Was my confession valid

[conrad979]

Hi,
I am currently in RCIA, and I recently made my first confession. I had spoken with the Priest beforehand about what to do and how, and I felt thoroughly prepared, but very, very nervous. Now I had my list of sins, and said them then he spoke to me about a couple of them and how to combat them in the future. Now one sin I realise I should have given more information about; he really gave me the benefit of the doubt, when really a much worse interpretation of the sin would have been accurate. But it was only afterwards that I realised this because I was so nervous. So was it a proper confession, or should I ring to try to arrange another appointment to put things right? I feel like I should feel relieved having made my first confession as I had been fretting over it for so long, but really I just feel like I did it all wrong.

 

[LilyM]

Hi,
I am currently in RCIA, and I recently made my first confession. I had spoken with the Priest beforehand about what to do and how, and I felt thoroughly prepared, but very, very nervous. Now I had my list of sins, and said them then he spoke to me about a couple of them and how to combat them in the future. Now one sin I realise I should have given more information about; he really gave me the benefit of the doubt, when really a much worse interpretation of the sin would have been accurate. But it was only afterwards that I realised this because I was so nervous. So was it a proper confession, or should I ring to try to arrange another appointment to put things right? I feel like I should feel relieved having made my first confession as I had been fretting over it for so long, but really I just feel like I did it all wrong.

Remember you are not there so much to confess to the priest, you are there to confess to Jesus through the priest. Jesus, of course, knows exactly what it is you’re trying to confess, even if the priest doesn’t exactly understand you. There will be plenty of times in your future confessions where you won’t even KNOW the right words to really accurately describe your sins - and where even if you try, you will not be able to make the priest understand you fully. Does it matter? Not so much.

I remember as a child going to a priest whose (very much) second language was English, and whose native tongue I understood only a little. Somehow we muddled through. Did he understand everything I tried to say? Probably not. Did I understand everything he tried to say? highly unlikely. Did Jesus and the Holy Spirit work to effect the sacrament? I’m sure they did - and I’m sure they do wherever you honestly seek to reconcile yourself to Him.

Are you sure your own understanding of your sins is any more accurate than the priest’s anyway? It might be the Holy Spirit trying to tell you not to be so hard on yourself - or softening the priest’s heart so as to prepare a not-too-traumatic welcome into the Church for you or something

My own rule of thumb would be that you’re good to go unless the priest is clearly BADLY misunderstanding you - at my last confession, for example, the priest utterly misunderstood one sin I was trying to confess, and I had to correct him.

 

[deb_in_MI]

Welcome! Ultimately you are confessing your sins to God and He of course knows all the details already. You spoke the sin to the Priest. Most of the time they will ask if they want clarification of some sort. Unless you outright lied or intentionally left a particular sin out which it does not sound like you did - you are forgiven - your confession was valid - and you can rest assured that you have received God’s awesome Grace!!

If this continues to nag at you - you might mention that at your next confession in order to put your mind at rest.

Have a very blessed Easter Vigil and Easter Season. Welcome Home!!