On the subject of confession

[TomH1]

This question is posed to enable me to understand this sacrament and Church teaching better. It is not about scrupulosity. When I go to confession I know the priest absolves me of my sins. Am I forgiven those sins no matter what? Alternatively, do I only receive forgiveness if I’m genuinely sorry for committing those sins and really striving not commit them again. If I leave the confessional thinking, and for the avoidance of doubt I don’t do this, I’ve got a clean slate I can do those things again, am I absolved or not? Are the absolution given by the priest and God’s forgiveness one and the same thing or they separate?

 

[HeDa]

Type in Sacrament of Confession alt. Sacrament of Reconciliation in the search box on catholic.com. There are lots of post and all your questions will have an answer and you will learn more than that.

You can always have a chat with a priest regarding any faith related questions you have. There might be other people in the parish asking the same questions so he might choose to talk about them during an evening or after a Sunday Mass or whenever suited to the parish. Learning more about the faith is always good. Questions about the Sacrament of Confession, also called Reconciliation, are very, very common. One of the most common questions on this forum is: “Is this a sin?”

 

[po18guy]

From LearnReligions.com. Note the bold/italicized sections. If we lack this, we can invalidate our confession.

An Explanation of the Act of Contrition​

In the Act of Contrition, we acknowledge our sins, ask God for forgiveness, and express our desire to repent. Our sins are an offense against God, Who is perfect goodness and love. We regret our sins not just because left unconfessed and unrepented, they can prevent us from entering Heaven, but because we recognize that those sins are our rebellion against our Creator. He not only created us out of a perfect love; He sent His only begotten Son into the world to save us from our sins after we rebelled against Him.

Our sorrow for our sins, expressed in the first half of the Act of Contrition, is only the beginning, however. True contrition means more than just being sorry for the sins of the past; it means working hard to avoid those and other sins in the future. In the second half of the Act of Contrition, we express a desire to do just that, and to use the Sacrament of Confession to help us do so. And we acknowledge that we cannot avoid sin on our own—we need God’s grace to live as He wishes us to live.