Was speeding a mortal sin here?

[irish2010]

I was driving home from college today and in a hurry to see my family,and I got too excited and wasn’t paying enough attention to my speed. I was pulled over for going 74 in a 60, though keeping with the flow of traffic around me.

I know that speeding can be a mortal sin. I did realize I was going too fast several times before on the trip, but I always slowed down when I realized it. I was surprised and scared when I was pulled over because I did not realize I was that far over- I had been judging my speed more by the traffic than the speedometer.

I am a brand new Catholic and have been told by a priest in confession before that I was being overly scrupulous. I am not sure if I was far enough over for it to be grave matter, considering I had good visibility and was in full control. I am also not sure if I had full consent, as I was not consciously being reckless. On the other hand, I do not want to take communion if I am in a state of mortal sin. There is no confession available before mass tomorrow, so should I refrain from receiving the Eucharist?

 

[Brian_Millar]

Welcome to the fold. You just confessed to your sin in public, this is before men, if you want to ease your concience further, confess to someone in person about this. Make sure you also confess to God himself and obviously, you are in a state of repentance, so you are in the clear there in my book. To be frank though, you were not intending to break the law, if it was intentional, I’d say there is some just cause for you to be concerned.

If you still want to play it safe and stay strictly within the legalist context as taught traditionally, wait until you go to formal confession. It’s grey area here so expect to get reply’s telling me that I am wrong with this one, but the priest himself has already made a statement about the matter, why second guess him?

 

[wjp984]

I doubt speeding is even a venial sin. I admit it works as a great deterrence. I have slowed down dramatically since getting my ticket. However, as soon as I realize that I can probably go another couple years before I get pulled over again, since I get caught about that often, then I will start to speed again. I don’t want to get two tickets within a 6 month period so I will probably wait until then before I speed more than 10 over again.

 

[Holly3278]

Nope, if you don’t know whether or not you committed a mortal sin then I can assure you that you didn’t because you must have full knowledge.