"Pausing" confession

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Toizeu

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I went to confession to make a general confession, but there was no time to finish. Me and the priest agreed that I would end the confession another day. Is it possible to “pause” confession and receive absolution? I’m worried of being an invalid confession.
 
I highly recommend that you get in touch with your priest ASAP and ask to ‘finish the confession’ and while you’re doing so, you can bring up your concern with him.
 
Toizeu said:
I went to confession to make a general confession, but there was no time to finish. Me and the priest agreed that I would end the confession another day. Is it possible to “pause” confession and receive absolution? I’m worried of being an invalid confession.
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If you were absolved then that’s the end of it, sacramentally at least. Your priest may well wish to pick up where you left off at another time in order to go through the sins you didn’t get time to cover even though these are really absolved because the sacrament is about healing and help and not simply some sort of mechanical transaction in which sins are confessed and absolution given.
 
May I ask what the purpose of a General Confession is? You are confessing past sins that have already been confessed, forgiven and absolution given.
 
A General Confession is made usually on retreat, if the person has been away from the Sacraments for a number of years and especially if the penitent made a bad confession (e.g. they held back mortal sin(s) because of fear “What will Father think of me if I mention this?”).

I will post my source later. Have to go to work.
 
Margaret_Ann said:
A General Confession is made usually on retreat, if the person has been away from the Sacraments for a number of years and especially if the penitent made a bad confession (e.g. they held back mortal sin(s) because of fear “What will Father think of me if I mention this?”).

I will post my source later. Have to go to work.
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Why would such a person not simply do a normal confession?
 
Montrose said:
Why would such a person not simply do a normal confession?
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A regular Confession covers your sins since your last Confession. A General Confession is a spiritual exercise to review your entire life; it can be beneficial in helping your Confessor understand you more than a “snapshot” that a regular Confession would be. It also helps the penitent assess their lifelong faith journey as well. Patterns in sinful behavior can be made clearer through a General Confession.
 
Glennon_P said:
A regular Confession covers your sins since your last Confession. A General Confession is a spiritual exercise to review your entire life; it can be beneficial in helping your Confessor understand you more than a “snapshot” that a regular Confession would be. It also helps the penitent assess their lifelong faith journey as well. Patterns in sinful behavior can be made clearer through a General Confession.
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Okay. That makes sense. I thought it was about confessing the same sins already confessed and forgiven which would not make sense. You can’t forgive something already forgiven.
 
No need to “pause” it. Just start it again from the start when you meet for confession! 🙂
 
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