Receiving while knowing of a mortal sin

[USMC_Convert]

So, here is the question… I went to confession, did my duty and confessed all the sins as well as I could remember them. I went for the next several days and received, but then remembered an honestly forgotten mortal sin.

So it’s only Wednesday and my pastor doesn’t like having confession unless it’s on Saturday, so much so that I was very reluctant to go ask him for a confession before Saturday. So I prayed, I said the act of contrition, but I went and received until Saturday when I got into confession to ask for forgiveness for my sin. Now I wonder have I compounded that sin by receiving while I knew there was a mortal sin on my soul, or am I good because I honestly thought I had a valid confession???

 

[porthos11]

So, here is the question… I went to confession, did my duty and confessed all the sins as well as I could remember them. I went for the next several days and received, but then remembered an honestly forgotten mortal sin.

So it’s only Wednesday and my pastor doesn’t like having confession unless it’s on Saturday, so much so that I was very reluctant to go ask him for a confession before Saturday. So I prayed, I said the act of contrition, but I went and received until Saturday when I got into confession to ask for forgiveness for my sin. Now I wonder have I compounded that sin by receiving while I knew there was a mortal sin on my soul, or am I good because I honestly thought I had a valid confession???

You did NOT have mortal sin on your soul and your confession was VALID. Since the sin was honestly forgotten, it was forgiven along with the rest of the sins you confessed. Absolution is all or nothing, and for as long as you did not intentionally withhold the mortal sin, you are clean. You did nothing wrong in receiving Communion.

What you did have, however, was the obligation to confess that remembered sin, which you now have done. Further, the Church does not require us to rush to Confession to confess such a sin. It can wait till one’s next regular or necessary confession. So all is well.

 

[CatholicFireman]

What you say after giving a good confession is, “For these sins and those I have forgotten, I beg God’s forgiveness”.

 

[CatholicFireman]

You did NOT have mortal sin on your soul and your confession was VALID. Since the sin was honestly forgotten, it was forgiven along with the rest of the sins you confessed. Absolution is all or nothing, and for as long as you did not intentionally withhold the mortal sin, you are clean. You did nothing wrong in receiving Communion.

What you did have, however, was the obligation to confess that remembered sin, which you now have done. Further, the Church does not require us to rush to Confession to confess such a sin. It can wait till one’s next regular or necessary confession. So all is well.

 

[neweggs]

If I forget and receive Holy Communion,but then I remember,I ask Mercy from Jesus and tell him I will confess it the following,for Jesus loves us,and know,s us better then we know ourself. AMEN

 

[PJM]

So, here is the question… I went to confession, did my duty and confessed all the sins as well as I could remember them. I went for the next several days and received, but then remembered an honestly forgotten mortal sin.

So it’s only Wednesday and my pastor doesn’t like having confession unless it’s on Saturday, so much so that I was very reluctant to go ask him for a confession before Saturday. So I prayed, I said the act of contrition, but I went and received until Saturday when I got into confession to ask for forgiveness for my sin. Now I wonder have I compounded that sin by receiving while I knew there was a mortal sin on my soul, or am I good because I honestly thought I had a valid confession???

You raise several very important points: thank you

Might I suggest that being aware of a Moral sin after a “Good Confession” does not make that Confession, now not valid.

Secondly: A KEY task of Catholic Priest is to hear Confessions when their is a n urgent need; NOT only as scheduled.

NO DOUBT, the priest would rather you [anyone] to request an unscheduled Confession RATHER than to receive Holy Communion knowingly in Mortal sin

The NORM for the circumstances you describe IS not to receive Holy Communion without 1st going to Confession.

An act of Contrition is NOT as the NORM, a substitute for this requirement. Such an act is for extraordinary circumstances only; and then is ONLY applicable [effective] when it is a PERFECT Act of contrition [based on Love of God; not fear of consequences]. And even then it is CONDITIONAL on making a good Confession as soon as POSSIBLE [not meaning as soon as it is convenient].

So dear friend you should discuss this matter in Confession ASAP, giving all of the details and circumstances.

Thanks for asking

God Bless you

Patrick

 

[brad90956]

Your confession was valid and all your sins were forgiven, even the mortal sin that you honestly forgot.

You just need to confess the mortal sin you forgot at your next confession.

You can validly receive communion in the meantime unless you commit a new mortal sin since your last confession.

The same exact thing happened to me about 2 months ago. I go to confession about once per month. In between confessions, I remembered a mortal sin I committed from about 3 years ago. I wasn’t racking my brain trying to dredge up the past looking for mortal sins, but something triggered my brain to remember it. I made a note of it for my next confession, prayed the Act of Contrition and told God that I was truly sorry. I received communion for the next 2 weeks then went to confession and confessed it to my priest.

God Bless

 

[psalm90]

Maybe you’ve heard the classic question, what does “is” mean? In this case, what is a mortal sin?

It must be objective grave “matter,” you must freely commit the grave matter, and something else.

Comment: I got in a question to one of those call-in Q/A programs on EWTN radio and asked about deathbed confessions / conversions.

I seem to recall it was Fr. Mitch that day, and I was glad for that, because it was something he said a long time ago that put my question on edge for me. He had said that the sacrament of confession is the only normal way we have mortal sin absolved, THAT WE KNOW OF. Hence, my question: OK, what if you’re dying and you have mortal sin and can’t get to confession? Well, it turns out that, yes, this final repentance will absolve a person of that sin.

What is altogether a separate and more complicated question, has to do with paragraph 1735 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which says when something that is grave matter IS NOT a mortal sin, despite what you might think otherwise. 1735 is a vague list of reasons when we are not culpable for the sin. I haven’t gotten any priest or even my local bishop to explain 1735. When does it apply? OK, do we have to confess a sin for which we think we are NOT culpable because of 1735.

Fr. Mitch gave me personally an email to explain how a person may not be culpable under 1735 for a serious sin for psychological reasons, but he narrowed the interpretation of psychological to a case where one was legally criminally insane. I think that needs further clarification, without appealing to local laws about the definition of criminal insanity. When the bishops wrote the Catechism, they could have said “criminally insane” 1) if that was all they meant and 2) if they had defined it. But, I think there may be much broader psychological circumstances which make a person less culpable or not culpable, such as lack of maturity.

In my last confession, I told the priest I had consulted a couple guides to examination of conscience, and I thought I was guilty of many sins on that list (some of which I consider rather controversial – like disagreeing with a priest – I disagree with Fr. Frank Pavone’s stunt yesterday with the corpse of an aborted fetus – I don’t see how that could be a sin at all). Anyway, the priest absolved me for all the sins I had confessed and those which for any reason I had not confessed.