Was my confession valid?

[Dara]

I am a frequent flyer at the confessional so typically my confessions are very brief. Last confession was only slightly longer, totaling of 4 items I wanted to cover. I had just listed the first two and the priest started telling me my penance while I was in mid sentence! (This was a sub priest while my normal priest was on vacation.). I trailed off and stammered that I had two more quick items. He just continued to tell me to do 3 Hail Marys and an our father and raised his hand saying I was absolved.

I thought a priest had to HEAR the confession and decern if he was going to absolve the sin because I am aware that they can tell you that they will not absolve a sin if you are not remorsef. If he didn’t HEAr the last two items were they included in the absolution? Was it a valid confession?

 

[zz912]

As long as the priest says the words of absolution, it was a valid confession, but I would still confess the sins in the next confession, similar to when you forget a sin that you should have confessed. The sin is forgiven, but do confess it the next time.

 

[DavidFilmer]

As long as the priest says the words of absolution, it was a valid confession, but I would still confess the sins in the next confession, similar to when you forget a sin that you should have confessed.

Exactly.

 

[Michael_Allen]

I would absolutely trust in the love and mercy of Jesus. A contrite heart he does not despise (Ps. 50).

God bless +

 

[Rachel126]

I agree with the others that you are fine. You did not deliberately withhold anything. Confess them next time, but until then, do not dwell on it. You are forgiven.

 

[Dara]

Thanks everyone! I was a bit worried about Mass on Sunday! I feel better now.

 

[1love]

I’m glad you’re feeling better now

For future reference, I said to a priest that I was worried about having made a bad confession. He said the only “bad” confession you can make is one in which you purposefully omit a mortal sin. I can’t describe the feeling that a load had been lifted when he told me that!

 

[Joan_M]

I am a frequent flyer at the confessional so typically my confessions are very brief. Last confession was only slightly longer, totaling of 4 items I wanted to cover. I had just listed the first two and the priest started telling me my penance while I was in mid sentence! (This was a sub priest while my normal priest was on vacation.). I trailed off and stammered that I had two more quick items. He just continued to tell me to do 3 Hail Marys and an our father and raised his hand saying I was absolved.

I thought a priest had to HEAR the confession and decern if he was going to absolve the sin because I am aware that they can tell you that they will not absolve a sin if you are not remorsef. If he didn’t HEAr the last two items were they included in the absolution? Was it a valid confession?

Based only on your post, you were probably only confessing venial sins. Alternatively, the two you confessed were venial, which would cause the priest to think that the others you wanted to confess were also venial, which probably was why he cut you off.

So - if all the sins being confessed were venial, none of them needed to have been brought to confession, although it is most beneficial that they are. If either of the two the priest prevented you from confessing were mortal, well, as others have said, you were not deliberately omitting them, so your absolution was valid. Just confess them the next time.

If any of your sins were mortal, they should have been confessed first. Sometimes people feel embarrassed to confess mortal sin, so try to get up their courage by confessing venial sins first, working up to the big ones. This is dangerous! If you have a big sin to confess, spit it out first! The devil always tries to get you to hold back.

At the same time, some priests do not think we should go to confession at all if we don’t have mortal sins to confess! Perhaps he was one of those.

I think that, if it was a rule that we should only go to confession if we had mortal sins to confess very few people would go. Imagine, in a situation like that, if people saw you waiting for confession they would all know you had committed mortal sin(s)! Do some of these priests not think of that?

 

[Dara]

No, the last was not mortal either. I find if I keep myself in check with the genial sins, that it is a lot easier to avoid the mortal ones. Since my confessions are always pretty short I knew it wasn’t length! Lol! Oh well, we all have our favorite confessors I will know to choose the other door next time! Lol!

I appreciate the responses. I feel a lot better.