Question about receiving Communion, and First Confession

  • Thread starter Thread starter warrior43
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
W

warrior43

Guest
I have a few questions to ask, I’ve been following this site for a while and am very grateful for the information that I’ve seen on here, it’s been very helpful. And I’m going to apologize for the long reading now :o

My first question was regarding whether I am able to receive Communion. I have been baptized in the Catholic Church, in High School I went through Sunday School at our Church, went through my First Confession and everything, and we had a ceremony for me and a few other students. But the thing is since those years I haven’t been confirmed yet. I’ll offer some context in that I was raised Catholic and attended Church growing up (not as frequently as I should have but we did go :() but hadn’t really been that engaged in my faith, and it was only my mother who really wanted to go. So growing up we didn’t really know much about the Faith at the time. It wasn’t until a few years ago in college where I truly began to seek God and embrace my Catholic faith like I should have in the first place, maybe to levels even my parents are surprised by.
  1. Since I’ve been been baptized and received my first Holy Communion, have I been allowed to receive Communion since then? Because lately I’ve been taking it upon returning, and I was afraid I was supposed to be Confirmed first. I plan on being confirmed though.
  2. this is a bit more complicated to me, and is more just looking for advice or help, clarification, etc. I received my First Confession years ago, but at the time I tend to recall that we were instructed to give only one thing to confess. I know this sounds crazy and maybe I misunderstood that we were supposed to come up with at least one (which in retrospect would make more sense but I truly can’t remember the conditions, it seemed like it was only one sin to remember). So I went in anxious, confessed one sin I had remembered, and was absolved. But it’s troubling me that I had invalidated it because of this. I don’t think I went in with the intent to leave out sins or anything like that, I went in under a possible misunderstanding of the requirements.
Believe me, my intention was to go by what I (thought I) was told. I didn’t know better, as a matter of fact I didn’t really even know I was supposed to Confess at least once a year until this year upon researching it myself really. And now I’m feeling terribly anxious that this whole time that I might have invalidated my First Confession (unintentionally), and that my First Communion wasn’t valid or something. I’ve attended Confession multiple times since then recently after examining my conscience better (probably like I was supposed to during my First Confession, but didn’t know I was supposed to). But it wasn’t until recently (ie today) that it struck me that my first confession might not have been valid and I’m freaking out about it. If I had known then what I do now I would have had a better, more complete first confession (among a lot of things!). What do I do? (I’m thinking of asking a Priest but I’m not sure when. I was going to go to Confession tomorrow but this kind of rattled me.)
This might have been akin to what happened to me. Although I was a teenager, not a kid. So maybe I didn’t misunderstand the instruction. Does this mean my First a Confession and Communion were invalid? 😦 Thank you for any help or advise.
 
I would suggest a few things for you.

First, speak to the priest about your situation (at whichever parish you are currently attending). He can clarify what you need to do to receive Confirmation, and answer all of the questions you posted more clearly, as well as provide additional resources if needed.

Second, if you have committed any mortal sins that you are aware of since your last Confession (and/or if you feel your last Confession may have been invalid), please do not receive the Eucharist again until after you have made a complete Confession (if you know it will take some time, you may want to make an appointment with the priest to avoid holding up the line for the Confessional at the scheduled times). You don’t need to be Confirmed before you receive communion, but you DO need to be in a state of grace (which means no mortal sins on your soul). Any time you have committed mortal sin, you should not receive the Body and Blood until after you are absolved of that sin in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (aka Confession).

Third, when you do confess your sins, you should confess ALL mortal sins (that you can remember) in kind and number. If you have any venial sins that cause you difficulty or have become habits, you can mention them, too, but it’s not strictly necessary.

I’d say if you do a good Examination of Conscience beforehand, say a prayer to the Holy Spirit, and don’t try to withhold any mortal sins you’ve committed, you should do just fine.

If you do happen to unintentionally forget to mention a mortal sin during your confession and you remember it later (after you’ve been absolved), be at peace knowing that it was forgiven. It’s still a good idea to mention it at your next confession, but it’s not necessary to make another confession or to avoid receiving the Eucharist.

HTH!
 
Okay - you are free to take Communion after you’ve had your first Communion, with one caveat: as long as you are not in a state of mortal sin.

Second of all, don’t worry about whether your first confession was valid now - just confess as much as you can remember in your next confession (and you would, actually, be absolved from even things that you can’t remember - after a good confession, your slate is clean). I would, however, do these things, in this order: (a) make sure your living situation is in accord with Church teaching; (b) go to confession as soon as possible and as often as you need afterwards; (c) take communion as often as you can; and (d) enroll yourself in adult Confirmation classes.
 
Thanks to both of you, I truly appreciate the help. I’ll look to start adult Confirmation classes hopefully sometime soon, but I might be leaving for bootcamp before such classes might finish so I have to talk to a Priest about that…

And well today I had actually gone to confession, I covered things that I probably should have included in my first confession. But something else came up. But after I was done he started talking kind of fast and it seemed like an accent at first (I don’t think he had one really but at first it sounded like it) and so I couldn’t understand what he said. I had caught the penance of Hail Mary’s and Our Fathers and an Act of Contrition (I didn’t say one in the confessional because I thought he said it was part of penance, so I said it outside the room). But I didn’t catch the part of being absolved. I don’t know if I missed it, it seems that it had to have because I don’t know why he would assign penance and make the Sign of the Cross without absolution… But it’s bothering me that he might not have said it. He said some words before the penance but I couldn’t understand it. 🤷 and the words didn’t seem like the a absolutions I had received before… Its not that I’m doubting my forgiveness from God at all but I’m just not certain I heard the absolution. 😦 Would it be ok to go to confession (different place) and reconfess these sins and make sure of absolution this time? I just want to err on the safe side.
 
You don’t have to hear the absolution to be absolved; as long as you heard and understood your penance and confessed all the mortal sins that you are aware of, you should be ok.
 
Yes, what Catholic1954 said. 😃

I’m not certain, but I would guess that he gave the words of absolution in Latin (my parish priest does this), and that may be why it sounded strange to you. Often, the words of absolution are said while the penitent is saying the Act of Contrition, so it’s okay if you don’t hear the words when he absolves you (and it’s okay if he doesn’t hear your Act of Contrition, too).

No need to repeat the confession. Next time, though, if you have a question in the confessional about what the priest says, remember that you can respectfully ask him.

Generally, the more often you go and as you get used to it, the easier it gets. 😉

HTH!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top