How specific when confess lust?

[Someboy113]

I’ve been confessing lust for awhile now, but I’ve never specified who I’ve lusted after. Do I need to do that? What if I lusted after a friend, a teacher, or even a cousin? Could these make the sin worse? Thank you.

 

[Fauken]

Two instances I can think of are if it’s towards the same gender and a blood affinity (like incest for example). But specifying who it was would definitely not hurt either way.

 

[TheOldColonel]

Sometimes, dwelling on that topic purely as sin makes it all the more powerful in the mind. Distinguishing between sinful lust and normal attraction with a confessor could clarify the issue greatly and put it into perspective.

 

[BlackFriar]

If it is simply desire make that clear. If it is a bodily deed specify the type and number (ie few, a number of times, many or ongoing bad habit). “Impurity” is normally understood to refer to masturbation.

Priests have heard it all before.

 

[Elf01]

I’d add if the person was married/in religous life.

 

[Jp2.0]

What do you mean by ‘make the sin worse’? I think that you think that worse means getting a worse place in hell for it, but this simply isn’t true. There is a specific ring of hell for people that have lusted. I don’t think you have to say who you lusted after. Just saying how many times is enough…

 

[Arkansan]

Evil desires (a wish to do something) must be confessed with the same specificity as the actual act. Incest as proscribed by positive law but not natural law is an aggravating circumstance to fornication and adultery, but does not specifically differentiate the sin.

Simply taking pleasure in an imaginary sin, without any desire to actually do, needs only be confessed generically. One would only need to confess specific circumstances if they were the motive for the sin.