I am a teenage boy and have been struggling with the urge to masturbate for some time, I recently did it again, a sort of relapse. I know I should be VERY VERY sorry for what I did, but I really don’t feel sorry for sinning. Please pray for me to God, that he will grant me a truly penitent heart before I go to confession.
Shader, I will remember you in my prayers today.
I also want to include the following taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It may help you to understand that having contrition does not always rely on our feelings. It is more an act of the will. Feeling sorry for our sins is good, but willing to sin no more and to follow God even when those feelings of sorrow aren’t very strong is sufficient contrition to receive the forgiveness of God through the Sacrament of Confession.
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
"
1450 “Penance requires . . . the sinner to endure all things willingly, be contrite of heart, confess with the lips, and practice complete humility and fruitful satisfaction.”
Contrition
1451 Among the penitent’s acts contrition occupies first place. Contrition is “sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again.”
1452 When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called “perfect” (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible.
1453 The contrition called “imperfect” (or “attrition”) is also a gift of God, a prompting of the Holy Spirit. It is born of the consideration of sin’s ugliness or the fear of eternal damnation and the other penalties threatening the sinner (contrition of fear). Such a stirring of conscience can initiate an interior process which, under the prompting of grace, will be brought to completion by sacramental absolution. By itself however, imperfect contrition cannot obtain the forgiveness of grave sins, but it disposes one to obtain forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance.
1454 The reception of this sacrament ought to be prepared for by an examination of conscience made in the light of the Word of God. the passages best suited to this can be found in the moral catechesis of the Gospels and the apostolic Letters, such as the Sermon on the Mount and the apostolic teachings."
