Sin, Virtue and Confession

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Neil_Anthony

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In confession of course we all confess our sins that we committed…

But there is more to the Christian life than just avoiding sin: we have to grow in virtue and perform acts of mercy and charity…

So… in confession, do you also report lack of progress in growing in virtue, or times where you think you missed a chance to perform an act of mercy?

( Am I drawing a false distinction between the practice of virtue and sinning? Is being imperfect in some virtue or not performing every act of mercy imaginable a sin? )
 
Neil_Anthony said:
In confession of course we all confess our sins that we committed…

But there is more to the Christian life than just avoiding sin: we have to grow in virtue and perform acts of mercy and charity…
Sometimes I think that “just avoiding sin” is often way more easy than performing acts of mercy and charity.

So… in confession, do you also report lack of progress in growing in virtue, or times where you think you missed a chance to perform an act of mercy?
I think if there was a specific instance when there was a missed chance to perform an act of mercy that it would be a matter for confession.

( Am I drawing a false distinction between the practice of virtue and sinning? Is being imperfect in some virtue or not performing every act of mercy imaginable a sin? )
Even if there isn’t a specific instance of missing a chance to perform an act of mercy, I think it would be beneficial to add to a confession something like, “… and for any times I may have missed an opportunity to perform an act of mercy…,” if for no other reason than to receive the grace to improve in virtue.
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All IMHO 🙂
 
I agree; after all, wouldn’t a missed opportunity of mercy be a sin of omission? As for failure to grow in virtue being an actual sin to be confessed, I’m not so sure, but if you mention you’re having a problem with that, the priest might have some good advice for you.
 
Neil_Anthony said:
In confession of course we all confess our sins that we committed…

But there is more to the Christian life than just avoiding sin: we have to grow in virtue and perform acts of mercy and charity…

So… in confession, do you also report lack of progress in growing in virtue, or times where you think you missed a chance to perform an act of mercy?

( Am I drawing a false distinction between the practice of virtue and sinning? Is being imperfect in some virtue or not performing every act of mercy imaginable a sin? )
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What any of us talk about in Confession is between us, the priest and God and shouldn’t be publicly discussed here!
 
thistle said:
What any of us talk about in Confession is between us, the priest and God and shouldn’t be publicly discussed here!
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Well thats too bad, it makes it hard to know if we’re getting off track if we can’t ever talk about it 😦
 
thistle said:
What any of us talk about in Confession is between us, the priest and God and shouldn’t be publicly discussed here!
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I dont think the OP was looking for specific gory details of individuals sins - do you :confused:

I think rather it was a discussion about ‘areas’ covered in the confessional, and I for one am glad he posed the question, because I had never thought about things I ‘hadnt’ done, or kindnesses or mercies had failed to act on.

Thanks for the food for thought.
 
CreatioNova said:
I dont think the OP was looking for specific gory details of individuals sins - do you :confused:

I think rather it was a discussion about ‘areas’ covered in the confessional, and I for one am glad he posed the question, because I had never thought about things I ‘hadnt’ done, or kindnesses or mercies had failed to act on.

Thanks for the food for thought.
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You’re welcomed, and thank you for your kind words, I was kind of hurt to see my post taken the wrong way like that 😦
 
thistle said:
What any of us talk about in Confession is between us, the priest and God and shouldn’t be publicly discussed here!
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For one thing, we are not bound by the Seal of Confession–the priest is. While most of us do not want to hear all of the details of someone’s sins, there is nothing wrong with discussing things of a general nature and perhaps helping each other out a little. No one here is making an Online Confession, and the OP was merely asking a general question for discussion.
 
CreatioNova said:
I dont think the OP was looking for specific gory details of individuals sins - do you :confused:

I think rather it was a discussion about ‘areas’ covered in the confessional, and I for one am glad he posed the question, because I had never thought about things I ‘hadnt’ done, or kindnesses or mercies had failed to act on.

Thanks for the food for thought.
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Me too. I know for me, usually when I go to Confession, the foremost on my mind are sins actually committed, and it’s easy to forget the things I should have done but didn’t. Being human, sometimes you think you’ve made an adequate preparation for Confession, but how many of us almost always remember something on the way home? I thing the OP’s question was was a good reminder for all of us.
 
I was told that you only have to confess mortal sins. An omission can rarely be a mortal sin, unless, for example, you actually saw somebody drowning and decided not to throw him a rope because you wanted him to drown.

If we don’t have any mortal sins, then we should try to confess the most important of our venial sins. If we have lots of venial sins, I’ve been advised by my confessor that it’s better to focus on a few, and on the root cause of them, and root out those sins through the Sacrament, rather than trying to remember all of them and feel like we’re drowning.

If you are saintly enough to have neither mortal nor venial sins, then confess imperfections and omissions of virtue. If that’s you, great. But for mere mortals like me, I know that’s a long way down the line!
 
Neil_Anthony said:
In confession of course we all confess our sins that we committed…

But there is more to the Christian life than just avoiding sin: we have to grow in virtue and perform acts of mercy and charity…

So… in confession, do you also report lack of progress in growing in virtue, or times where you think you missed a chance to perform an act of mercy?

( Am I drawing a false distinction between the practice of virtue and sinning? Is being imperfect in some virtue or not performing every act of mercy imaginable a sin? )
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You are only required to confess known mortal sins in the Sacrament of Penance. You are also encouraged, if possible, to confess venial sins to increase holiness.

I have never heard of the necessity of confessing, “lack of progress in growing in virtue,” or anything similar. If your conscience is bothering you about something, mention it in confession. If you have a good priest, he’ll be able to give you spiritual direction and/or advise you on whether he thinked you sinned or not.
 
kyrie80 said:
You are only required to confess known mortal sins in the Sacrament of Penance. You are also encouraged, if possible, to confess venial sins to increase holiness.

I have never heard of the necessity of confessing, “lack of progress in growing in virtue,” or anything similar. If your conscience is bothering you about something, mention it in confession. If you have a good priest, he’ll be able to give you spiritual direction and/or advise you on whether he thinked you sinned or not.
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Thanks. What got me thinking of this was “impatience”. Being impatient with people seems like a sin to me, but after doing some reading, it appears that its not a sin, but rather the neglect of a virtue. :confused:
 
Neil_Anthony said:
Thanks. What got me thinking of this was “impatience”. Being impatient with people seems like a sin to me, but after doing some reading, it appears that its not a sin, but rather the neglect of a virtue. :confused:
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Yeah, I’m impatient too. If I’m in confession, I’ll many time confess this if I can remember. However, I wouldn’t go to confession for only the reason and wouldn’t beat myself up if I forget. Do the best you can, strive to be holy, and pray to God to ask the Holy Spirit to command you to do his will.

Recognizing the need for change is the first step – it doesn’t happen overnight.
 
DL82 said:
I was told that you only have to confess mortal sins. An omission can rarely be a mortal sin,
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I would have to disagree. Let’s say I don’t teach my kids how to pray, and neglect their religious education. I think that this could be a mortal sin very easily.

In Matthew’s Gospel, it sounds as if Jesus is sending some to hell for sins of omission:
"Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ "

I think sins of omission are very serious, and easy to overlook. We tend to think about what we did when we go to confession. And since that is usually on our minds, we don’t think about what we didn’t do.
 
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