Question on " do not confess this again"

[LoveMercyGrace]

When a priest, (not available now ) during confession/reconciliation, tells the penitent - in response to a confessed sin, “do not confess this again” …

What might this mean? Or how could this best be understood by the penitent ?

I am not sure how to respond to this question asked…thank you

 

[Bookcat]

Penitent might have been thought of as unduly confessing an* already *confessed sin - --out of a feeling of undue need. So the Priest might have been telling the person no need to confess this again - for it was absolved - let it go - do not confess it again - so that the penitent would let it go.

Of course if the penitent fell into that sin again…well then that would be a different matter.

 

[babochka]

When a priest, (not available now ) during confession/reconciliation, tells the penitent - in response to a confessed sin, “do not confess this again” …

What might this mean? Or how could this best be understood by the penitent ?

I am not sure how to respond to this question asked…thank you

I think he was probably exhorting the penitent to do better in avoiding the sin. I don’t think it was meant literally.

 

[Bill_Martin]

Most likely it wasn’t a sin or had already been confessed and forgiven, but that’s hard to know without context.

I could see how someone might think it means “Don’t commit this sin again”, but that ought to implicitly apply to all sins anyway, so it would not make sense to say it for only one, nor would the verb “confess” make sense when “commit” would work better.

I wouldn’t worry about it.

 

[porthos11]

When a priest, (not available now ) during confession/reconciliation, tells the penitent - in response to a confessed sin, “do not confess this again” …

What might this mean? Or how could this best be understood by the penitent ?

I am not sure how to respond to this question asked…thank you

It was probably not a sin, hence the advice.

With the number of scrupulous posters around here, this is a distinct possibility and is the most likely reason for this counsel.

 

[St_Francis]

I would say that there are so many possibilities for the meaning of what the priest said that LoveMercyGrace should ask the priest who said it.

 

[LaetenturCaeli]

What might this mean? Or how could this best be understood by the penitent?

As others have pointed out, it’s difficult to tell without the proper context.

What was the sin that was confessed?

 

[misspriss]

Probably be better if he were a bit more clear, my first thought was it was not a sin and it was a bit scrupulous. I have had this happen in confession, the priest stopped me in the middle of saying something and told me I was being a bit scrupulous and that it was not a sin.

 

[LoveMercyGrace]

When a priest, (not available now ) during confession/reconciliation, tells the penitent - in response to a confessed sin, “do not confess this again” …

What might this mean? Or how could this best be understood by the penitent ?

I am not sure how to respond to this question asked…thank you

Thank you for all the thoughtful replies ! +++

 

[CB_Catholic]

When a priest, (not available now ) during confession/reconciliation, tells the penitent - in response to a confessed sin, “do not confess this again” …

What might this mean? Or how could this best be understood by the penitent ?

I am not sure how to respond to this question asked…thank you

If a priest told me that, I simply would not confess it again. It means exactly what he said. I don’t see how it could be any clearer or mean anything else. If I told my child never to throw a ball in the living room again, I would hope he would understand and obey that simple direction and not try to analyze it, and end up disobeying me because he talked himself out of it, thinking I might have meant something else.

Apparently, what was confessed was not a sin and not to be confessed again. Now if one is the scrupulous type, they should not question it, just do as he says and leave it alone. That obedience is how one is helped to overcome scruples.

 

[Bookcat]

If a priest told me that, I simply would not confess it again. It means exactly what he said. I don’t see how it could be any clearer or mean anything else. If I told my child never to throw a ball in the living room again, I would hope he would understand and obey that simple direction and not try to analyze it, and end up disobeying me because he talked himself out of it, thinking I might have meant something else.

Apparently, what was confessed was not a sin and not to be confessed again. Now if one is the scrupulous type, they should not question it, just do as he says and leave it alone. That obedience is how one is helped to overcome scruples.

Or it WAS a sin…

Penitent might have been thought of as unduly confessing an* already *confessed sin - --out of a feeling of undue need. So the Priest might have been telling the person no need to confess this again - for it was absolved - let it go - do not confess it again - so that the penitent would let it go.

Of course if the penitent fell into that sin again…well then that would be a different matter.

 

[OraLabora]

Or it WAS a sin…

Which, equally, we do not know. Without the full context and given the seal of the confessional, we shall never know making debate somewhat pointless.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

When a priest, (not available now ) during confession/reconciliation, tells the penitent - in response to a confessed sin, “do not confess this again” …

What might this mean? Or how could this best be understood by the penitent ?

I am not sure how to respond to this question asked…thank you

Well, as a priest, if I were to say to someone “Do not confess this again,” I would mean that “this” should not be confessed “again.”

There is little more that I can say, not knowing what the “this” is to try to figure out why your confessor made the determination he did. If you are wanting the priest to explain why he said this, he is actually the only one that can really answer that.

• “This” could be something which is not a sin. If the person is saying “I confess only praying 15 decades of the rosary and not all 20” – this is not properly matter for the sacrament.
• “This” could be someone else’s sin. “I confess that I am wounded by my mother-in-law gossiping about me at every family gathering and, just this past weekend, she said…”
• “This” could be something that is being confessed out of scrupulosity as opposed to compunction for the past…“Thirty years ago, I had a fight with my mother and I have confessed that over and over…but I just know there are details that I haven’t confessed and actually, it went for two days so it should be confessed as two separate events instead of one and I can’t get out of my head that this hasn’t really been forgiven…etc.”

As a priest, I would counsel you to accept with peace the judgment of your confessor and not revisit “again” in confession with him whatever “this” is.