How Specific in Confession?

[Matthew91]

I’ve been under the belief that we have to confess our mortal sins in number and kind and any circumstances that change the gravity of the sin, is this correct?

I’m having some issues now because regarding the circumstances that change the gravity, I’m thinking about times in the past where maybe the gravity was less than what I stated, but out of an interest to make sure I didn’t understate anything, I didn’t go into great detail about the circumstances that might have lessened the gravity for me at the time.

For example, many years ago around the time I was taking my faith more seriously and learning more, I did something of a general confession. I confessed sins that were objectively mortal, but I didn’t tell the priest that many of these sins from my younger days were ones that I didn’t know were mortal at the time I committed them. Clearly this would have made them less grave in terms of my personal culpability, but I didn’t think this was something that needed to be said.

Do I now have to go back an revisit these old confessions, and re-confess these sins in order to mention that the circumstances might have lessened my guilt in those particular circumstances? It’s just causing me a great deal of stress to feel like I have to re-open old wounds from years ago, just to mention that these sins may not have been as bad as my confessing might have indicated at the time.

 

[fbl9]

I’ve been under the belief that we have to confess our mortal sins in number and kind and any circumstances that change the gravity of the sin, is this correct?

I’m having some issues now because regarding the circumstances that change the gravity, I’m thinking about times in the past where maybe the gravity was less than what I stated, but out of an interest to make sure I didn’t understate anything, I didn’t go into great detail about the circumstances that might have lessened the gravity for me at the time.

For example, many years ago around the time I was taking my faith more seriously and learning more, I did something of a general confession. I confessed sins that were objectively mortal, but I didn’t tell the priest that many of these sins from my younger days were ones that I didn’t know were mortal at the time I committed them. Clearly this would have made them less grave in terms of my personal culpability, but I didn’t think this was something that needed to be said.

Do I now have to go back an revisit these old confessions, and re-confess these sins in order to mention that the circumstances might have lessened my guilt in those particular circumstances? It’s just causing me a great deal of stress to feel like I have to re-open old wounds from years ago, just to mention that these sins may not have been as bad as my confessing might have indicated at the time.

These sins have been forgiven and been washed away by the blood of Christ they don’t exist any more.So no you don’t have to go there again.

 

[pianistclare]

You don’t have to revisit, no.
In the future, trust your confessor. Come right out and ask him,
They’ve heard it all, and they are there to help and absolve you if you’re truly contrite.
Confession is not a burden, It’s liberating.
Peace.

 

[angell1]

You don’t have to revisit, no.
In the future, trust your confessor. Come right out and ask him,
They’ve heard it all, and they are there to help and absolve you if you’re truly contrite.
Confession is not a burden, It’s liberating.
Peace.

and if I understand correctly, if the priest really felt there wasn’t enough detail, he would have asked, right?

 

[thecolorsblend]

For first Confession, I had to confess a howling sin. I decided to be utilitarian in my approach. State the problem and then state my culpability. “I did such-and-such. I knew it was wrong when I did it, you understand, but I did it anyway because I’m a big jerk.” Or whatever.

If the confessor requires elaboration, he never fails to ask for it. It was awkward at first but I’ve gotten the impression that it would be pretty hard for me to come up with a sin he’s never heard before. So that’s good, I suppose.

For whatever it’s worth, if my confessor asks for additional details, it’s usually background information rather than a play-by-play.

 

[pianistclare]

and if I understand correctly, if the priest really felt there wasn’t enough detail, he would have asked, right?

Yes.
If people are being too vague he may ask for clarification.

 

[EtMiserereMei]

It’s just causing me a great deal of stress to feel like I have to re-open old wounds from years ago…

Which, IMHO, is precisely why you’re being tempted with this in the first place.

These really should be opportunities to makes acts of trust in Jesus, rather than being an occasion to reexamine past confessions. That can be hard, because there’s an awareness of a certain risk.

OK, maybe I didn’t do what I was supposed to. Maybe something went wrong, and I’m gambling with my soul that it hasn’t. Maybe I should go back and try to fix this, just in case.

If you meant to confess your sins, if you meant to repent and try your best, through God’s grace, to never commit them again, if you didn’t deliberately lie … then you’re fine.

Was everything you said perfect? Probably not. Was your confession that of a moral theologian? I doubt it. Could you have done better? I’m sure.

But here’s the key: in those areas where we sincerely try our best, we have to tell Jesus that we trust Him, and that we are confident in His mercy. It’s only when we know we’re deliberately falling short of true repentance that we should be concerned.

Demons are legalists, and whenever you find yourself obsessing over legalistic nuances, you can suspect there’s an evil spirit tempting you.

Trust in Jesus and tell Him so.