Not sure if I commited sacrilege

[Theophilus88]

Hi all, I am relatively new to forum posting and Catholicism but I have a serious question. A few days ago I went to my first confession and confessed that when I was 11-12 I would get aroused during play fighting and that I got pleasure from that. However, for some reason I only confessed that this occurred when I wrestled my friends and not my brother. However this did happen when I wrestled both groups of people. However, going in, I thought that there was no difference i.e. that the arousal itself as to the different groups of people would not change the mortal species of the act. Therefore, I planned on only confessing that I got aroused during play wrestling in general. But, as I said before I confessed as to being aroused while performing those acts with my buddies. Now that I think of it, those feelings really didn’t happen with them as much. I don’t know why I only mentioned them I just did. Then I got nervous and tried to explain myself and how I was immature and probably did not understand what was going on at the time and so on and then moved on to something else, probably because of my anxiety. I don’t think I was trying to hide anything, I guess my nervousness and maybe misunderstanding of the issue was the cause of my slipshod confession on that point. The next day, I confessed the rest of the circumstance to the priest, and he said everything was fine so long as I did not intentionally withhold anything. I’m pretty sure it was not intentional. So my question is, does a nervous slip of the tongue constitute sacrilege? Has this happened to anyone else? Or am I just being scrupulous?

 

[Water_of_Life]

Don’t worry, you most certainly did not commit sacrilege. If something slips our min in the confessional, there is no sin at all. You did the correct thing by confessing it afterwards though. You should probably talk to a priest or other spiritual director about scrupulosity.

 

[ClearWater]

Hi all, I am relatively new to forum posting and Catholicism but I have a serious question. A few days ago I went to my first confession and confessed that when I was 11-12 I would get aroused during play fighting and that I got pleasure from that. However, for some reason I only confessed that this occurred when I wrestled my friends and not my brother. However this did happen when I wrestled both groups of people. However, going in, I thought that there was no difference i.e. that the arousal itself as to the different groups of people would not change the mortal species of the act. Therefore, I planned on only confessing that I got aroused during play wrestling in general. But, as I said before I confessed as to being aroused while performing those acts with my buddies. Now that I think of it, those feelings really didn’t happen with them as much. I don’t know why I only mentioned them I just did. Then I got nervous and tried to explain myself and how I was immature and probably did not understand what was going on at the time and so on and then moved on to something else, probably because of my anxiety.** I don’t think I was trying to hide anything, I guess my nervousness and maybe misunderstanding of the issue was the cause of my slipshod confession on that point. The next day, I confessed the rest of the circumstance to the priest, **and he said everything was fine so long as I did not intentionally withhold anything. I’m pretty sure it was not intentional. So my question is, **does a nervous slip of the tongue constitute sacrilege? **Has this happened to anyone else? Or am I just being scrupulous?

I think the key words here are “…not trying to hide anything”…that you went back also the next day.

No, I don´t think a slip of the tongue and nervousness constitutes sacrilege.

Be at peace.

However, If the issue of scrupulosity ends up resurfacing, particularly again and again, then scrupulosity could be an issue, though.

 

[Auntie_A]

It happens quite often that we forget, get anxious, minimize, omit details, realize things as we get older, clearer, and wiser, at confession. That is one of the benefits of confession, by the way. It clears our mind for deeper levels of awareness of ourselves and others so we can forgive and be forgiven. Just don’t stay stuck there.

Confess, get further counsel if you need, but don’t get repetitive and stuck. Some sins take a while to come to grips with, others are easier to confess and let go.

Hyper-scrupulosity can happen often too, especially when anxiety kicks in, so get help if that is your problem. Talk with a good priest or counsellor if you’re not sure.