I have just been reading some posts about Confession and something has made me really worried. I don’t think I have been saying in Confession how many times I committed a sin!
I am going usually every week and can never tell whether I have committed a mortal sin and the sins in question normally happen only once but now I am quite anxious.
What does everyone think about this? Have I missed the point and it only applies to a general Confession?
Only mortal sins need to be given in “number and kind” (such is our obligation)
(and circumstance that changes it…like it was your Father you murdered)
If one makes a “bad confession” that is one intentionally tries to hide etc ones mortal sins or the number of them…then one needs usually to confess again all the mortal sins from that confession and since (if any) and the what was hidden…and the fact that one did such.
A person who forgets a mortal sin …or tries to make a good confession but say makes an honest mistake (like forgets to give the number…or I would think one who did not know one was to give it) does not have to re- confess everything…they just needs to confess what was forgotten in the next confession (say they forgot it or did not know they had to). They are obliged to just give what was forgotten.
If you did not have mortal sins…or were “doubtful mortal sins” (things one is not conscious of being mortal…one has doubts they were etc)…then there is no obligation to confess them in number and kind. Nor then to mention the number in subsequent confessions.
One is not obliged to confess “doubtful sins” though the general advice is if one does not have a difficulty with scruples…then it can be advised to do so (saying one is not sure). If one has a difficulty with scruples…they are often advised to avoid confessing “doubtful sins”
Also I would say that if one had committed a mortal sin --just once --and did not say so–by saying “I accuse myself of murder” --once would be understood as part of that (though I would still say 1x )
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