Sinning while planning to confess it later

[ac_claire]

I have a question and could use some guidance. Particularly from any of the priests. What if a person commits some kind of sin (something along the lines of lying to an employer say, or missing Mass or intentionally eating meat on Good Friday, etc.) and just kind of brushes it off at the time thinking, “oh I’ll just confess it next week.” How can a person be truly sorry, or make themselves (or can they even make themselves?) truly repentant in order to receive absolution under such circumstances?

Thanks in advance…

 

[JSSebastianoP]

I have a question and could use some guidance. Particularly from any of the priests. What if a person commits some kind of sin (something along the lines of lying to an employer say, or missing Mass or intentionally eating meat on Good Friday, etc.) and just kind of brushes it off at the time thinking, “oh I’ll just confess it next week.” How can a person be truly sorry, or make themselves (or can they even make themselves?) truly repentant in order to receive absolution under such circumstances?

Thanks in advance…

I guess if you are wondering if it is a sin to wait for confession, I would say “to a degree”. Say, my parish regularly offers the Sacrament of Penance only on Saturdays, so let’s say I commit a sin on Tuesday and I wait 'till Saturday to confess it, then I’m probably not committing too much of a sin. On the other hand, if it becomes Saturday, and I’m able to go to confession and don’t (for whatever reason - watching TV or brushing it off), then I would say that constitutes the sin of sloth, of laziness. The “Oh I’ll just confess it next week” mentality does not necessarily mean that the person is not sorry - it means he feels he has other things to do that are either easier or more important than going to confession. That’s why I’d call it the sin of laziness. Being unrepentant is a bit of a different problem, I think. But, as they say, that’s just one man’s opinion.

CHRISTI pax.

 

[ac_claire]

Thanks JSS. I understand what you’re saying, but I was more talking about just planning on going to confession before you even sin. Like, ahhh…I really should go to Mass…but I’ll just skip it and confess it later, and call it even. (That’s just an example). You know what I’m saying…? It’s the sin of presumption I’d guess. If you’ve done that, how can you ever truly repent of it if you were “planning” to repent the whole time…?

Hope I’m making some sense.

 

[Liraco]

Thanks JSS. I understand what you’re saying, but I was more talking about just planning on going to confession before you even sin. Like, ahhh…I really should go to Mass…but I’ll just skip it and confess it later, and call it even. (That’s just an example). You know what I’m saying…? It’s the sin of presumption I’d guess. If you’ve done that, how can you ever truly repent of it if you were “planning” to repent the whole time…?

It’s like thinking “I’ll punch that person in the face and say I’m sorry later”. There’s clearly no intention of asking for real forgiveness or else the bad act wouldn’t be done in the first place.

Still, a person can repent of such sins AFTER one actually realizes what they’ve done. The problem is that one shouldn’t assume they’ll have an “after” to be sorry about. They should be sorry NOW and avoid such sins altogether if they know they’d be committing them.

 

[LilyM]

It’s like thinking “I’ll punch that person in the face and say I’m sorry later”. There’s clearly no intention of asking for real forgiveness or else the bad act wouldn’t be done in the first place.

Still, a person can repent of such sins AFTER one actually realizes what they’ve done. The problem is that one shouldn’t assume they’ll have an “after” to be sorry about. They should be sorry NOW and avoid such sins altogether if they know they’d be committing them.

Exactly. One who sins while planning to confess the sin later is guilty of the sin of presumption.

But one can certainly become aware of the heinousness (especially where one commits MORTAL sin while planning to confess it later) of their taking God’s forgiveness for granted, and be genuinely sorry for it later. In the same fashion as one can genuinely repent of taking their spouse or children’s forgiveness of their wrongs against them for granted.

Of course, being repentant, they’ll confess that further sin of presumption as well.

 

[fulbert4605]

The situation described in the OP is the sin of presumption and is no small sin. It is yet another one of satan’s inroads to rationalization of sin.

Presumption at the time of the sin in no way disqualifies you for ever being able to repent that sin; it’s just at that time you use presumption you are unrepentent. You can truly feel sorry for the presumption plus the sin you did while presuming, but likely not until a later time. Probably a few days pass at least. The sacraments MUST be approached with true repentence and must be received with true repentence in order to be effective.

The sin of presumption is one of the most prideful and delusional gestures we pieces of dust can ever make.

i cringe upon hearing the lines

“For some reason I can’t explain
I know St. Peter will call my name.”

in the song Viva La Vida by Coldplay. The entire song. . . false humility, but i digress.

 

[JSSebastianoP]

Thanks JSS. I understand what you’re saying, but I was more talking about just planning on going to confession before you even sin. Like, ahhh…I really should go to Mass…but I’ll just skip it and confess it later, and call it even. (That’s just an example). You know what I’m saying…? It’s the sin of presumption I’d guess. If you’ve done that, how can you ever truly repent of it if you were “planning” to repent the whole time…?

Hope I’m making some sense.

Yes; I know what you mean. I’m sorry I misunderstood.
In that case I agree with what the other posters said about the sin of presumption.

i cringe upon hearing the lines

“For some reason I can’t explain
I know St. Peter will call my name.”

in the song Viva La Vida by Coldplay. The entire song. . . false humility, but i digress.

You aren’t the only one…

Pax.

 

[PacoG]

How do you confess the sin of presumption? What do you tell the priest?

 

[ac_claire]

You would confess it like any other sin. Just say, “I’m guilty of the sin of presumption when I committed xyz sin fully intending to confess it later.”

As far as the repentance issue goes…I also remembered that in my TLM missal there’s some prayers you can pray to the Holy Spirit, before confession, asking that you be convicted of your sin and experience true sorrow and repentance. I just remembered that.

 

[Nick_in_MB]

I have a question related to this…

I understand that saying “I won’t go to Mass today (Sunday) and just confess it next weekend” is presumption. But what about sins that people are struggling with and may confess week after week? Would they also be guilty of presumption?

 

[Claire_from_DE]

I have a question related to this…

I understand that saying “I won’t go to Mass today (Sunday) and just confess it next weekend” is presumption. But what about sins that people are struggling with and may confess week after week? Would they also be guilty of presumption?

Do you mean when you think, ‘I know I’ll have to confess this later’ but you do it anyway or ‘I’ve already committed this sin once, so since I have to go to confession anyway, I might as well go ahead and do it and confess I did it twice’? (I don’t think I’m the only person who has thought this way.) You are presuming that you will live to confess the sin and that God will give you the grace to repent of it. You are taking God’s mercy for granted.

One way to tackle a habitual sin is to ask the Holy Spirit to convince you that, whatever the sin is, it is something you really don’t want to do. It is something pleasant or convenient for you so you have to try to want not to do it more than you want to do it. You have to begin to want to be an honest, or a patient, or a chaste person because this is what God wants for you and it will make you happier (even in this life).

A sin that you are struggling with has one good side effect; it lets you know how weak you are and how much you need God’s grace to overcome it. You need to repent as soon as you sin, ask for God’s forgiveness right away, and ask for the grace to resist the sin the next time you are tempted. Set up a strategy for what you will do when that happens.

Of course, you do need to confess it. But you should repent and ask for grace even before you go to confession.

This is more than the question you asked but it worked for me so I thought I’d share it.

 

[Tartini]

A Scenario to Consider:

I have a box filled with dynamite. There are 2 switches that are on the box. One detonates the dynamite, but I do not know which one. There are no other options here. This switch arrangement changes with each passing second. Each time I commit a known sin, I flip one of the switches. If I am lucky, I will make it to confession and everything will be fine. I can only hope I am in luck today and tommorrow or at least until I get there.

I think that you know where I am going with this…

Unfortunately, the confession is absolutely void unless there is genuine contrition involved, and that is an extremly personal situation that cannot really be judged by anyone except God.

Certain sins are avoidable-don’t flip the switches at all on the box and avoid all the occasions of sin, and this will be best bet both for present bodily saftey and that of the state of your soul after death. I would not take chances in a situation where chance usually wins. It is the act of presuming the Grace of God. This type of attitude is also where the anti-catholic community gets a great deal of their justification to slam the Church.

I realize that some persons may subscribe to a “new” and more modern school of thought about sin and what it is today, but in all reality, it did not change after V2. Some believe it did, and this is greatly disturbing. Your very question is often accepted by some Catholics as how it works.

Sin is sin, and when one actually plans for it, it would seem that it is the same as playing with the dynamite. I would imagine it is even more dangerous, as well.

 

[PJM]

ac claire -I have a question and could use some guidance. Particularly from any of the priests. What if a person commits some kind of sin (something along the lines of lying to an employer say, or missing Mass or intentionally eating meat on Good Friday, etc.) and just kind of brushes it off at the time thinking, “oh I’ll just confess it next week.” How can a person be truly sorry, or make themselves (or can they even make themselves?) truly repentant in order to receive absolution under such circumstances?

Thanks in advance…

*First one must understand the two natures of sin: Mortal and non-mortal claeed “venial sins”. [see 1 Jn.5:

A Mortal sin must meet three criteria:

**Serious Matter **[lying to an employer could be either depending on the facts, the motive and the seriousness] Missing Mass without a valid reason [serious illness or no transportation for example] is always a Mortal sin, as are contraception and abortion [if they meet criteria # 2]

Knowledge that what one is about to do IS a Mortal Sin before ones does it

A freewill decision to do it anyway. A desire to do it is the same as actually doing it!

If one dies with any unrepented, unconfessed Mortal sin, one has chosen to spend eterinity on hell. [See John 20:23 and Mt 16:19]

***Venieal sins wound our personal relationship with Christ, but does not cause a complete seperation in this relationship as does Mortal sin.

In order for any sin to be forgiven true repentance is a mandatory requirement. God reads one’s heart and mind and knows if we are or we are not truly sorry, which must include a serious effort not to repeat that sisn again with God’s help.***

Love and prayers,**

 

[FrCorey]

I have a question and could use some guidance. Particularly from any of the priests. What if a person commits some kind of sin (something along the lines of lying to an employer say, or missing Mass or intentionally eating meat on Good Friday, etc.) and just kind of brushes it off at the time thinking, “oh I’ll just confess it next week.” How can a person be truly sorry, or make themselves (or can they even make themselves?) truly repentant in order to receive absolution under such circumstances?

Thanks in advance…

they misunderstand the whole confession thing. and God knows they don’t mean it when they confess. they can fool the priest but not the father.
they should see a priest.

 

[Liraco]

I understand that saying “I won’t go to Mass today (Sunday) and just confess it next weekend” is presumption. But what about sins that people are struggling with and may confess week after week? Would they also be guilty of presumption?

You’re not guilty of presumption IF every time you go to confess that sin you’re truly sorry about having done it and honestly ask for forgiveness while also praying to the Lord for strength so that you no longer do it. The danger here is if you confess it week after week and confession of that sin becomes a habit that just piggybacks on the sin (meaning you’re not REALLY trying to stop it) then you’re in more danger because the sacrament isn’t valid because of your lack of true repentance.

So if you’re struggling with a specific sin, talk to your priest about it and LISTEN. A lot of helpful advice can be given and if you don’t really try to follow any of it and fall into sin again then you’re not really trying to stop it. Once you get serious about stopping then you will hopefully find it easier to stop. (If it’s still hard, that’s still no reason to quit doing all you can).

 

[peary]

I have a question and could use some guidance. Particularly from any of the priests. What if a person commits some kind of sin (something along the lines of lying to an employer say, or missing Mass or intentionally eating meat on Good Friday, etc.) and just kind of brushes it off at the time thinking, “oh I’ll just confess it next week.” How can a person be truly sorry, or make themselves (or can they even make themselves?) truly repentant in order to receive absolution under such circumstances?

Thanks in advance…

That is the problem in having an informed conscience for confessing your sins: you have to be truly and sincerely SORRY for them. Lying (as long as it is not habitual to your boss) is usually considered a venial sin and, if the intention is right, can be forgiven during general absolution at the beginning of Mass. But knowingly missing Mass or intentionally eating meat on Good Friday are mortal sins because: the person knows it is a sin; the person willfully commits the sin;

 

[peary]

That is the problem in having an informed conscience for confessing your sins: you have to be truly and sincerely SORRY for them. Lying (as long as it is not habitual to your boss) is usually considered a venial sin and, if the intention is right, can be forgiven during general absolution at the beginning of Mass. But knowingly missing Mass or intentionally eating meat on Good Friday are mortal sins because: the person knows it is a sin; the person willfully commits the sin;

to continue - there are three conditions for a sin being mortal:

1. Mortal sin is a sin of grave matter
2. Mortal sin is committed with full knowledge of the sinner
3. Mortal sin is committed with deliberate consent of the sinner

In other words, you must know what the Church teaches about such a sin, you must commit the sin with full knowledge that it is a sin, and you give your conscience consent to commit the sin.

You just can’t brush off the sin and say that you’ll confess it in the next confession. What happens if you die?

Hope this helps.