How do you personally go to Confession?

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One thing I used to do was write a list on paper then once I was done I lit it on fire until it was all turned into ash.
 
Hello
Here is one paragraph in the Catechism of the Catholic Church which may in part help you to understand.

1456 Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance: “All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret and have been committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue; for these sins sometimes wound the soul more grievously and are more dangerous than those which are committed openly.”

In the Code of Canon Law it does provide direction for someone who may not know the exact number of times a serious/mortal sin has been committed. Please, do not let this confuse nor discourage you from going to the sacrament. A contrite heart and a resolve to avoid committing the sin again is what is most important. This is also best discussed with a priest. It is difficult to describe and understand on these forums sometimes. Peace be with you my friend. Welcome to the Catholic faith and thank GOD for leading you.

 
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Thank you. My heart is contrite and I am never going to commit a sexual sin again. The most difficult for me, and I assume for many, are fighting the thoughts that enter the mind. I’ll always be a work in progress.
 
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This thread worries me a bit. I had a face to face, general confession some time ago that covered a span from my childhood, to my present age, a bit south of age 60. I used the term “many times”, and even “many, many times”. Other times I just mentioned the offense, and since it was perhaps few times, I did not ennumerate it at all. Needless to say, it took a long time to get through it. I broke it down by decades. Never did my confessor ask me for a number. So now I am beginning to wonder if I made a valid confession or not. I can’t even begin to imagine how many sins I forgot about. As I remember them I confess them next time.
 
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Nobody is held to the impossible. If you’ve been away from the Sacraments for a long period of time and then come back it can be expected that your first confession is going to be pretty vague unless you have impeccable memory! I was away for four years and during my first confession after returning I don’t think there was a single sin I confessed that wasn’t quantified as “many times” or “more times than I can count”. But once I was back and that first confession was behind me my next confession a couple weeks later was both shorter and more specific because I was in fact cognizant of my sin as it happened compared to trying to remember 4 years worth of sin that at the time I committed them didn’t seem sinful to me or I just didn’t care as the hedonist I was.

Point is, we are obligated to follow what the Church instructs of us when we can reasonably do so. The Church requires that we confess in number and in kind all of our mortal sins, and that if we are in a state of mortal sin to not avail ourselves of any of the other sacraments until we receive absolution. If you’re aware of the number of times you’ve committed a particular sin you are obligated to tell your confessor while you’re confessing. If you’re not or you’re not certain then say that. Knowing that these are the rules and refusing to abide by them will render your confession invalid and another mortal sin will be imputed to you: sacrilege.
 
Worry not! God is not a capricious jerk! We are never ever ever held to the impossible! If you genuinely don’t remember then ya don’t remember! This goes not just for quantifying our mortal sins but even remembering them in the first place. A genuinely forgotten sin is forgiven right along with all the sins you did confess. A deliberately withheld sin renders the entire confession invalid.
 
Frequently.
My approach is “worst first”. Hit the ground running.
Examine motives for my actions/sins before I go in, ask what virtue(s) am I offending with these sins.
No excuses, no stories, no talking around the sin.
Name the sin, accept the fault.
I then tell the priest then…“these are my sins”…so he knows when to begin instructing or absolving.
 
One thing you missed, Pray before you
confess, that you will make a good confession.
For the good of the Priest, for your world’s good
and for the good of ALL HIS HOLY CHURCH.
I capitalized the last statement b/c that is where
satan is against the Bride of Christ, See 2 Cor. 11:3
the new Eve the “woman” that satan is pitted against
Gen. 3:15 in these last times.
 
“Reasonably” is the key word.

Even if one hasn’t been to confession in twenty, forty, sixty years, it is still fairly simple to say “I committed x on the average two or three times a week for the past twenty/forty/sixty years.” That covers the “number” requirement perfectly.
 
Your confession was valid, fear not. A sin is a sin when we know it was wrong and did it anyway. Trust your confessor. He will guide you on the right path.
 
Type everything on your phone?!? That’s NOT a good idea. What if you lose your phone?
 
What’s the concern?
That someone else will read the list of sins? Put a passcode on your phone.
That you will lose the phone and thus the notes? Use the Notes app or Evernote and sync the note to the cloud.
Notes on a phone are standard operating procedure for many these days.
 
Margaret_Ann said:
Type everything on your phone?!? That’s NOT a good idea. What if you lose your phone?
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I very much doubt I’m going to lose my phone while I sit there in line. I don’t type it out on my phone unless I’m either in the confession line or I’ve committed something mortal. Even then I tend to remember my mortal sins and I try to get to confession as quickly as possible, so I generally don’t have to write them down.
 
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Absolutely. Good point and I should’ve mentioned this. An honest estimate suffices when certainty isn’t possible. I definitely had a few “a couple times a week, every week, over the last four years” at that first confession after coming back. My point was that there isn’t a divine accountant up there in the clouds ready to pull that lever that opens up the floor to Hell just because we goofed and said we did something 20 times when it was actually 21, or two dozen times when it was actually three dozen. Of course this assumes that the error is an honest error.
 
CatholicTina said:
but I literally would have no clue and it would sound like a grocery list.
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God is not a legalist.

The Roman Rite requirement the sins are confessed in number as well as kind is so that the Priest can better counsel the penitent, not because God forgot how many times you did something.

If you’re not sure of an exact number, it suffices just fine to say “I did x almost every day for the past 6 months” or “I’ve been occasionally doing x” or “I’ve done x several times” or “I commited x about a dozen times.”

You get the point…

In Eastern Christianity the way penitents confess is by saying “I’ve been very lustful by doing x” or “I’ve commited so many sins of pride” or “I’ve had such an angry disposition…”

The focus is more medicinal as opposed to legalistic in the East.
 
Oh and I use my phones notepad for my confession…

I fill this in and read it off:
  • Signum Crucis
Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I’m a married man, and my last Confession was x.

Please forgive my sins:

Sins of pride -

Sins of wrath

Sins of lust -

Sins of gluttony -

Sins of sloth -

Sins of envy -

Sins of greed -

Please forgive me for all of these sins, any sins I may have forgotten, and all sins of my past life.

Act of Contrition:

O My God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy Just punishments; because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, My God, Who art All Good, and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, by the help of Thy Grace, to amend my life, to do Penance, and to avoid every near occasion of sin. Amen.

Or:

My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. In his name, my God, have mercy. Amen.

Or:

Father of Mercy,

like the prodigal Son

I return to you and say:

“I have sinned against you and am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

Christ Jesus, Savior of the world,

I pray with the repentant thief

to whom you promised Paradise:

“Lord, remember me in your kingdom.”

Holy Spirit, fountain of love,

I call on you with trust:

"Purify my heart,

and help me to walk as a child of Light."

Amen.

Penance:

Doing it this way also has the added benefit of giving a nice visual when I erase all my listed sins and think to myself “in God’s Eyes it is now as if I never commited any of these sins. The Blood of Christ has thoroughly washed away my guilt and cleansed me of my sins.”
 
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