Sins forgotten in Confession

[jc1969]

Two different sacraments but same concept…baptism is not repeatable… once administered it is done…but a similar thing could be said of confession, although it is repeatable… once a sacrament has been accomplished it need not be repeated in what it was ‘meant’ to accomplish in any single instance, whether it be baptism…done once cuz your only born once by analogy…or confesssion, done many times cuz we sins throughout our lives, yet each time it is done, it ‘fully’ accomplishes what it was meant to do…and in the case of baptism and confession it would be the foriveness of sins coresponding to grace which is particular to the either sacrament, once applied (baptism) or repeatable (confession). In any single instance of confession, absolution of all sins, forgotten or remembered is accomplished. To say it need be ‘finished’ or ‘supplied what is lacking later’ I think is, well, not being dealt with honestly. I know it is an old Church teaching but i think it should be looked at as more of one of a disiplinary or pastoral nature, not one of theological necessity which is what it seems to be made to be. It as if talking out of both sides of your mouth at the same time to say it needs to be ‘directly’ absolved when you are also saying ‘indirectly’ it is absolved also fully.

 

[jc1969]

Forgive me… i do not wish to suggest that we disobey church teaching… i’ve just had my doubts about this and wish to express it where it made sense to me…as they say a thousand doubts do not equal one disbelief… i think that’s how it goes…We need to listen to the Church…but on this particular issue I find problems…doubts…

 

[jc1969]

I’ve also heard different version from priests on the internet on what is taught and not taught and it ‘seems’ the pastoral/disciplinary one makes more sense… again not to say we don’t listen to the Church.

 

[jc1969]

Thank you Bookcat…i will pm you with more concerns when i have the info properly in order…One other thing is that it is said that your sins are forgiven in any confession forgotten or not with the proviso that once remembered they are confessed in the next confession…it is conditional upon the confession of sins in the next confession (i am supposing if there is as proviso then the previous forgotten sins are not forgiven if not confessed once remembered in the next confession because that is what a ‘proviso’ means…there’s a conditional understanding in some respect, yes?) In other words, forgotten mortal sins are forgiven conditioned upon the necessity of confessing them once remembered in the next confession, according to Father Hardon in your link. But i am also of the understanding that, no, this is not the true understanding…you are completely forgiven whether you confess them or not in the next confession, but you incur a new different sin if you dont… so there are two understandings floating about out there that are conflicting.

 

[OraLabora]

One shouldn’t take too mechanical of an approach to confession. Yes it is important to confess mortal sins (and also those we think might be mortal), and even beneficial to confess venial sins.

However confession should be tied to a sincere process of deep inner conversion; conversion isn’t simply coming back to the Church. Benedictines vow stability, obedience and conversion of life (convsersatio morum), which is an ongoing process until our last breath on this Earth.

Scrupulosity (lists, trying to remember the exact specifics of each sin even those many years ago, running to confession as soon as one remembers a sin that was forgotten at the last confession) works against that. It’s the devil’s tool to ensure that you never ever find inner peace and confidence in God’s mercy. It will sap the life from you and lead to things like acedia or despair.

This is why I like to work with a regular confessor when I can, and when he says not to worry about something, or not confess the same habit over and over again, I listen to him.

God really wants us to put our full, unconditional trust in Him as small child implicitly trusts a loving mother and father. It means trusting in His mercy when we are imperfect which includes having memory lapses in confession.

I too was overly hung up about confession and scrupulosity and I never found inner peace and true trust in God until I overcame that. Confession needs to be an instrument of our conversion, not just a clearing house for sins.