I have had enough!

[NFrancis]

First, I would recommend that you go to confession and tell the priest what has happened. Then confess your sins and any sins that you forget will be forgiven. Also the priest will probably take into account that you already tried to confess and do penance so you would probably recieve a lighter penance.

Also, you must have full knowledge to commit a mortal sin. So you taking communion wasn’t a mortal sin. Basically to commit a mortal sin you must know what you are doing will bring you to hell so you are in effect choosing Hell over Heaven; otherwise i think it’s venial.

 

[John_Russell_Jr]

My dear friend

My advice applies if your confessor says it’s not scruples.

Just stop worrying and make a general confession and mention you held back a sin x time ago and have been receiving holy communion ever since. We all want to believe we’re perfect but we’re not. God knows what we are and loves us anyway. Remember you are really asking Gods forgiveness in confession. It is He who forgives you and comes into you and brings your soul back to life with His life giving love which is grace. You will likely be humiliated but don’t worry. Humility is vital to avoid this again because pride is at the root of every sin. Humble yourself before God and He will exalt you. You will feel better afterwards knowing you did the right thing. We’re little babies in Gods eyes and sometimes we need our nappy changed. Look at yourself as a little baby asking Papa for help. We often have an exalted opinion of ourselves and think we are so strong, good and self reliant. We are not. We can do absolutely no good at all without Gods help. Humble yourself like a little baby is my advice. The devil will stir up these doubts and fears so don’t listen.

I will pray for you. Do the right thing by God dear friend.

May God bless you and keep you:thumbsup:
John

 

[jwashu]

Thank you Jude child. Sorry for the threatening post but im really angry. Thing is i have confessed that sin already and confessed that i witheld a sin; but that was only recently and it seems to me that the sins i confessed before this confession are unforgiven and invalid. How come if i never knew that untill now. I knew it was a sin to hold back a sin but not that it renders all previous confessions invalid.

No that is not correct, when you go to confession your sins are forgiven, except if you knowingly held back a mortal sin, then that one isn’t. If you have since confessed that then all you sins are forgiven, even ones you forgot.

Do not worry so much, know that Christ loves you and wants you to do better each day with the realization that some days will be better than others.

Listen to what the Priest says at the end of Mass and try to follow it, it’s a charge to us - “Go now, to love and serve the Lord”

Joe

 

[beckycmarie]

No that is not correct, when you go to confession your sins are forgiven, except if you knowingly held back a mortal sin, then that one isn’t.
Joe

Joe, this is not what the Church teaches. If we knowingly withhold a mortal sin, NONE of the sins are forgiven and must be re-confessed along with the sin we deliberately withheld.

CCC #1456 (emphases mine)

When Christ’s faithful strive to confess all the sins that they can remember, they undoubtedly place all of them before the divine mercy for pardon. But those who fail to do so and knowingly withhold some, place nothing before the divine goodness for remission through the mediation of the priest, “for if the sick person is too ashamed to show his wound to the doctor, the medicine cannot heal what it does not know.”

Father Serpa has also addressed this topic in This Rock:

**Q. What are the standards in regards to the faithful choosing one priest to hear their confession over another? If a person goes to confession, but deliberately does not confess a sin by choice because of fear or anxiety, what should he do? On a similar note, if a person fails to confess a grave sin by accident, what should he do? **

A. If one deliberately chooses to withhold a mortal sin in confession, that in itself is a further mortal sin and the whole confession is invalid. If the Lord could suffer such agony on Good Friday to forgive our sins, the least we can do is humbly and honestly confess them. If one forgets to confess a mortal sin, that sin is still forgiven in confession, but the person is required to mention it the next time he goes to confession as an act of sorrow and contrition. It’s the least we can do in the face of God’s love for us.

 

[Lief_Erikson]

Man have there been a lot of excellent replies in this thread!

the man, I’m so glad the Lord gave you the wisdom to come here and listen to your brothers and sisters in Christ rather than giving in to all the frustration! The Lord is definitely watching out for you and blessing you.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Thanks, but what about my already confessed sins before i confessed the bad confession. Are they not meant to be invalid due to me holding back a sin. Are they really invalid.

Don’t ask strangers on a message board. Ask your priest. And we’re ALL messes. Don’t let that stop you.

 

[bmadamsberry]

Thank you Jude child. Sorry for the threatening post but im really angry. Thing is i have confessed that sin already and confessed that i witheld a sin; but that was only recently and it seems to me that the sins i confessed before this confession are unforgiven and invalid. How come if i never knew that untill now. I knew it was a sin to hold back a sin but not that it renders all previous confessions invalid.

And remember, you don’t have to confess every sin, only those that you remember!

 

[ML561]

Please try to understand that the priest is there to help and not to condemn. Also, it may be useful for you to remember a saying that helped me when I felt much the same way you do now.

“The Church is not a club for saints but a hospital for sinners.”

No priest will be shocked at anything you say. Your priest will most likely give you helpful advice. He will of course admonish you for your sins, as this is one of the spiritual acts of mercy and give you penance. Please do not avoid confession. I will pray for you.

 

[SouthrnCatholic]

Hmm … this may be the lawyer in me coming out, but if you didn’t KNOW at the time that it was a sin to withold mortal sins in the confessional, then you actually haven’t committed a mortal sin by doing so.

You’re absolutely right.

 

[cascherman]

SIns are specific. The only sin held against you is the one you’re hiding. The rest have been forgiven.

Being repentant is a state of the mind and soul. Purposefully ommiting the worst sin because it is embarrassing or hard will render the confession null. You are either reconciled with God or you are not. If you have a mortal sin on your soul you may as well have not confessed at all, since you are still guilty of mortal sin.

the man, my advise is this: I don’t know if this is true in your case or not, but many people have left the Catholic Church because they have this view that all Catholics do is follow the rules in order to be in communion with the Church. Pretty much a mindset of, task #1: confession, task #2: go to mass, task #3: tithe, task #4: receive the Eucharist. These people have missed the point all-together, confession is not just a necessary step so that you can get to your goal of being back in communion with God and the Church. Confession is THE most important step in gaining reconciliation with God. We are humans and in a constant fight with sin, reconciliation is the most beautiful gift God has given us, since it directly takes it’s power from the sacrifice Christ made for us. To go to confession is to tell God “I am human and I will sin, but I hate my sins because you hate evil, and I lay them ALL out before you.” To hold one back, is to hold yourself back from being reconciled. So, who cares one way or the other if all the sins you confessed are or are not forgiven if you entirely left the worst one out, you are still not reconciled with God, which is the purpose of confession.

If your problem simply comes down to being embarassed to say your “main” sin in front of a priest, we all struggle with this. But, our desire to do as God wills needs to overcome our desire to maintain our pride.

So, to summarize, I believe and have been told by my priest, that to have your checklist of sins and ticking them off as you confess them is missing the point of confession. For you to be frustrated because you have to reconfess all of your sins because you held one back is like being frustrated because you have to do a whole report in school over because you wrote it on the wrong topic all together. The frustration comes simply from a misunderstanding of the “project” at hand.

 

[holy_moly]

Thanks, but what about my already confessed sins before i confessed the bad confession. Are they not meant to be invalid due to me holding back a sin. Are they really invalid.

I’ve not heard of this before, but do know that if you confess your sins in good faith, even sins you can’t remember are forgiven. So get to confession & confess the intentionally held back grave sin & the fact that you’ve been receiving Eucharist. Get it over w/ & make peace w/ yourself; yes, be sure & forgive yourself too, as you deserve it.

 

[holy_moly]

Remember, God gave the Church authority to forgive sins but that doesn’t mean He gave up HIS authority to forgive sins. There are some things that can be difficult to tell to another human being–even a priest. The seal of confession should be a tremendous assurance to us, but if you still can’t tell a priest then just tell God Himself. If God can’t forgive us, who can?

Wrong! Grave sin, according to church teaching HAS to be confessed in Sacremental Confession.

 

[bmadamsberry]

Wrong! Grave sin, according to church teaching HAS to be confessed in Sacremental Confession.

Unless you have perfect contrition, which is extremely hard to have simply because we are humans. Also, you don’t have to confess those mortal sins that you can’t remember (but if you do remember those mortal sins, then you have to).
Perfect contrition is basically where you are completely and totally sorry for your sins for no other reason than because they hurt G-d and you make a commitment to never do them again.

 

[holy_moly]

Unless you have perfect contrition, which is extremely hard to have simply because we are humans. Also, you don’t have to confess those mortal sins that you can’t remember (but if you do remember those mortal sins, then you have to).
Perfect contrition is basically where you are completely and totally sorry for your sins for no other reason than because they hurt G-d and you make a commitment to never do them again.

Correct- even many saints admitted the difficulty of attaining perfect contrition. Imperfect contrition (the fear of damnation or punishment) is fine for venial sin

 

[bpbasilphx]

The fact that this issue (whatever it is) is disturbing you now is a sign that God is dealing with you about it and now it’s the time to confess it.