Dear friend
Jesus can read us like a book, our hearts are an open book to Him, even though we sometimes confuse ourselves, we can never confuse God.
The Holy Spirit leads us to Confession and by His power we make that Confession, we must submit to the Holy Spirit and trust the Sacrament.
It is always dangerous to examine our consciences straight after confession but never dangerous to fully examine our consciences prior to confession.
Jesus knew in your own words and in your unique individuality, as He created you, that you confessed your sins to the best of your ability, you need only be contrite in your heart. You need not go into all the details of your sins, Jesus already knows the details, you need only name the sin as you did and that is perfect. You are absolved of all the sins of your life at every confession, when you leave that confessional, you are a Saint!
We must have faith in Jesus’ absolution. Confession is a Sacrament of Jesus’ Healing, Grace and Peace. We must always leave the confessional remembering this and filled with thanksgiving.
You love God and rightly you fear offending Him, but you must also remember you are a weak human being and Jesus knows this. He knows your every weakness. All human beings are weak, even the great Saints were weak. You have re-called these absolved sins to mind because not only do you realise your weakness but you know that if it wasn’t for God’s Grace you would have no strength at all to overcome them. Anyone who has by the grace of God conquered certain sins in their life have nothing to boast of in themselves but rather must boast of Christ Jesus and His Mercy and Grace.
If you continue this way of processing your thoughts in regard to your faith you will be scrupulous and this will cause you great misery rather than living in the Joy of the Risen Lord. Such ways of thinking totally deny the great Mercy of God. I am praying you do not fall into this as it will taint your whole relationship with God.
Rather than take yourself so seriously, learn to laugh at yourself and have a sense of humour about yourself. Sin is always serious, but the way we handle it need not be, there is great humility in laughing at ourselves and this is the best medicine for a heart that is suffering as you are. It may help to laugh at your own weakness and be incredulous at the strength of God.
In striving for perfection we must realise we will never be perfect, though we must always strive for it, in this striving heroic virtue is practised. Having said all of that we must never dwell so deeply on our sins that we become interiorised to such an extent that we forget the exterior world.
You have been absolved and now friend you must forget those sins. Satan takes great joy in reminding us of our sins in the hope we will despair of God’s great and infinite Mercy.
Sometimes God will remind us of our sins to keep us from pride and to remind us we are weak, in other words, he’s telling us not to get ahead of ourselves!
However we personally must not keep dwelling on sin once confessed and absolved. We must be cheerful in our walk with Christ Jesus, uncomplaining and bold in our striving to please and love Him.
If you do not KNOW whether to receive Communion or not then you are not in mortal sin. You must KNOW you have committed a mortal sin for it to be a mortal sin. If there is adoubt in your mind , then you have not committed a mortal sin and must if you feel properly disposed, receive Holy Communion. In this Most Precious of All Sacraments, your heart is transformed to Christ-likeness, it is the Most Intimate meeting with Christ Jesus and your heart must be open to receive Him often, to love Him and Him to love you in His most intimate Sacrament.
You must trust Jesus, He is your greatest and best friend.
Remember friend, Jesus is the ONLY Sacrament and there are seven ways of receiving Him in HIS seven Sacraments.
Stop worrying.
God Bless you and much love and peace to you
Teresa
HELP!!! I went to confession Saturday, but then came out doubtful of my sincerity because I didn’t specify what kind of impure thoughts I had. I got advice from several people, and they told me that it wasn’t a sin to specify; the priest would have asked if he wanted to know anything further.