I dont know how to confess about mastrubation?

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I think a straight forward confession is just OK. no priest should be surprised by masturbation.
 
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SHEMP:
Your embarrassment is the work of the devil. I would recommned that you say the I have masterbated x # since my last confession.
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We were told not to use a specific number unless you are sure. So, saying “frequently”, a couple of times, “a few times”, or “several times”, or just saying guilty of the sin, may be more accurate. IF the priest feels he needs to know how often they will ask. Or if you feel the need to quantify the frequency, saying a description is better than saying number which may or may not be accurate.
 
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ImperialPhoenix:
I have yet to attend a RCIA class (I am a cradle Catholic fallen to agnosticism and seeking to return), One of my main consern is how valid my confession would be since prior to joining the forums, I had no knowledge that masturbation was a sin (I did not have a good Catholic upbringing as a child) untill now.
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IF you had no idea that something is a sin, it can not be a “mortal” sin. One of the criteria for a mortal sin is that you must be aware that it is a grave offense against God, and you do so even though you know it is serious.

But from this point on though, you no longer have that excuse, sorry to point this out. I suppose the addage “ignornace is bliss” applies here.

If you feel it necessary, in your next confession you may mention that you were guilty of this sin but did not confess it before, because you were unaware that it was sinful.

Technically, we are forgiven our venial sins even if we did not specifically mention them in confession. For one it would be much too long for everyone to mention every possible sin they could think of. Out of consideration for others (especially if there is a long line waiting) we should keep our confession down to 2 or 3 minutes (longer if you feel you are in a crisis situation).

We need to confess our serious sins of course, and the more frequent venial sins that we struggle with. I try to keep my list down to 5 or 6 items at most. I usually put the worst offenses up front, and lesser ones after. The priest or you may pick out which item you have the most problems with.

At the end we say “I am sorry for these and ALL of the sins of my past life”, this covers any venial sins that we may have missed or left out. We should always specifically mention any serious sins, but listing more than a couple of venial sins may cloud the issues.

We need to focus on the items that need the most work, if we have a long laundry list, the dirtiest items will get lost in the mix.

The important thing is to be as honest as possible, the priest has heard them all before. Even if your last confession was 10 years or more ago (as one of mine was), they are not shocked. I think they would only be shocked, if you came in and said, I have absolutely nothing to confess… then they know you would be lying…😃 .

wc
 
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wcknight:
We were told not to use a specific number unless you are sure. So, saying “frequently”, a couple of times, “a few times”, or “several times”, or just saying guilty of the sin, may be more accurate. IF the priest feels he needs to know how often they will ask. Or if you feel the need to quantify the frequency, saying a description is better than saying number which may or may not be accurate.
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It’s a good idea to go to confession often enough so that you can recall the number. If you can’t give a specific number then give an approximate estimate. Just be honest.
 
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SHEMP:
It’s a good idea to go to confession often enough so that you can recall the number. If you can’t give a specific number then give an approximate estimate. Just be honest.
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We were told not to give a number, that using a description was more accurate and more honest. Most folks don’t go often enough to remember an exact or even approximate number. IF you can that’s great.

But I would say many only go to confession once or twice a year, to give a number or even an approximation, you could be off by one or two orders of magnitude.
 
Here’s an idea:
When temptation comes around think of how embarrassing it is to confess such a sin … perhaphs is makes it NOT worth doing!

Pray pray pray!
 
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wcknight:
We were told not to give a number, that using a description was more accurate and more honest. Most folks don’t go often enough to remember an exact or even approximate number. IF you can that’s great.

But I would say many only go to confession once or twice a year, to give a number or even an approximation, you could be off by one or two orders of magnitude.
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If you are masterbating so much that you cannot remember the number then you should think about going to confession more often. If you only go once or twice per year then you probable won’t be receiving communion much.
 
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SHEMP:
If you are masterbating so much that you cannot remember the number then you should think about going to confession more often. If you only go once or twice per year then you probable won’t be receiving communion much.
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With serious sins (such as masterbation, missing mass etc) that would be true, but IF you only have venial sins, you can receive Communion all you want.
 
I just received this in my e-mail, I hope it helps anyone with this situation:

No. 22, May 20, 2005

Masturbation - Part I
Masturbation, also called self-abuse, is a struggle for many men. I’ll be devoting the next few newsletters to the topic.

The single purpose of this first Freedom Letter on the subject is to state that masturbation is:
  1. wrong
  2. an act against nature
  3. a grave sin
Catechism of the Catholic Church Section #2352
"By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. ‘Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action.’

‘The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose.’ For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of ‘the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved.’

To form an equitable judgment about the subjects’ moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability."

Catechism of the Catholic Church Section #2396
“Among the sins gravely contrary to chastity are masturbation, fornication, pornography, and homosexual practices.”

I realize that there are cafeteria Catholics, contemporary Protestant leaders, and secular sex “experts” insisting that there is nothing wrong with masturbation. They are wrong and are giving poisoned advice. Next week we will begin exploring ways to break a habit of self-abuse.

Yours in His Majesty’s Service,
Steve Wood
steve@dads.org
www.dads.org
 
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