Sin & Confession

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sarah_anne_628

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I’m not sure if this is the right forum or not…but here goes.

I have committed a sin…and I feel somewhat guilty about it but not as guilty as I should. I wish it would just make me sick to my stomach…but it doesn’t. I can’t even promise I won’t do it again. I don’t WANT to do it again…but then I didn’t want to do it in the first place.

So my question is…should I go to Confession about it? It seems to me that if you are not really sorry and disgusted by your sin that you shouldn’t go to confession. But I am new to the Catholic faith, so I don’t know what is right.

Please give me your feedback (and PRAY for me. I want to stop!)

Thank you.
 
Go to confession and tell the priest all that you have said here. Mentioning your sin, of course. Otherwise, it will probably become a burden for you. If you feel at least ***some ***contrition, that will help. Because you know you have done something wrong and feel bad over it. You said that you didn’t mean for it to happen. That is the beginning of contrition.
 
I’d certainly go and be honest with the priest. Tell him that you don’t think you feel as bad as you should - but remember, guilt is not the same thing as compunction. Guilt is a tool the devil uses to despair, compunction is the tool God has given us to maintain hope.

And another way to look at it - if the sin is serious enough, then you can’t receive communion - which is the main thing you need in order to overcome that which you’re afraid you can’t overcome. Go to confession, be honest, be absolved, receive communion, ask for the Holy Spirit’s help in overcoming the sin.

God bless. You’ll be in my prayers.
 
You don’t have to ensure that you’ll never do it again - that is an impossible promise for a human to make this side of eternity. Rather, you have to be firmly resolved not to do it again - even if you know you’re struggling with a very strong temptation, your intention not to do it again is enough.
 
There are two types of contrition. Perfect and imperfect.

Perfect contrition is that which fills us with sorrow and hatred for sin, because it offends God, who is infinitely good in Himself and worthy of all love.

Imperfect contrition is that by which we hate what offends God because by it we lose heaven and deserve hell; or because sin is so hateful in itself.

Seems to me that you are experiencing the latter. The latter will eventually lead to the former as you progress in the Spiritual life.

Good thing is, both move us to Confession so my advice to you would be to go as soon as you can.
 
sarah_anne_628 said:
So my question is…should I go to Confession about it? It seems to me that if you are not really sorry and disgusted by your sin that you shouldn’t go to confession. But I am new to the Catholic faith, so I don’t know what is right.

Please give me your feedback (and PRAY for me. I want to stop!)

Thank you.
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you are speaking about an emotion, not about true contrition, which is an expression of what you said in your first paragraph, you know you should not have done it, you are sorry about it, and you recogize it is a sin, and you do not want to do it again.

if it is a sin, go to confession, and make the statement of contrition (which is exactly why we have prayer formulas, so we don’t have to rely on our mere outpouring of feelings).
If it is a mortal sin, go to confession right away.

feelings are the beginning not the end of contrition. the best route to true contrition (sorry for sins because they offend God) and compunction (guilt about those sins leading to resolution of amendment) is to contemplate Jesus on the crucifix or in the Blessed Sacrament.
 
You should go to confession even if you don’t have great feelings about your sins; it is more important to acknowledge that you sinned and therefore offended God, that you repent of offending God, and you desire not to offend Him again.

Toward a firm purpose of amendment… Sometimes people are trapped in habits of sin (you said you want to stop…). Three components at least are necessary in order to overcome such a sin:

(1) Stay close to the Sacraments. If you sin mortally, go to Confession as soon as possible. Even once a week if necessary. When you are in the state of grace, go to Communion.

(2) Develop a strong prayer life. Here we are speaking about more than just formal prayers like the Our Father (which are necessary, too). Christian meditation such as the rosary or lectio divina, with a daily examination of conscience and resolutions to grow in virtue are called for.

(3) Mortification; that is, denying oneself something we don’t really need but enjoy, such as a favorite food, must be a regular part of our spiritual lives. Holy Mother Church asks us for some form of penance each Friday, even outside of Lent, and so we must at least do that. If we are struggling to overcome a certain habitual sin, we may need to do more.

God bless,

Fr. Boyd
 
Thank you everybody for your feedback. As soon as I read some of these replies…I immediately grabbed my bag and keys and went to the Chapel. Luckily the Chaplain had time to hear my confession and offer words of wisdom and comfort. I already feel a little better…a little more convicted to avoid sin and temptation.

Thank you again brothers and sisters!
 
Glad we could help 🙂 (well, others could anyway)

For the benefit of any future readers of this thread - I was raised with an old saying ‘I love you, I just don’t always like you very much!’

This saying neatly sums up the difference between the warm fuzzies that people often mistakenly think are necessary for love, contrition or any other emotion to exist, and the reality which is that such things are often a matter of action rather than feeling (which is why Jesus said ‘if you love me you will keep my commands’)
 
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