Trouble remembering sins

  • Thread starter Thread starter GandalfTheWhite
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
G

GandalfTheWhite

Guest
OK, I don’t know where to start. Last year of my life was very interesting and probably one of the best years in my life. This is because I realized the necessity of Christ and abandoned the horrible cultural/cafeteria Catholicism that is plaguing the world. At that time I realized how sinful I am and of course tried to reduce sinning to minimum - mainly the mortal sins. God’s grace helped me to reject these sins and really commit myself to chaste life.

The thing is that lately I suddenly don’t know what to say when I go to confession. Of course still sin - and EVERY DAY! I don’t want to give you a false impression! But these are usually sins that I often don’t even realize or easily forget (nothing that would need immediate confession and honestly trouble me). So in the end, I face a problem. I don’t know what to confess. I just feel bad going to confession and listing only few minor sins because I don’t feel like I’m saying it all - I know I’m not that holy at all! I don’t know, it’s just weird. I understand that we should confess all we know and if we forget things we are still forgiven - but I still want to do something about it. I want to get it all off the chest to help me start a new and better month (I go to confession approximately every month).

So, do you experience something similar? What do you do about it?

Pax Christi!
~G

PS: Basically, to summarize, I usually remember the “very ugly sins” but tend to forget the venial ones! 😦

…I’m getting old! (22 in January :o)
 
join the club…but it only gets worse as you get older (27 here). i am heading over to confession in about 30 mintues and i am trying to remember all of them.
 
join the club…but it only gets worse as you get older (27 here). i am heading over to confession in about 30 mintues and i am trying to remember all of them.
 
I have the same problem, quite often in fact. I was hoping for some insight on how to remember venial sins 😉

One thing I’ve begun doing is the Litany of Humility and that has helped point out many points where I sin during the day. Actually, that probably won’t help either. Now everything is Pride! I end up telling the priest that I’ve been prideful pretty much 24/7 :rolleyes:
 
When I was younger I used to go to confession and wrote all my sins on a piece of paper. When I started going regularly again I decided on switching to the ‘adult’ way (I was kinda shy because I though I would look weird if I took out a piece of paper and started reading it). Last time I went I switched back to the ‘childish’ way. Now I simply make a list and read them. :o

But yes, I first need to make a list before I read it. 😛
 
GandalfTheWhite said:
OK, I don’t know where to start. Last year of my life was very interesting and probably one of the best years in my life. This is because I realized the necessity of Christ and abandoned the horrible cultural/cafeteria Catholicism that is plaguing the world. At that time I realized how sinful I am and of course tried to reduce sinning to minimum - mainly the mortal sins. God’s grace helped me to reject these sins and really commit myself to chaste life.

The thing is that lately I suddenly don’t know what to say when I go to confession. Of course still sin - and EVERY DAY! I don’t want to give you a false impression! But these are usually sins that I often don’t even realize or easily forget (nothing that would need immediate confession and honestly trouble me). So in the end, I face a problem. I don’t know what to confess. I just feel bad going to confession and listing only few minor sins because I don’t feel like I’m saying it all - I know I’m not that holy at all! I don’t know, it’s just weird. I understand that we should confess all we know and if we forget things we are still forgiven - but I still want to do something about it. I want to get it all off the chest to help me start a new and better month (I go to confession approximately every month).

So, do you experience something similar? What do you do about it?

Pax Christi!
~G

PS: Basically, to summarize, I usually remember the “very ugly sins” but tend to forget the venial ones! 😦

…I’m getting old! (22 in January :o)
Click to expand...
Yes, venial sins are a problem for me to remember sometimes as well. I think it’s always important to remember that the Mass itself covers our venial sins, not to make light of venial sin because all sin pains God greatly.

The practice of deep interior prayer is really helpful as well. I often ask the Holy Spirit to shut down my imagination and to allow His light to penetrate the deep areas of my soul. Perhaps you can examine your life of virtue and allow the Holy Spirit to show you those areas of virtue you may be falling short in.

Examine your prayer life and your acts of charity as well. God may also be preparing to take you into deeper union with Him, have you given Him your weakness? I think this is often overlooked.

If we want to go deeper with God we must become detached to wordly comforts, our reputation, money, food and so on. Allow God to shine a light those areas as well and perhaps find a Holy priest advisor who may be able to indentify the areas of sin and shortcoming you cannot see.
 
GandalfTheWhite said:
When I was younger I used to go to confession and wrote all my sins on a piece of paper. When I started going regularly again I decided on switching to the ‘adult’ way (I was kinda shy because I though I would look weird if I took out a piece of paper and started reading it). Last time I went I switched back to the ‘childish’ way. Now I simply make a list and read them. :o

But yes, I first need to make a list before I read it. 😛
Click to expand...
I do this. I think it annoys the priest but it helps me focus on the actaully sin and getting to the point. Plus i feel that i have truly thought about what and why it is a sin It helps me actually see patterns in my sins. Plus if we get deep into one of my sins then i won’t forget the rest. I always order them too get the worst ones over and the the venial and habits.

Unfortunetly i tried to go to confession today but was unsucessful. I’ve been having some issues with the confessor at the church near my house so instead of going between 6 to 7 i ended up going to the one at another chruch at 6:30 so that i could go to my Young Adult Mass at 7pm. Problem was there were so many of us that we didn’t get to confess. Glad to see so many people at confession but bummed that i didn’t get to confess. 😦
 
actually, trying to forget old sins causes more spiritual trouble.
 
I know how you feel.

I just converted and had my first confession last week. Since I was baptised in another faith, I had twenty years of sins to confess. :eek: I tried to categorize them and I write them down, so I wouldn’t be there all day, but I forgot some anyway.

I will try to do some clean up of the ones I forgot next time. Not sure what I will do going forward. I really don’t like the idea of a list of my sins lying around in my house.
 
In the book, “The Way of the Pilgrim,” the pilgrim asked an abbot the same question. How do I know what sins to confess?

The answer given, is the one I use to examine my own conscience before confession.

Jesus gave us two commandments to follow. “Love the Lord God with your entire heart, soul and strength. The second as important as the first, love your neighbor as yourself.”

So, looking at these two commandments, examine yourself against them.

How did I fail to love God, as Jesus said I should?

How did I fail to love my neighbor, as Jesus said I should?

With these two, you will come to see what sins you need to confess.

God Bless
Jim
 
The way I do this is to tell all the sins I know about, and after Father tells me to make my act of contrition, at the end I say, “For these and all the sins of my life, including the ones I may not remember or may not even be aware of, I am truly sorry and ask Your forgiveness”.

This way I’m covered even if I don’t remember some specific sin.
 
It might help if you make an examen of conscience before bedtime. They say if you do this then when you make your big one before Confession it is easier to remember.

If it’s worth anything, I still write down my sins during an Examination of Conscience (the big one), though I go to Confession every two weeks (just so that I might gain an indulgence for the Holy Souls in Purgatory). I sometimes even take the piece of paper in with me if there’s something really upsetting me. 👍
 
GandalfTheWhite said:
When I was younger I used to go to confession and wrote all my sins on a piece of paper. When I started going regularly again I decided on switching to the ‘adult’ way (I was kinda shy because I though I would look weird if I took out a piece of paper and started reading it). Last time I went I switched back to the ‘childish’ way. Now I simply make a list and read them. :o

But yes, I first need to make a list before I read it. 😛
Click to expand...
I thought I was the only person who did this:) Thanks for your “confession” about writing down sins, makes me feel a little better;)
 
I have been having a similar struggle lately, I was raised in a family who were “practicing” Catholics but never went to Confession. As I’ve grown older as God has given me the grace of faith, I’ve realized the importance of regular confession. This past summer, on a road trip, I stopped by the Notre Dame University Book Store and picked up a copy of “How to Make a Good Confession” by John A. Kane. The back 16 pages are questions for an examination of conscience based on the 10 commandments. I’ve added, for myself, a reflection on the 7 deadly sins. I hope this helps.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top