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gcm101
Guest
If one thinks for a little while that their confession was invalid due to not being sorry enough, or thinking their sins weren’t actually sins, is this the sin of despair? Or would you have to doubt God’s mercy?
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fbl9
Guest
The sacrement of Reconcillation obtains for the pentant forgiveness for sins even with imperfect contrition. So thinking your confession was invalid is not a sin of despair.
Doubting God’s mercy is more akin to the sin of despair.
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R_C
Guest
Remember that while we are obliged to confess all mortal sins (for our own sake, since they remove sanctifying grace from our soul!) we can also (and should) confess venial sins and even imperfections
The blessing of a Confessor who gets to know your soul is great, since it allows you to seek perfection without being embarrassed to confess frequently even if you do not have conscience of mortal sin.A good friend of mine told me once: we often consider that we are doing a great job by staying for a while without mortal sins, while that is only the basic…if we cannot even remain in a state of grace for a significant time, we’re in trouble!
“Being sorry” is also relative…contrition of heart does not necessarily mean to be very disturbed and full of sorrow…in fact, once you get to know your weaknesses, there will be no surprise when you fall again!
It is sincere and radical repentance from having offended the Beloved who is all-good…it is not just to say “I am sorry for doing such thing”, but to say “I wish I had never done such thing, and wish to never in my life do such a thing again!” Imagine Him, indeed, as a kind little lamb…imagine that you pushed that cute lamb away and made Him run away crying…the kind of repentance (figuratively) that moves you to seek reconciliation, to run after the Lamb in order to show Him you are sorry, give Him your love, make Him smile again and rejoice at your company, that is what I think we seek, not the kind of repentance that transforms us into a sea of sorrows, forgetting that our God is the God of full joy and that He is about to take all of our sins and wipe them away, leaving our soul as immaculate as when we were just baptized!Christ loves us, and longs to be loved back
To despair is to think that no matter what you do, God will not forgive you…how absurd! The very fact that the divine person of the Son came to us in Jesus “not to condemn, but to seek sinners to repentance” is the eternal evidence that God not only is ready to forgive all penitents, but that He actively pursues their repentance. God asking His creatures to come back to Him…who can understand such great love in this life?Reconciliation
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fred_conty
Guest
Confession is not about worry but telling Jesus what you did, and asking for pardon knowing that his promise is good.
It is worth while to mention one serious sin of the past already confessed in confession.
That way the quality of the confession will never be in question.
Just a thought.
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isidora99
Guest
Are we really supposed to do that? I don’t understand how it makes a confession more valid to bring up a sin one has already been absolved from, could you please elaborate?
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JFJK
Guest
It’s hard to judge from your feelings. If you thought some of your sins weren’t actually sins, you could ask the priest about it. Sometimes you are confused between weakness and sin.
As for the feeling of incomplete confession:
I also had this feeling in my experience. In my case it was about the penance, how do I re-concile with my brother or sister whom I hurt. How do I repair the harm (could be material harm, but also emotional injury) that I caused to my friend by being insensitive to her. Some damage to others by your sin cannot be undone. But maybe some can.
As for the feeling of incomplete confession:
I also had this feeling in my experience. In my case it was about the penance, how do I re-concile with my brother or sister whom I hurt. How do I repair the harm (could be material harm, but also emotional injury) that I caused to my friend by being insensitive to her. Some damage to others by your sin cannot be undone. But maybe some can.
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fred_conty
Guest
At the end of confession say, “Father I’m sorry for these sins and my past sins of " missing Mass on Holy Days”, or “intoxication”, or “porn”, or “unforgivness”, or “deliberate impure thoughts”, or “uncharitible gossip”, or …
The reason is that it may be that a person is not going to confession for their sins that week but for the graces that confession bring. So they may mention things that are not sins but really only faults which also need to be corrected. But faults are not enough, sins must be confessed. So in this case, the condition of confession would be met by mentioning some serious sin in the past. And it is always better to be actually be sorry for what was our pitfall in the past so that God will continue to strengthen us against falling again into that pit again.
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isidora99
Guest
Oh wow, I can only hope I get to that point, where I have no real sins to bring to confession! Thank you, and God bless you greatly!
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