Same sin over and over

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How does a person come to terms with comitting the same sin over and over. I got to confession for this all the time and each time I feel true remorse. Even in the act I feel disgust towards myself and what I’m doing. How can I continue to ask forgivness for the same thing over and over again?

I want to stop, and I have been applying myself to prayer but it just doesn’t seem to work. I have no one to talk to here. I’ve recently moved to France and feel completly alone. Not only is the language a barrier but this country is just so spiritually dry. I feel so lost.

It’s frustrating because I want so much to be faithful and I want so much to love God with all my heart, but I just keep slapping Him in the face. It’s really hard to not lose hope. It feels so much easier to just believe that I’m a sinner and that’s all I’ll ever be.
 
Keep going to confession and keep praying. I was able to overcome some very bad habbits by going to weekly confession and a lot of prayer. It does eventually work. I’ll pray for you.
 
the classic spiritual direction for habitual sin is prayer and fasting, that is some type of penitential mortification suggested by the priest (we don’t do physical mortifications on our own initiative outside those that are normal practices of the Church such as fasting in the manner prescribed for Lent or abstinence from meat for example).

Replace the bad habit with good habits. Prepare a plan for when temptation occurs and have your good practice ready–kneel and pray the rosary or divine mercy chaplet for instance. Adherance to daily morning and evening prayer, frequent recourse to Mass and the sacraments, weekly confession if necessary, and regular time for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Add a good habit you are not already doing, such as regular weekly service to your church or a charity. As the nuns used to warn us, an idle mind is the devil’s workship. If you have time devoted to idle pursuits, especially those which present a near occassion of sin (a temptation) fill that time with something worthwhile and cut out of your life that which tempts you to sin.

If it is the internet, get a good filter, or use the computer only for necessary work, school and communication.

If it is TV, movies, magazines or other media, eliminate them entirely until you are sufficiently in control of yourself to avoid those which lead to temptation.

If it is bad companions, change friends.

If it is going to the wrong places, stop going there.

be honest about what circumstances provide the temptation and be ruthless about changing those circumstances.
 
Thank you so much mommyof4 and asquared.

My other question though, is how do you know if it’s habitual sin or if it’s that you’re just not convicted enough, or if you’re broken?
 
Good question. I don’t know. Maybe it doesn’t matter. Confess, get the graces from the sacrament, and give it over to the Holy Spirit.
 
lostfollower said:
Thank you so much mommyof4 and asquared.

My other question though, is how do you know if it’s habitual sin or if it’s that you’re just not convicted enough, or if you’re broken?
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I don’t know what you mean by convicted or broken. Habitual sin is just that, a sinful act that has become a habit, something you do regularly, even daily, often without even thinking about it, and something you find it hard to do without. and if the habit goes on long enough and the psychological predisposition is present, may even become an addiction.
 
lostfollower said:
Thank you so much mommyof4 and asquared.

My other question though, is how do you know if it’s habitual sin or if it’s that you’re just not convicted enough, or if you’re broken?
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These are questions that are decided when you meet God and His Divine Justice and Divine Mercy. For you, they are sins you are called to overcome.

IMHO the sins that I confess over and over are the ones that Satan has observed are my weaknesses. I can’t overcome them by myself when faced with the persuasiveness and cunning of Satan. But with God and His abundant graces available to me by prayer, penance, sacraments, and corporal works of charity make it possible so long as I cooperate by a firm dedication of my mind and will.

But what is encouraging is that the sins that I struggled with as a young man are different than the ones I struggled with after I got married. And the ones I struggled with early in my marriage are different from the ones I struggle with now. God will give you the graces to overcome your repeating sin so long as you cooperate and invoke Him in the fight against Satan.

All that is going on is the struggle for your soul. Prepare and train for battle!
 
I would agree with all the above posts, but would also add that using a nightly “particular examen” can help a lot. This is commonly used by religious where they only examine their conscience in relation to one reoccurring sin, they do this every night until they have conquered the sin.
The wisdom of the particular examen lies deeper than the old maxim, "Divide et impera" … “Divide and Conquer.” Evidently we have a better chance to master our tendencies if we take them one at a time and concentrate our efforts on the one weakness that now predominates in our lives. Centuries of moral wisdom has shown it is better to do this than scatter our energy of will over the whole field of our passions.
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Hope this helps.
 
The next time you go to confession, ask the confessor how you can find a priest to be your spiritual director.
 
When it comes to habitual sin (and believe me, we all struggle with our own versions of this problem), I’ve found the words of John Donne asking whether God will “forgive that sin which I did shun a year or two, but wallowed in a score?” to be both convicting and uplifting. Yes, if we are repentent, God will forgive. But we need to sincerely make efforts to repent, to turn away, from the sin:

WILT Thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore?
When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,
For I have more.

Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have won
Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or two, but wallowed in a score?
When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,
For I have more.

I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore ;
But swear by Thyself, that at my death Thy Son
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore ;
And having done that, Thou hast done ;
I fear no more.
 
I use the good Lord’s name in vain too much. I don’t appreciate what others have done for me. And sometimes I get horrible tempertantrums. I ttry to ask Him to forgive me, but I just do it again.
 
lostfollower said:
Thank you so much mommyof4 and asquared.

My other question though, is how do you know if it’s habitual sin or if it’s that you’re just not convicted enough, or if you’re broken?
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These are questions for your confessor. Only he can answer them, because only he knows how often you are confessing the same sins.
 
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