Nervous rambled in Confession

[Mothra]

I made a general confession. I spent days going over lists of the examination of conscience, spent a ton of time thinking, and went in fully intending to make THE BEST confession possible.

There’s one particular thing, let’s just call it “x”, that I wanted to confess/talk about and the process went like this.

During my examination before hand:

• “I have done things that caused x”. I put on that on the list
• I thought about it further
• I couldn’t remember specifically doing something JUST for the SOLE REASON to cause “x”, so I planned to say exactly that
• I then remembered one particular event when I might have done exactly that, so I decided not to say the “couldn’t remember doing something for the SOLE PURPOSE of x” thing to be safe

At confession:

• I confessed “I have done things that caused x”
• We started to talk about it, I started to nervously ramble (I’m a very anxious person), I forgot about that one event, and I said something like “I don’t remember thinking ‘I’m simply going to do this because I know it’ll cause x and I want to cause x. But I might have at somepoint’ ”

After the confession:

• I remembered that one event I might have done x purposely

So now I’m worried that this constitutes as a lie in confession and that I committed sacrilege and invalidated the whole thing. Thoughts?

 

[Sbee0]

It’s only invalid if you are not really repentant or you tried to deliberately deceive your confessor meaning you lied or omitted a mortal sin that you knew of in order to gain absolution. (a priest told me this)

Sounds like that’s not the case here.

 

[Ardent_Fire]

What matters is that you had every intention of making an honest confession, then put your trust in the Lord and his mercy. We are not always going to confess our sins “perfectly” like we wish. I unintentionally blank out and forget sins from time to time.

When you make a confession you are saying you are sorry for ALL of your sins. You had every intention of doing this, so it has not invalidated your confession.

Consider looking into getting help and resources for scrupulosity if you are suffering from that affliction.

 

[JackMcCoy]

Relax. Breath. Ask the priest to help you. The words will come to you.
I am praying for you!

 

[Tis_Bearself]

You’re fine. You honestly forgot, and also you said “I might have at some point” which covered the incident you remembered later. I am sure the priest got the idea.

If it really bothers you, then next time you go you can mention “that one event I might have done X purposely” but you forgetting it in the heat of the moment did not invalidate your confession.