MERGED: Do you ALWAYS confess EVERYTHING?/What to confess?

[itullian]

Or are you sometimes ashamed or embarressed and leave stuff out.

 

[DaveBj]

I spill everything. Better to be embarrassed now in the confessional than to hear “Depart from me, you worker of iniquity” from the Throne.

 

[bmullins]

I confess everything I can remember or have come up with. If I forget something while I’m in there I don’t worry about it, I know God has absolved me in the confessional. I try to remember that Jesus sees everything, so when I’m confessing to him in there… he already knows it.

 

[ProdigalSon1211]

Or are you sometimes ashamed or embarressed and leave stuff out.

I do my best to examine my conscience and try to let everything out. I would go to a anonymous confession instead of face to face. Sometimes, the priest can cut you off if there are other people waiting or if he has to go somewhere. Going to confession is a place to unburden yourself and just let everything go.

 

[JohnnyK]

if you knowingly do not confess all of your sins, you have just added another sin (mortal)

 

[bscastro]

I voted the wrong way…I confess everything I can remember. Sometimes I remember something else on the way out, and tell the priest the next time, but he has told me I don’t have to do that as long as my intention was to confess everything.

In Christ,
Bryan

 

[TrueLight]

I spill everything. Better to be embarrassed now in the confessional than to hear “Depart from me, you worker of iniquity” from the Throne.

I confess everything I can remember.

 

[SecretaryMonday]

I confess every mortal sin that I can remember, and sin that might be just venial but I’m not sure. I haven’t confessed anything yet that I know is probably venial, I go to daily mass (when possible) and say the confiteor.
(Maybe I should confess those too, but…“The priest is so tired and busy, and anyway he will laugh at me,” lol!)

 

[keepingfaith4]

yes–otherwise why go ? confession to me clears my mind and soul----but i have been known to go out of my parish to priests that did not know me especially if i had a period of "potty mouth"behind the wheel:blush:

 

[AlwaysCurious]

I remember reading a book when I first became Catholic that encouraged penitents, when it comes to venial sins, to only confess a handful that he/she is seriously devoted to overcoming. In this way, assisted by God’s sacramental grace in the confessional, you make steady progress against certain sins until they are much less of a problem, or even non-existent. Then you focus on yet another sin or two to overcome. In this way you steadily grow in holiness…overcoming one or two persistent sins at a time. Ideally this growth also helps you to identify more areas in your life where sin may exist that you didn’t recognize before.

But if you confess every single venial sin you can think of, every time you go to the confessional, so the logic goes, you are less likely to really make any headway against any of them in the future. Then time passes, and you come back to confess the same laundry list that you made no progress with. And then you get bored and frustrated with the whole process.

Personally I’ve taken a halfway approach and confessed more than I was probably willing to really focus on, but not every single nitty gritty detail I could think of. I’ve made some noticeable progress in some areas, but could be doing much better! Just my :twocents:

 

[fakename]

When confessing venial sins or even mortal sins is it allowable to confess only the ones that are least embarrassing to you (since they are all forgiven) or must one confess only the ones that are most embarrassing or is there a middle? A lot of confusion on this one…

 

[funion987]

CCC 1456: Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance: “All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret and have been committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue; for these sins sometimes wound the soul more grievously and are more dangerous than those which are committed openly.”

Therefore, it is apparent that all mortal sins must be confessed, regardless of embarrassment. They are only all forgiven if you recount all that you are aware of. Venial sins you do not have to confess, and you can obtain forgiveness for those from the Eucharist, for example.

 

[Bookcat]

One is *obliged *to confess all mortal sins in number and kind (and circumstance that changes things – like it was your brother you murdered!)

(To deliberately hide a mortal sin is a to add the grave sin of sacrilege and invalidates the confession…no sins are absolved…)

So --“no” one may not --if it is Mortal

If one forgets a mortal sin but one was contrite etc and were seeking to confess all ones mortal sins --it is indirectly absolved --but one is obliged to confess it in the next confession (if it is remembered of course…)

Venial sins are recommended to be confessed. They can also be forgiven in many other ways.

(Now I will note that those out there who are scrupulous …they need to a regular confessor and not scruple about confession…)

 

[Pat_Payne]

When confessing venial sins or even mortal sins is it allowable to confess only the ones that are least embarrassing to you (since they are all forgiven) or must one confess only the ones that are most embarrassing or is there a middle? A lot of confusion on this one…

There is no “most embarrassing” or “least embarrassing sin” . You confess ALL mortal sins committed since your last confession (that you remember – if you legitimately forget, that’s a diferent matter). It’s painful, butr think of it as having a broken leg set – that’s painful too, but without the pain, you might never walk again.

I remember once confessing an extremely embarrassing sin. I thought the Monsignior I confessed to would take a book off his shelf and throw it at me. No. He gave me absolution, some very good advice and never spoke of it again.

 

[fakename]

It’s been a while since I confessed a mortal sins so I sort of forgot.

But also, about venial ones, isn’t it still a mark of cowardice to not confess embarrassing ones so that one should confess the most embarrassing ones if possible?

Also, although venial sins can be forgiven outside of confession, what type of penance can be humanly and conveniently imposed for them?

 

[Bookcat]

But also, about venial ones, isn’t it still a mark of cowardice to not confess embarrassing ones so that one should confess the most embarrassing ones if possible?

Also, although venial sins can be forgiven outside of confession, what type of penance can be humanly and conveniently imposed for them?

No it is not necessarily any “mark of cowardice”. One is free to confess venial sins and it is certainly recommended to confess them…(.at least some)

They can be forgiven in many ways…including Holy Communion…during the reading of Sacred Scripture…prayer…acts of contrition etc

 

[Elizium23]

There are some people who would suggest that you confess your more embarrassing sins first, in order to clear the air and overcome personal reservations, so that you don’t have the luxury of procrastinating them and possibly forgetting them after a list of smaller sins.

Certainly this may be a good technique for some people, but it is a mere recommendation, and has no force of law or sin attached if you do not want to do it this way.

Sometimes I say the big sins first, sometimes I say them last. I try to start fresh with each examination of conscience and while sometimes I find myself confessing the same sins, over and over, sometimes I strive toward personal holiness by finding more venial sins to pull in, and make myself more aware of them so that I can improve my life. However, I am not scrupulous. Distinguishing and confessing venial sins is not difficult for me. I would not recommend my ways to the scrupulous.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

When someone who hadn’t been to confession for a while went to a former pastor at my parish he would tell them to start with the one they didn’t want to talk about. After that it gets easier all the way.

 

[fakename]

No it is not necessarily any “mark of cowardice”. One is free to confess venial sins and it is certainly recommended to confess them…(.at least some)

They can be forgiven in many ways…including Holy Communion…during the reading of Sacred Scripture…prayer…acts of contrition etc

The latter things are not types of penances are they?

 

[acadian]

Oops, I voted the wrong way, too. Dang touch screen!

Whatever I have uncovered in my examination of conscience, I bring to confession.