"reconfess" before communion?

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I read a post in the “Ask an apologist” section from dec.7 about the “need to reconfess forgotten sins prior to receiving Holy Communion”. The answers seemed to point out to the poster that , yes, it is required. Please correct me if i am wrong, but if we forget to confess a sin, it is still forgiven- as grace and sin cannot dwell in the same place… All that is required is that we mention it at our next confession, but by all means receive holy communion in the meantime.
 
Actually I think it has a lot more to do with forgotten Mortal Sins than Venial Sins.

If you remember an unconfessed mortal sin and you are now at Mass the idea is you must refrain from Communion until you get to confession and confess this now remembered sin. Technically it is nor “re-confessing” either. It will be a first time confession for said remembered sin. Re-confessing implies that you had already mentioned it and are now confessing it again.

If you can reference the AAA question and answer to this it would be much easier to fully answer your question.
 
Brenda_V said:
Actually I think it has a lot more to do with forgotten Mortal Sins than Venial Sins.

**If you remember an unconfessed mortal sin and you are now at Mass the idea is you must refrain from Communion until you get to confession and confess this now remembered sin. ** Technically it is nor “re-confessing” either. It will be a first time confession for said remembered sin. Re-confessing implies that you had already mentioned it and are now confessing it again.

If you can reference the AAA question and answer to this it would be much easier to fully answer your question.
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That is not correct.
When a person goes to Confession and sincerely confesses all the sins they remember they have committed and receives absolution, that absolution also includes forgotten sins. If this person, at Mass, remembers a sin they had forgotten to confess at that Confession they are still allowed to receive Communion because that forgotten sin was already forgiven. They simply have to mention at the next Confession the sin they had previously forgotten, even though it has already been forgiven.
 
Brenda_V said:
Actually I think it has a lot more to do with forgotten Mortal Sins than Venial Sins.

If you remember an unconfessed mortal sin and you are now at Mass the idea is you must refrain from Communion until you get to confession and confess this now remembered sin. Technically it is nor “re-confessing” either. It will be a first time confession for said remembered sin. Re-confessing implies that you had already mentioned it and are now confessing it again.

If you can reference the AAA question and answer to this it would be much easier to fully answer your question.
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The post was from dec.7, 6:45 pm. AAA forum. I felt it would be very confusing to suggest to someone that all mortal sin {forgotten} would somehow NOT be forgiven in a valid confession… The Lord doesn’t keep a tally sheet…I hope! I think Fr. Serpa’s reply that Devon included} was not intended for this situation…It could REALLY hurt someone struggling with scrupulosity.
 
Brenda_V said:
Actually I think it has a lot more to do with forgotten Mortal Sins than Venial Sins.

If you remember an unconfessed mortal sin and you are now at Mass the idea is you must refrain from Communion until you get to confession and confess this now remembered sin. Technically it is nor “re-confessing” either. It will be a first time confession for said remembered sin. Re-confessing implies that you had already mentioned it and are now confessing it again.

If you can reference the AAA question and answer to this it would be much easier to fully answer your question.
Click to expand...
This is not correct. With valid confession all our sins are absolved even the forgotten ones. However, not performing penance and/or not mentioning forgotten mortal sin during a new confession is a new sin by itself. The catechism of Trent states:

Sins Forgotten

*But should the confession seem defective, either because the penitent forgot some grievous sins, or because, although intent on confessing all his sins, he did not examine the recesses of his conscience with sufficient accuracy, he is not bound to repeat his confession. It will be sufficient, when he recollects the sins which he had forgotten, to confess them to a priest on a future occasion.

It should be noted, however, that we are not to examine our consciences with careless indifference, or to be so negligent in recalling our sins as to seem as if unwilling to remember them. Should this have been the case, the confession must by all means be made over again. *
 
Sorry:(, I admit I was wrong and I knew better! Thank you everyone for the correction! Can I claim foggy memory due to a cold for the way I answered the question? This is surely something we need to keep in mind, the Sacrament of Penance does indeed remove all sins, remembered and forgotten. Which does beg the question of why we need to mention a remembered mortal sin after confession at our next confession?

Brenda V.
 
Brenda_V said:
… Which does beg the question of why we need to mention a remembered mortal sin after confession at our next confession?

Brenda V.
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My assumption is to make sure that was really an 100% unintentionally forgotten sin and to force us to practice a more effective examination of conscience.
 
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Cristiano:
Brenda V.:
Code: 
             *......... Which does beg the question of why we need to mention a remembered mortal sin after confession at our next confession?
Brenda V. *
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My assumption is to make sure that was really an 100% unintentionally forgotten sin and to force us to practice a more effective examination of conscience.
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Actually, it is because *all *known mortal sins must be confessed, regardless of whether or not they have already been forgiven, or even absolved (two different things that!). For example, one must confess already forgiven sins, if they were forgiven through perfect contrition. One must confess sins that were already absolved through general absolution in an emergency.

The reason is to submit these sins to “the power of the keys”, as commanded by Christ and his church.

That help? What do you think?
VC
 
Verbum_Caro said:
Actually, it is because *all *known mortal sins must be confessed, regardless of whether or not they have already been forgiven, or even absolved (two different things that!). For example, one must confess already forgiven sins, if they were forgiven through perfect contrition. One must confess sins that were already absolved through general absolution in an emergency.

The reason is to submit these sins to “the power of the keys”, as commanded by Christ and his church.

That help? What do you think?
VC
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That makes much more sense and it is much more consistent with the overall picture of the sacrament.
 
To avoid all this stressing, why not conclude a confession with words like ‘Tthis is all I can remember, Father’, or ‘This is all I’m aware of’ '?

Jesus gave His priests the power of Absolution so that Peace may be with us. Why make Our Heavenly Father into the worst kind of crotchety faultfinder?

If your child owned up to something he’d done wrong, would you immediately raise the subject of something you’d noticed sometime ago and he’d forgotten or hadn’t realised at the time was wrong?

Jesus said that the Father treats us like the best kind of earthly father, pointing out that an earthly father wouldn’t give his son a stone when he asked for bread, or a scorpion if if he asked for a fish.
 
Verbum_Caro said:
Actually, it is because *all *known mortal sins must be confessed, regardless of whether or not they have already been forgiven, or even absolved (two different things that!). For example, one must confess already forgiven sins, if they were forgiven through perfect contrition. One must confess sins that were already absolved through general absolution in an emergency.

The reason is to submit these sins to “the power of the keys”, as commanded by Christ and his church.

That help? What do you think?
VC
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Sure does, but then again, I am not the one who asked the original question - what does our OP think?
paperwight said:
To avoid all this stressing, why not conclude a confession with words like ‘Tthis is all I can remember, Father’, or ‘This is all I’m aware of’ '?

Jesus gave His priests the power of Absolution so that Peace may be with us. Why make Our Heavenly Father into the worst kind of crotchety faultfinder?

If your child owned up to something he’d done wrong, would you immediately raise the subject of something you’d noticed sometime ago and he’d forgotten or hadn’t realised at the time was wrong?

Jesus said that the Father treats us like the best kind of earthly father, pointing out that an earthly father wouldn’t give his son a stone when he asked for bread, or a scorpion if if he asked for a fish.
Click to expand...
I don’t think we are stressing too terribly much about it, just defining and clarifying. This is a great thread and the “thinking out loud” is one of the tools we use in this kind of discussion!

Of course, the answer is, you have gone to confession, your sins have both been forgiven and absolved so you can indeed go to Communion even if you remember an unconfessed mortal sin, you just know you must “say it out loud” the next time you go to confession.

Some more food for thought is Fr. Serpa’s answer in the AAA here forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=292039

Brenda V.
 
I.m.o., it is not for *God * for whom we state an “old” sin, it is “for” ourselves, in that it is healing to recognize & recount orally. It just completes the process when the matter is grave. It seems to me that it can be helpful for any penitent who does not have the opportunity for a “general” periodic confession of ‘lifelong’ sins, or an adult initiate making a similar full confession. I don’t think of it as God “keeping a list” in taskmaster style. I think of it as the penitent completing the process for the graces that can bring.
 
Brenda_V said:
Sure does, but then again, I am not the one who asked the original question - what does our OP think?

I don’t think we are stressing too terribly much about it, just defining and clarifying. This is a great thread and the “thinking out loud” is one of the tools we use in this kind of discussion!

Of course, the answer is, you have gone to confession, your sins have both been forgiven and absolved so you can indeed go to Communion even if you remember an unconfessed mortal sin, you just know you must “say it out loud” the next time you go to confession.

Some more food for thought is Fr. Serpa’s answer in the AAA here forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=292039

Brenda V.
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HI all-- I asked the question based only on the AAA forum {poster’s} question, and the answer that was given. I was , and am certain that the advice given{ per the question} was incorrect. Any further extentions of the subject are fine … but it would be putting words in the mouth of the {original AAA} poster.
 
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