Scrupulosity or sin?

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Significatif

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I have OCD. I just got back from confession and my priest would not absolve me because he said there was no sin to forgive. He said it was my illness. I got out of confession and intentionally thought gods name in vain in my head (gd). I didn’t mean it when I thought it but I thought it nontheless. Am I in mortal sin? Or is this just scrupulosity?😦
 
I thought it in my head over and over again trying to see if it was mortal sin. Do you still think it was scrupulosity. sorry if i’m being annoying.😦
 
Please be at peace. You are not in mortal sin.

Because of your illness, your struggle with scrupulosity is going to be much harder.
My best advice to you is to find ONE confessor who will also act as a spiritual director for you.
You may also want to enlist the help of a mental-health professional for your OCD.

I struggled, briefly, with scrupulosity when I first returned to the Church.
I was lucky that I had a priest aquaintance that was guiding me thorugh my journey back to the faith,
who recognized my symptoms and helped me to “nip them in the bud” before it got out of hand.

His best advice to me as to how to judge if I was in “mortal sin” or not was this-

To be a mortal sin you must have ALL THREE of these things-
-it must be grave matter
-you must know it is grave matter
-you must ***WILLINGLY CHOOSE ***to do it anyway
When in DOUBT- it is NOT mortal sin!!

Peace be with you on your journey! 🙂
 
Thank you for the response. I will stop worrying about it. God bless. 🙂

I will try to get a regular confessor.
 
I think you were just automatically trying to justify the sense of guilt you took to Confession with you. No need, just accept what the priest says as your compass, as scrupulosity causes you to lose your path.
Ask God for trust in God’s great love for you that casts out fear.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” [1 John 4:18]

God grant you peace.
 
I would disagree with the other responses.

The OP stated that he took the Lord’s name in vain intentionally.

If he had said it was unintentional, then he would not be in a state of mortal sin. He stated he has OCD, but he didn’t say this had anything at all to do with taking the Lord’s name in vain. So unless I’m misreading or missing something, what the OP did would appear to be an intentional violation of the 2nd Commandment.

Unless you are going to argue that being diagnosed with OCD completely takes away free will, in which case the person could never commit any sin at all. That seems like quite a reach.

Pax and God Bless.
 
Significatif said:
I have OCD. I just got back from confession and my priest would not absolve me because he said there was no sin to forgive. He said it was my illness. I got out of confession and intentionally thought gods name in vain in my head (gd). I didn’t mean it when I thought it but I thought it nontheless. Am I in mortal sin? Or is this just scrupulosity?😦
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How do you mean, used God’s name in vain? Do you mean you sort of exclaimed it (silently) because you were exasperated, or was it more like a prayer ('O God, I really don’t understand this!).

I think using the name of God is often a prayer, and not in vain at all.
 
Significatif said:
I have OCD. I just got back from confession and my priest would not absolve me because he said there was no sin to forgive. He said it was my illness. I got out of confession and intentionally thought gods name in vain in my head (gd). I didn’t mean it when I thought it but I thought it nontheless. Am I in mortal sin? Or is this just scrupulosity?😦
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Dan,
I understand what you are tying to say, but I really don’t think that it is going to help the OP. If you look at the portion I highlighted, I don’t think that “intention” was there.

No one is saying that having OCD is a “free-pass”, what is being said is that if someone is OCD, and scrupulous (which the OP obviously is, otherwise the question would not have been posted) that the same rules do not apply as they would to someone who is not affected by either of these disorders.

God loves us, and wants us to love Him back- He does not want us to be in a constant state of fear that every little human thing we do is going to send us to hell.
Dan_Daly said:
I would disagree with the other responses.

The OP stated that he took the Lord’s name in vain intentionally.

If he had said it was unintentional, then he would not be in a state of mortal sin. He stated he has OCD, but he didn’t say this had anything at all to do with taking the Lord’s name in vain. So unless I’m misreading or missing something, what the OP did would appear to be an intentional violation of the 2nd Commandment.

Unless you are going to argue that being diagnosed with OCD completely takes away free will, in which case the person could never commit any sin at all. That seems like quite a reach.

Pax and God Bless.
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I think it could be best for you to find a regular confessor. Ask him about this sin that you are worrying about now. I don’t think any of us can say for certain if it was a sin or not, since you said you did it intentionally. I think it’s best to work this out with a confessor. 🙂 I have scrupulosity too btw. Don’t focus on your thoughts so much and instead find a good orthodox priest to guide you. God bless!
 
Oneofthewomen said:
Dan,
I understand what you are tying to say, but I really don’t think that it is going to help the OP. If you look at the portion I highlighted, I don’t think that “intention” was there.

No one is saying that having OCD is a “free-pass”, what is being said is that if someone is OCD, and scrupulous (which the OP obviously is, otherwise the question would not have been posted) that the same rules do not apply as they would to someone who is not affected by either of these disorders.

God loves us, and wants us to love Him back- He does not want us to be in a constant state of fear that every little human thing we do is going to send us to hell.
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I think what is confusing is how “intentional” and “I didn’t mean it” go together.

Say I get in an argument with someone and say “I hope you fall down a well and break your neck”. I think I’ve sinned against that person- even if I didn’t really MEAN that I want that to actually happen. The sin is in what was said. I think the same thing applies here, but again my understanding of the situation is based on what the OP posted and how I read it.

I fully agree that God loves us and sin is not a cause for despair. Get to confession, go to the Mass, resolve to sin no more.

Scrupulosity does exist, but I’m of the opinion that at least 90% of what gets chalked up to scrupulosity today is no such think. It only appears as such because our society has become so lax about sin, that seeking to live a virtuous life can appear like scrupulosity by comparision.

Pax.
 
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