Should I go to Confession Again?

[AngelRose81]

Ok, I went to confession on Saturday, it was actually my 1st confession since I am a candidate. Anyway, I confessed all of my mortal sins and some venial ones. I did a face to face confession and Fr. said I made a good confession and that I did very well for my 1st confession. I have done my penance and everything, but what if I don’t feel that I did a good job? My confessor says I did, but should I go again just to make myself feel better or should I just not worry about it until my next confession?

BTW, I loved confession, I felt as if the entire weight of my past has been lifted from me! That’s part of the reason I can’t figure out if I should go again soon, since I felt so good after my confession!

Hopefully this wasn’t confusing, as I tend to ramble, but maybe some of you can help!

 

[puzzleannie]

Ok, I went to confession on Saturday, it was actually my 1st confession since I am a candidate. Anyway, I confessed all of my mortal sins and some venial ones. I did a face to face confession and Fr. said I made a good confession and that I did very well for my 1st confession. I have done my penance and everything, but what if I don’t feel that I did a good job? My confessor says I did, but should I go again just to make myself feel better or should I just not worry about it until my next confession?!

you are not always the best judge of your own spiritual progress, that is why we submit to spiritual direction, and the priest in confession is the usual spiritual director for beginners. Neither are your feelings a very good gauge to measure your spiritual condition, they are subjective and misleading.

do not even start the habit of questioning the value of your confession or questioning and monday-morning quarterbacking your confession or your confessor. That leads to a very dangerous spiritual condition called scruples.

You are forgetting that the merit, grace and action of the sacrament come entirely from Jesus Christ, not from you. Your contribution is your contrition and honest recital of your sins.

 

[AngelRose81]

I know I shouldn’t question my confession but I was just overcome with a feeling that for whatever reason it wasn’t a good one. I know I should accept that my priest says it was a good confession and that the penance is enough. I guess maybe I feel that I should confess more of my venial sins…

Is there anything wrong with going to confession to confess venial sins (if you haven’t commited a mortal one, I mean)?

 

[baltobetsy]

Is there anything wrong with going to confession to confess venial sins (if you haven’t commited a mortal one, I mean)?

No, there’s nothing wrong with it - in fact it’s a very good idea. It helps to refine your conscience, to help you grow in holiness and to avoid mortal sins.

One thing I must constantly remind myself of (and I’ve been going to Confession for over 40 years!) is that the most important thing is not the recital of the sins, but the sorrow for having committed them, and the intention not to commit them again. It’s so easy to get all hung up on the confessing, when we should be giving more attention to the contrition.

So remember that a “good” confession is the one where you have given your full attention to sorrow for sin and purpose of amendment.

I’m so glad to hear that you loved this Sacrament. I love it, too.

Betsy

 

[catherineml]

Just a few little thoughts you may want to consider:

Congratulations on your first Reconciliation! It sounds as if you made on honest examination of conscience and gave your best, honest attempt at a good confession, and your priest even confirmed this. Now you may trust in the mercy of Christ and in the wisdom and binding/loosing power of his bride Church. Sounds like you have a nice priest. Trust him. It is his divine vocation to guide you.

If it makes you feel any better, Pope John Paul II confessed weekly, and he was responsible for the spiritual leadership of about 1/6 of the world’s population. I believe that he advocated monthly confession for the average Catholic. Many like weekly confession, and good for them. However, if you start to feel the need to go more frequently than weekly, you might want to seek spiritual direction to ensure that this is what is actually good for you and not just the result of an erroneous conscience.

(Check the CCC.) We are required to build and maintain well-formed consciences, but we are to avoid creating overly scrupulous ones. In other words, we should feel guilty when we actually do sin, and then we must trust in God’s mercy through his sacraments to offer us reconciliation with him. If you find yourself feeling guilty for past sins already forgiven (a little unavoidable for big ones), or worse, if you feel guilty for things you didn’t do/fail to do or for things that were simply unintended accidents, then you might want to talk to your spiritual director about that issue. (Mother Angelica has lots of pithy little insights into the boundless mercy of God. You might enjoy her writings/broadcasts.)

BTW, I totally empathize with your feelings. Been there, too, but always remember that GOD LOVES YOU no matter what, even when you feel horrible and totally unworthy of his love. We are all unworthy, but that’s the mystery of God’s mercy! Don’t sell Christ short; he undertook an unfathomable amount of pain, so that each of us might partake of his mercy and have the opportunity to share in his glory.

WELCOME TO THE CHURCH!

 

[AngelRose81]

Thanks for all your answers. I feel much better now! I’ve been praying more often lately and it has helped me too. Before confession I went to Eucharistic Adoration that we were having and I loved that too. I was so nervous about confession and when I was there praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament it was like Jesus had his arms around me saying it will be OK. I don’t know that I’ve ever had that feeling before. It was so awesome! Anyway, to get back on the subject…

I think I would like to go to weekly confession or maybe every other week. I’ve just gotten to where I feel terrible for commiting a venial sin and I want to make my life better and I want to be a better person and I’ve never had such a good feeling as I did after confession so I think it would help me.

Again, thank you all for your comments. They were a HUGE help!!!

 

[chrysostom15]

Pope John Paul II went to Confession every day. It is fruitful to go often. You also have a cannon law right to do so. You also recieve graces every time you go.

 

[LilyM]

Pope John Paul II went to Confession every day. It is fruitful to go often. You also have a cannon law right to do so. You also recieve graces every time you go.

In my time on these boards I’ve heard that JP2 went to confession everything from weekly to several times daily Which are enough to give anyone a complex.

We must remember that he was spiritual leader of the world’s Catholics, so probably needed and sought an awful lot of spiritual direction. So some of his supposed confessions may in fact have merely been sessions in which he sought this rather than being confessional in nature.

 

[mommyof4]

Don’t you think that that would be a scary job, being the spirtual director of a POPE! JPII none the less. Makes my hands sweaty just thinking about it.

 

[beckers]

I know I shouldn’t question my confession but I was just overcome with a feeling that for whatever reason it wasn’t a good one. I know I should accept that my priest says it was a good confession and that the penance is enough. I guess maybe I feel that I should confess more of my venial sins…

Is there anything wrong with going to confession to confess venial sins (if you haven’t commited a mortal one, I mean)?

you have to realize that the devil hates confession. He hates that people are turning back to God and when they come out they are clean. He’s lost is foothold which means he is falling. So what does he do? He tries his hardest to throw our prior sins back in are face and say there is no way god could fogive that sin or you didn’t do it right so your not absloved. This leads to doubt and can break down the person to sin more. Just don’t believe him.

God cares that you came to him and confessed it all. To him those sins do not exist. Take comfort in that. For me this is the hardest part to accept his forgiveness. Never feel bad about confession. It is a beautiful thing!
Welcome Home http://bestsmileys.com/party/2.gif

 

[cheeto1]

Sure, why not? If you go too much, the priest will tell you. In Psalm 50 it says “wash me more and more from my guilt”. I don’t think our human feelings always keep up with the reality of our forgiveness. Rest assured, you are forgiven. God has spoken. Confess any forgotten sin when you
remember it.