Urgent- Is my confession really valid

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the_man

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:confused: Hi everyone; i dont know if this is the right forum but it seemed most appropriate.

Two weeks ago i finally made myself go to the priest and make a confession. I’ve been to confession many times before to confess mortal sins but this one sin in particular is the worst of them which i done when i was about 12 years old( im now seventeen). It was the worst feeling ever building up to it and i was feeling physically sick. I was very worried about how to word it ect. Well this is what happened; i put my confession in words which made the priest think it wasn’t as bad as it really was, i didnt mean to do this, i knew very well what i meant but the priest picked it up differently. he seemed to understand the jist of it but not the full enormity.
It may be because i started the confession by telling him how sorry i was and that at the time of commiting the sin i truly believed i was too young to understand the enormity of what i had done ( I still believe i knew i was doing it but at this time in my life(12 years) my mind was corrupt and i didn’t believe in God.) He then absolved me but i left with worry and doubt about the validity of the confession and i am really at a loss to if my sin is forgiven or not.
My heart is truely contrite but i wish i had just said it perfectly as it was.
So could you guys help me with this and help my to know if i need to repent it again (which i really dont want to do, but i will if neccessary). Keep in mind i knew exactly what i meant but the priest picked up on it slightly different. Would this also meant that i have been taking the eucharist unworthily over the last two weeks; when i thought i was in a state of grace. :confused:

God bless
 
You’ve learned that it creates sorrow when you perform the act, and because of that you won’t do it again.
I’d say it’s valid, but if you feel unsatisfied about it, you should speak to your priest again.
 
is it wrong to confess the same sin again just becasue i think that it was not valid the first time. Thanks 👍
 
Correct me if I’m not speaking on the church here, but you seem very VERY sorry about this act, and I can tell you would never dream of doing it again.
I think you’re fine, and it might be better to simply chat with the priest instead of going to confession again.
 
I hope I’m not wrong about this but a nun once told me that if you confess (if you forget other sins) then your forgiven by doing confession. She also said that if you’re truly sorry about something then you’re forgiven and if worse comes to worse (like you cant see a priest) than ask God for forgiveness directly.
 
To repeatedly confess a particular sin means you don’t believe in God’s forgiveness. You need only ask once.

Just because you don’t feel good about what you did does not mean you were not forgiven. You most certainly ARE forgiven.

That being said, you may have some unresolved emotional or psychological issues dealing with what you confessed. That is a totally and completely different situation.

I’m 40 now. When I was younger, between my kid and teen years, I did some very VERY awful things that were I to pause to think about I’d start crying and feel so very horrible. I have since confessed those sins and have since been forgiven. Right now what is there is not that I have not been forgiven by God, because I have, but the harm I had caused and how that is impacting me emotionally. I am making my reparations elsewhere now.

What calms and assures me is that I have God’s forgiveness. Sure, I’ll feel awful when I think about what I did as a wee kid, and I have somewhat of an “excuse” (i.e. I was releasing anger from abuse I was receiving) since I was merely a child, I take comfort in the fact that 1) I have not EVER repeated that sin again, and 2) I have been forgiven by God.

I suspect you may need to deal with the emotional scars left with you. You’ve been forgiven. Now it is time to work on the residual harm left. Considering talking to a counselor or a priest. But if you talk to a priest, don’t do it as a confession.

I’ll be praying for you. 👍
 
Thank you very much belle777( yes you are correct i am very very sorry for what i done), jack 17 and godisgracious. Thanks very much for praying for me. that really helps.
 
Godisgracious, but what if the preist didnt understand everything i meant and the real gravity of it; because i worded my confession in that way. Doesn’t the preist have to know exactly, simply and to the point what i did to be properly forgiven.
 
the_man said:
Godisgracious, but what if the preist didnt understand everything i meant and the real gravity of it; because i worded my confession in that way. Doesn’t the preist have to know exactly, simply and to the point what i did to be properly forgiven.
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Good question, I can’t answer that. But I suspect that you are still forgiven. I do hope that someone can answer this clearly as I am curious as to what the “correct” answer is.

That being said, your post gives rise to another question:

Why did you phrase your confession in the manner that you did?

You don’t have to answer this question on the board. In light of what you just said, I think the REAL cruxt of the problem here is maybe you’re feeling a little bit guilty in that you weren’t being entirely honest with your confession. 😉

Don’t reveal anything personal here. I am simply making a statement and asking you a question to get you to look at what is really going on. Sometimes we’re bothered by one thing when really, there is something else that is bothering us but we diflect because we don’t want to look at the real issue. I think the real issue at this point may be your confession and not what it is you confessed. 😉 However, I could be wrong.

I’ll pray for you that God enlightens you as to what the real issue may be. You may get some help by discussing this with a priest. He may have ideas on how you can confess your sins in such a manner that they are clear and precise.
 
Yes i was feeling very guilty and didnt want to tell the preist so my mind made it easier on me by telling me to word it better; i was surprised when the priest didnt fully understand. i feel god has forgiven me sometimes but i want to be entirely sure. thanks
 
Just wondering do you think its sinful or against god to confess it again. i feel it may be the only way to sort it out. im extremely confused. i dont want to led to believe im forgiven when really im not.
 
have to go guys. please keep praying for me and thanks very much. where im from is very late. going to hit the sheets

God bless
 
If there was some fact (not feeling) that changed the gravity of the sin or impacted additional persons,(say as an example) you could go back and say “I already confessed this-and-that-part, but left out the fact that…” Then if the priest says it is absolved, it is.
 
Thank you. could i go to a different preist and just confess it again. Do you think i could still recieve the eucharist in mass tommorrow.
 
I’d have to say, along with the previous poster, it would depend on the nature of what you left out. For example, if you were to say ‘I stole’ and the priest reacted as if it were a very minor theft when it was really a million dollars, that would be something that would affect the absolution because you left out something extremely significant and the priest would’ve been badly misled.

If it’s just a matter of you feeling subjectively that what you did was really bad, and you feel the priest has all the necessary material facts but just isn’t treating it as a serious sin - well, priests are there to administer God’s mercy, not His wrath, so for the most part they are not going to be hard on you about your sins at all.
 
Trust in God’s grace. If you made a confession to the best of your ability, you are forgiven. I don’t see how you could still be in a state of mortal sin because you went to confession with a pure heart (not trying to hide anything), confessed and were granted absolution. The Lord will forgive absolutely anything you have done or will do as long as you repent (which it sounds like you have done). Please trust in God’s grace. He loves you so much.
 
Don’t worry man, your Confession is **totally **valid. God’s no dummy, he made these Sacraments so that they would **really **work. They work “Ex opre operato” - by the virtue of their valid administration - so the **only ** ways they can’t work are if you or the priest do something to intentionally impede it. You have not. If you had not confessed it, you’d have a problem, but you had the courage and contrition to say it. And no, you don’t need to give all the details; my confessor always says “I only want to hear the headlines, not the editorials.” He’s a really good priest, and gives good advice. One more thing, you seem so sincere in your sorrow that you may also have gained a plenery indulgence just by that; maybe this is God’s design in action! Great job man!
 
the_man said:
Thank you. could i go to a different preist and just confess it again. Do you think i could still recieve the eucharist in mass tommorrow.
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No, you do not need to go to confession again. Your confession was valid. A confession does not need to be perfect in order to be valid. It is not a sin to confess the same sin again, but it is not at all necessary. You may go to Communion. Do not worry. God is merciful.
 
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