Invalidity or scrupulosity?

[SuperLuigi]

I have recently decided to return to the Church after having spent a period of my life away from Christ and the sacrament of reconciliation. I’ve been to three consecutive confessions, one of them being a General Confession.

However now I seem to be stuck in a problematic cycle of going to confession to reconfess sins which I have already confessed, always going into greater detail about the sins than I did in the previous confession/s. This is leading me to doubt the validity of my General Confession (which took me hours), because I end up doubting myself as to whether I had omitted certain details on purpose or not.

For instance, there is a particular conglomeration of sins which I confessed as different, separate, sins in my General Confession, but which I now feel should be better confessed as a whole (because it reveals an uglier nature to those sins). I am suddenly very worried that my decision to separate these related sins in my General Confession might have invalidated my entire General Confession (I know for a fact that I did not see the interlinking of these sins as clearly back then as I do now, but I also fear that I may have ‘separated’ the sins because I was reluctant to reveal the ugly nature of the conglomerated sins in question). I do not think I purposely decided not to mention any mortal sin (I also prayed a lot so that I would be as thorough as possible in the General Confession), but I’ve been gripped with this sudden fear of not having been detailed enough.

I’ve been considering whether I should go to my fourth consecutive confession to confess this as well; now I’m worried that I may have to repeat ALL the sins in a fourth confession, because the General Confession may have been invalidated due to the above.

Any suggestions?

As 1KE said, you need to find a priest to talk to about this immediately. This sounds like scrupulosity.

 

[BackToTheLord]

It is done. Took me around 2 hours, but it was the best experience of my life!

Praise be to Jesus Christ our Liberator and Lord!

 

[Boy_Wonder]

I’ve been considering whether I should go to my fourth consecutive confession to confess this as well; now I’m worried that I may have to repeat ALL the sins in a fourth confession, because the General Confession may have been invalidated due to the above.

Any suggestions?

Your intention was to submit all of your previous sins to the seal of confession and be absolved. You did not deliberately withhold certain sins or types of sins which you committed during your years away from the faith. YOU HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN. Trust God. Have faith. Look at the father of the prodigal son. He didn’t wait for the son to reach the house. When the son was still along way off, the father ran out to him, embraced him, bathed him, put him in new clothes, and put a ring on his finger (a symbol of sonship). Look at a crucifix. That is a vital testimony to the truth: Jesus wanted to forgive us so much that he endured the cross and death in order to bring us forgiveness. Would the God who hung on that cross in order to forgive you act in such a calculating and legalistic fashion as the God you’ve imagined? Of course not… God is not an accountant or a bureaucrat - he’s a loving father who rushes out to forgive us. So ask for the grace to believe in God’s mercy and to be grateful that you’ve returned to the Sacraments.

The enemy is aghast that you’ve taken this step. The enemy hates the Sacrament of Reconciliation because it undoes the evil work he does in a soul and replaces it with supernatural grace. The enemy is behind this attack on your conscience so please ignore him. Remember the words of absolution “may God grant you pardon AND PEACE and I absolve you . . . .” Be at peace. God loves you and has forgiven you. Your sins have been forgotten.

You are forgiven. Look forward not backward. Be thankful, go out, and keep doing the next right thing, a step at a time, relying on God’s grace to perfect you.