Was my Confession Invalid?

[PMV]

Before, probably during and after Confession I intend(ed) on lieing to my mother tomorrow about my hair being cut. I know how to set up my hair a certain way that makes it look as if I had a haircut. When I am away from her (school, other), I intend on putting my hair back to the way it should be. I have no doubt that my mother has some kind of mental problem or obsession with control. I find my lie to her to be a venial sin at the most, and believe intending to say a slight lie to a mentally challenged woman (who said more then once that she does not care about my dignity) should not cause my Confession to be invalid, but is it?

 

[matthias]

PMV:

Before, probably during and after Confession I intend(ed) on lieing to my mother tomorrow about my hair being cut. I know how to set up my hair a certain way that makes it look as if I had a haircut. When I am away from her (school, other), I intend on putting my hair back to the way it should be. I have no doubt that my mother has some kind of mental problem or obsession with control. I find my lie to her to be a venial sin at the most, and believe intending to say a slight lie to a mentally challenged woman (who said more then once that she does not care about my dignity) should not cause my Confession to be invalid, but is it?

I suppose that this really depends. Firstly is this all you went to confession for? If so and you had no firm purpose of amendment then I’d say it probably was an invalid confession. That said, in all likelyhood it is, as you said, probably not grave matter.

My suggestion would be to make not lying a rule of life and just trust in the lord to make everything work out in the end. Every little venial sin is something of concern and each injures the life of virtue.

Now if there were other mortal/grave sins in your confession, I am not sure if this one confessed but unrepented sin would invalidate the whole confession. I’m not quite a Theologian yet, but I’d advise to err on the side of caution and go talk to your priest.

Good luck. I know that I have the most difficulties with my parents as well. Some how it’s 100 times as difficult to live the life of virtue with those I aught to most want to.

I’ll say a hail Mary for you.

 

[Al_Masetti]

If it’s not a sin, then there really wasn’t much to confess… you would have gotten a blessing.

Doesn’t sound like it’s a sin.

 

[Lux_et_veritas]

Why not talk to your confessor about it?

To feel that something is wrong enough to want to confess it the next day, suggests there is the sin of presumption involved.

Or, why not drop it into “Ask an Apologist” thread and see if Fr. Serpa will have a bite at it.

It still sounds presumptious to me.

What is the worst that can happen if you just get your hair cut? If you can comb it a certain way so it looks like it is cut, then the expected hair cut can not be that radical. I could understand if she was wanting a buzz cut.

Then, there is the issue of obedience to parents. Sure, it is your head and your dignity. However, provided parents aren’t asking for something radical, such as asking you to walk around with a mowhawk or bald, there should be some good exchanges, trying to be respectful of what your parents want.

I was a kid once and I thought my folks were controlling. Now that I am an adult, I’m glad they were the way they were. I learned more and turned out to be a better person for it. It was like hell at times, but I understand more now, as an adult, than I did when I was a kid.

So, just how bad is this haircut she wants?

Learning to follow God, we must learn to follow those over us. We must have reverence for authority before we can understand reverence for God. We must learn to submit to others before we can fully submit to God. Christ showed us by example. He obeyed Pilot, submitting himself to death, death on the Cross.