances of it and the nature of the sin, but it was difficult to explain, and I was already so scared to SAY the sin I didnā€™t go into more detailā€¦ I donā€™t know if I should haveā€¦ And after thinking this way for a while, I began having doubts, and then feeling anxiety. I think I should just trust God that I was forgiven.

Do you think I was forgiven even if I avoided going into detail because of fear? (I was very nervous during the confession). But the detail was not very necessary, I said what the sin* was*ā€¦ I just think I could have said it even better. Do things like that invalidate confession? I know leaving something out because of fear and deceiving the priest is not goodā€¦but what about leaving out detail (if itā€™s unnecessary and doesnā€™t change the nature of the sin) due to fear?

thanks again!
 
Dear Monica I am sure God can see you are truly sincere.Trust in God,He loves you.

Our Father who art in heaven
hallowed be thy name
thy kingdom come
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven
give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgvie those who trespass against us
and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil
Amen
 
We ask You Father, to keep your daughter safe from scrupulosity.
St Therese, who as a child suffered from scrupulosity, please intercede that the pressures of Monicaā€™s life do not cause her to develop that tendency.
Pray that she will have trust in Godā€™s love and mercy as deep as yours during the remainder of your life, even in painful illness.
 
A lot of my fear here comes from fear of hellā€¦ of dying and then finding out that this one sin I confessed incorrectly and would be separated from God because of it for all eternity. If it was forgiven, I want to trust Godā€¦ if not, or if I just need more guidance, then Iā€™d speak to a priest
 
Monica,God knows your inner most thoughts and your true intent.If you feel you have not confessed ā€œproperlyā€ or adequately,you could either have a chat with a priest or go to confession again next week.Try not to worry too much in between.Speak to God through prayer and He will know what you feel inside,what really matters.God bless

Our Father who art in heaven
hallowed be thy name
thy kingdom come
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven
give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgvie those who trespass against us
and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil
Amen
 
I too had trouble in trusing in Gods Mercy. Actually I trusted in God, but not myself. I got caught up it wondering had I confesed everything and went throught the whole " Scruples " bit. I was happy after confesion and then my mind ran away with its self .One day I was saying the Rosary and was passing a cruifix and looking at it I asked myself Who else, family or otherwise would do this for ME so that I could get to Heaven? Quite simply no one. I then came across some Saints who suffered also from scruples and I began to come to terms with the fact, that Jesus would help me and Our Lady but I would have to battle with myself as well. I pray to St. Padre Pio as he was the man for confessions, and my prayers were answered.
All that is not to say that I might not have a wobble now and then, but discern that I have been here before and do not need to revisit it.
I also came across " The ten commandments for the scrupulous" written by Fr Don Miller. almost 30 yrs ago. They are the Redemptorists Fathers founded by St Alphonus Liguori Italy. You will get them at http;//mission.liguori.org/newsletters/scrupulosity.htm
They are a great comfort and keep you on the straight and narrow. šŸ™‚
Perhaps this is not your problem at all and God just wants you to suffer a little in your spiritual life. Sometimes He throws a little question our way to improve some aspect of our life.
Hope this is of a little value to you God Bless šŸ™‚ šŸ‘
 
Monica4316 said:
thanks everyone :hug1:

I said all the sins I could think of in the confession, and I didnā€™t try to deceive the priestā€¦ During and after the Confession I felt peace. But once I got home I started wondering if I should have made them more clearā€¦with one sin, I said the circumstances of it and the nature of the sin, but it was difficult to explain, and I was already so scared to SAY the sin I didnā€™t go into more detailā€¦ I donā€™t know if I should haveā€¦ And after thinking this way for a while, I began having doubts, and then feeling anxiety. I think I should just trust God that I was forgiven.

Do you think I was forgiven even if I avoided going into detail because of fear? (I was very nervous during the confession). But the detail was not very necessary, I said what the sin* was*ā€¦ I just think I could have said it even better. Do things like that invalidate confession? I know leaving something out because of fear and deceiving the priest is not goodā€¦but what about leaving out detail (if itā€™s unnecessary and doesnā€™t change the nature of the sin) due to fear?

thanks again!
Click to expand...
If the ā€œdetailā€ would have changed the nature of the sin, then yes you were not truthfull in your confession, e.g. If you confessed a sexual relationship outside of marriage, but failed to indicate it was with a minor - that detail changes everything. Only you can decide, but clearly you feel that for the lack of detail you were less than honest, or this wouldnā€™t be bothering our conscience as it is.
 
Monica,
I will definitely pray for you. It sounds to me like you have scrupulosity. It is not an uncommon problem. There are even saints who suffered from it. I myself used to have a lot of problems with scrupulosity, and I know the symptoms. You might want to talk to a priest who can help you to feel calm and reassured. Iā€™m not saying you have to- itā€™s not a sin if you donā€™t. But it might make you feel better. It is also not a sin to have scrupulosity.

Also, a few years ago I purchased a book called Understanding Scrupulosity, by Thomas M. Santa. The book was listed in a Catholic Answers catalogue, and was recommended by Karl Keating himself (Mr. Keating of course is the founder of Catholic Answers, which means the book was reviewed by someone who is very orthodox and loyal to the Church.) There were helpful tips and guidelines toward the end of the book. The rest of the book had all kinds of moral questions posed by other scrupulous people and answers given by various priests. I myself had to avoid that section because other peopleā€™s questions, while answered by a priest, just put more ideas into my head. But the chapters titled Ten commandments for the Scrupulous and Ten Commandments for Peace of Mind were very helpful to me.

The other thing that was helpful was praying to God to help me not to be scrupulous. Thanks be to God, over time, it did get better.

O Mary, help of Christians, pray for us. Amen.
St. Alphonsus Liguori, who suffered from scrupulosity, pray for us. Amen.
 
Our Father who art in heaven
hallowed be thy name
thy kingdom come
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven
give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgvie those who trespass against us
and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil
Amen
 
Thank you so much everyone :hug1:

today I prayed a lot about thisā€¦ and although I had anxiety in my mind, I felt in my heart that my sins are forgiven. Then I was reading ā€œDivine Mercy in My Soulā€ and came across Jesus saying how it hurts Him when people distrust His mercy.

At Mass, I decided to receive the Eucharist, and now afterwards, Iā€™m soo glad I did, because God has given me a lot of peace through this Communion. Iā€™m going to speak to a priest on Thursday about my doubts - just to get some advice on how to be less scrupulousā€¦and Iā€™ll ask about the Confession too. But I really feel that God wants me to believe in His mercy, especially for sins Iā€™ve confessed, and He knows I wasntā€™ hiding anything from the priest cause I wanted the priest to understand what Iā€™m telling him.

Thanks again for all your advice and prayers, God bless šŸ™‚

Iā€™m really thankful to Jesus that He helped me so much today! even though Iā€™ve been so doubtful :o
 
May God bless you Monica

Our Father who art in heaven
hallowed be thy name
thy kingdom come
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven
give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgvie those who trespass against us
and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil
Amen
 
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive
those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil.
Amen

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,and
blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and
at the hour of our death.
Amen

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be world without end.
Amen
 
Praying for you Monica4616 to trust in His Mercy ā€¦

Hail Mary
Full of grace
the Lord is with thee
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb
Jesus
Holy Mary
Mother of God
pray for us sinner now
and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
 
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