Not feeling guilty

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Lea101

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So there’s this grave sin that I’m just not feeling guilty for committing more than once. And I’m kind of guilty for not feeling guilty for it. I just don’t care. Should I put off confession or should I just go for it? Is there anything I need to do?

Thanks in advance x
 
Contrition isn’t something a person is able to manufacture out of nothing. We feel what we feel. But we can still take certain actions regardless of what we are interiorly feeling.

Pray to God for the gift of perfect contrition. Talk to the priest about what you are feeling and listen to what he has to say.
 
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You should just go to confession and perhaps tell the priest you’re having difficulty with true contrition. Having come across this particular difficulty myself it’s hard.
Since Christ entered my life and wanting to be a good Catholic woman I had to ACTIVELY reform my life in certain areas. For example I knew sex, passionate kissing and heavy pettings were all wrong but I couldn’t for the life of me feel guilty about those pleasures when confessing.

I reasoned it might be the natural chemical releases that happen in the brain (dopamine) that confused my sense of spiritual “wrongness” and physical “rightness” and roughing what I know to be right is the real struggle.

Tanya
 
If you have logically decide this is a sin and resolved not to do it again and are not sitting around fantasizing about it, I’d say just confess it and move on while asking God to give you perfect contrition. There are things I have done where I do not totally “feel” the “wrongness” under the circumstances, but from a logical standpoint I can see where the act was serious and a bad thing in general to do and I do not wish to repeat that now, so I treat it as a sin and assume that my human nature and maybe even the devil are interfering with my sense of guilt and trying to trick me.

“Rejecting the glamor of evil” and “refusing to be mastered by sin” as we say in the renewal of our baptismal vows means that sometimes we need to be objective about sins when our subjective human natures fail us and want to make an exception for some bad thing.
 
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Lea101 said:
So there’s this grave sin that I’m just not feeling guilty for committing more than once. And I’m kind of guilty for not feeling guilty for it. I just don’t care. Should I put off confession or should I just go for it? Is there anything I need to do?

Thanks in advance x
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Sometimes it’s hard to regret something you enjoyed doing, thinking, or saying. But in the end it’s all about what’s best. What builds you up as a person, a Christian, and a Catholic…

I think it would be a good idea for you to pray that God would convict you.

And, you don’t need to be guilty to go to confession. If you know it’s wrong, and you don’t feel guilty, that justifies going to confession.
There’s nothing you absolutely need to do, because whether or not you do anything is your decision. But I urge you, to please do something about it. Go to confession. Talk to a mentor, or someone you trust. Talk to your Priest. Pray for assistance.
I will be praying.
 
My priest said to me once that in times like these, it is good to reflect on our selfishness and how we can amend that. Remember our duty is to do what God wants us to do.
 
I’ve been trying to go to confession for three months ish. But there’s always something (eg the priest doesn’t show up, the line is too long, priest too busy etc). Can’t help but wonder if that’s a sign to avoid it until I start to care.
 
You’re not alone. I confess a sin every week that I don’t have, nor probably ever will have, true contrition for. I continue to confess and explain my thoughts to my priest. He gives me encouragement and advice on how to move forward. He forgives my sins. I tell him I’ll see him in one week. He laughs.
 
If feeling guilty was a requirement in order to receive absolution there’s a lot of people that would be in hot water, myself included. We often go about life desensitized to certain things that make it hard to form our conscience.

But, we have try.

As for things cropping up that prevent us from going to confession… this reminds me of a piece I read under spiritual warfare, or C.S Lewis Screwtape letters in being to busy. Don’t continue to be tempted to ignore what needs to be done. Go to confession, someway, somehow, just go.
If you are spiritually minded and for the most part a decent person, the devil knows coming at you head on is not going to work. Rather he’ll do things to kill you slowly. Rust your armour, chip off a plate, loosen a link, make you forget your shield, etc…

We have to make the time, perhaps schedule an appointment with your priest, or even find another parish to go to confession. God bless.

Tanya
 
Well, God does want you to care. He wants you to know that it’s wrong, and that He doesn’t approve, yet He still loves you. He wants you to do the right thing. Please, don’t give up on going to confession.

God Bless.
 
The infinite Mercy of God is our ally, our saving grace, it’s the only thing that will make us happy when we share our most detestable sins with all of creation!

Oh, not sure where that came from … but as for the technicalities of confession, times, priest not there, too many in line, etc … just call the parish and ask for an appointment to make a confession. If it’s been a super-long time or you’ve been away for a while, can ask for a “general confession”, that way, the receptionist will know to block out a bit more time for the priests schedule. Oh, sometimes on appointments, the priest will assume you can do your confession in his office, just make sure to mention that you’d like the confession in the confessional, with the screen, if you’re the screen type.

Lea, you are in a situation with a sin that almost everyone has been in, I know I’ve been there!
 
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