In my Confession, I mentioned something that was only halfway true (for example, just an example, confessing gluttony because you ate a whole chocolate bar when in fact you only had a half). I didn’t realize that I may have been lying; did this effect my absolution in any way? Thank you.
No, my child. What you are describing is not telling a “half truth”. What you are describing is a phenomenon of over-confessing. I speak from the experience of being a professor of theology as well as practically from being a priest. What is happening is that you are seeing more there than what is actually there, on your soul. You are wanting to be thorough in what you confess and it is causing you to over address the actual sinfulness. The actual sin of gluttony involves much more than eating a whole chocolate bar as opposed to eating a half of one.
You are not lying. You have not affected the sacrament’s ability either to remove sin or communicate grace. Do not go back and begin analysing your confessions and doubting the absolution: They were valid.
What I want you to do is to confide in a priest in whom you have confidence and with whom you can confess regularly; tell him that a priest remotely counseled you to have a regular confessor to help you with the issue of being scrupulous. He will know what this means, what to do, and how to help.
You will need to be open with him about these issues, so he can help you address them. It is very important – and actually essential to moving beyond this – that you do not attempt to deal with this on your own or by seeking advice on the Internet from people who are not trained in dealing with this very specific spiritual affliction. There is a reason that a confessor is called a “physician of souls”. In this case, you need a spiritual physician to help you through this matter.
All the more because what is disturbing you is touching upon gluttony, which has implications for your well-being beyond the moral judgment of conscience to touch upon your physical health, I am asking you to take to heart this advice and that which I gave you on your other thread.
Do not hold back from explaining to your confessor the areas in which your conscience is so sensitive and the degree of the sensitivity so that he can both make informed judgments and so that he can effectively help you. In other words: you will need to talk with him about what and how much you are eating and drinking over against your fears of over-consumption and gluttony and the extent to which you are fasting, abstaining or practicing self-denial; he will be able to assess the situation in a way that cannot be done here. I will try to come back to this thread, in case you have a general question. God bless you.
