Weekly confession vs monthly confession

[Gooseygirlsmom01]

I believeGod is putting on my heart to start going to weekly confession. This may be a strange question but how do you do that? I have often felt like my monthly confessions aren’t always great but I usually go once a month and I make an appointment with my priest b/c I feel like when I go into the confessional and rattle off sins it doesn’t seem sincere. It feels like there should be a totally different mindset when you go weekly. I also often feel like when I go to confession I confess what I think I’ve done wrong but in my own human arrogance I completely miss what I’ve done that truly offends God. How do I pray to hear God tell me what I do that offends him?

 

[Vico]

…

Confessing venial sins is different. These are everyday faults which we may be forgiven for and strengthened to overcome them. There is the intention to stop them. There can be one particular venial sin or many. Venial and moral sin are voluntary.
Catechism

1458 … Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins helps us form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit. …

 

[Justin_Mary]

I believeGod is putting on my heart to start going to weekly confession

Why do you feel this way? Don’t tell me, but reflect on that & maybe it will be clearer for you.

 

[Cor_ad_Cor]

How frequently do you do your examination of conscience? Just before confession or daily? It’s a more productive practice to do it every night before bed to sort of “grade yourself” on the day. That might make your regular confessions, however frequent they are, better.

 

[Scott84]

I go to confession as a rule at least once a week, sometimes multiple times a week. There are occasions I go to confession 4 times a week.

We should always have the utmost respect for receiving the Blessed Sacrament. Confessing venial sins isn’t a bad thing, remember the more venial sins we die with, the longer we’ll spend in purgatory. Confessing them also strengthens us.

 

[Brian_K]

I’m going to email your post to myself and reflect on it daily. I feel like it’s motivated me to take my moral life much more seriously. I think I slip into presumption too easily. Thank you for sharing this!

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I believeGod is putting on my heart to start going to weekly confession. This may be a strange question but how do you do that?

1. Do an examination of conscience. If necessary, write a list of your sins.
2. Show up at weekly confession time.
3. Confess.

If you are going weekly or even monthly, you should not have to make an appointment with the priest, unless he doesn’t have a regular weekly confesion time and expects everyone to make an appointment.

I’m concerned that you seem to think your confession is not sincere. This also makes me question your motivation for wanting to go weekly. It’s like you’re thinking your confession is somehow not good enough.

God isn’t asking us to make perfect confessions. He isn’t sitting there with his list of “what truly offends him” and getting mad at us if we don’t recite all the stuff on that list. He’s just asking us to make a good, sincere effort to confess all our sins. He understands in some cases we’re going to forget sins, in other cases we may be blind to our faults and not realize something may be a sin (in which case it is not a sin for us because we can’t somehow unknowingly sin). This is part of being human.

Be careful that this desire to confess once a week isn’t you slipping into scrupulosity.

 

[GladTidings]

It feels like there should be a totally different mindset when you go weekly. I also often feel like when I go to confession I confess what I think I’ve done wrong but in my own human arrogance I completely miss what I’ve done that truly offends God.

I’m not sure how going more often would help this. I would think someone who hasn’t been to confession for a longer period of time would have more to confess and would have a better understanding of what offends God, plus, they might have a stronger expression of contrition.

Maybe you should consult your priest.

 

[Nihilo]

…How do I pray to hear God tell me what I do that offends him?

God says what offends Him in the Catechism. It’s called grave matter. Its commission breaks or severs communion with the Body of Christ, and it is what confession /reconciliation is for.

There’s nothing wrong with confessing light sins (someone itt quoted the Catechism teaching that it can be very good), but remember that the Eucharist cleanses us of them too.

 

[Justin_Mary]

How do I pray to hear God tell me what I do that offends him?

Instead of trying to figure out in what ways you “offend” God, try thinking about what separates you from God. Sin separates us from God, reconciliation unites us to God.

Are you honest? A peacemaker? Chaste? Just? Faithful? Humble? Generous? Detached from worldly things? Etc…

 

[po18guy]

Frequency will not help, except to increase the amount of your perceived insincerity. I say grab a good examination of conscience and read it. Illuminating! Have it handy. Peruse it at days’ end. Know that sin - and nothing else - separates you from God. No sincerity, no intention of amending your life, no absolution. But, you need not triumph over sin - only keep fighting against it with God’s grace.

Better yet, go and spend time with the King of kings and Lord of lords. Do you spend time at adoration? Even 15 minutes? Gazing upon Him who willingly died for you; whose blood drained slowly out of his veins as He died on the cross - for love of you. That is the One to Whom you can seek sincerity in confessing.

But, the priest sits in persona Christi - in the Person of Christ. So, you are confessing to the priest but also to Christ through the priest - His ambassador.

Father does penance for the sins you confess. Did you know that?

Get that examination of conscience.

OK, maybe every two weeks. Talk to Father about it.

 

[newconvertcatholic]

I believeGod is putting on my heart to start going to weekly confession

You need a spiritual director to make sure it’s actually coming from God and not the devil for the devil can easily push you to weekly confession to tire you out and give up on the sacrament altogether or give you scruples.

If you have mortal sin, then you need to go to confession. I used to commit a mortal sin once a week and so I went to confession once a week, that’s totally fine.

If you don’t mortal sins, ask your spiritual director for advice. My spiritual director for instance says I ought to go to confession whenever I commit a mortal sin and at least monthly. He gives me the freedom to go more often.

But he suggested I confess only once a month and receive communion each time I go to mass, unless there is some grave reason, to avoid scruples. Now that grave reason is usually because I’ve committed mortal sin but I also find it useful to confess before major feasts or if I’m going to be travelling for a while.

It would also be a great Lenten practice to confess once every week or two weeks instead of once a month. And same during Advent before Christmas Eve. But unless you have express permission from a SD or a regular confessor to confess more often, I wouldn’t do it every week year around.

 

[Camehome4john6]

when I go into the confessional and rattle off sins it doesn’t seem sincere.

The efficacy of a sacrament doesn’t depend upon your feelings. God’s bigger than that. I wish I had warm fuzzies every time after confession or recievng the Eucharist but it doesn’t always happen. But I move on knowing God’s got this.

If you’re making appointments for confession, why not make one with Father to talk about your feelings in this matter. He’d be best to counsel you.

Also, it may be helpful to read up on the Saints who relied on Divine Mercy. Read some St. Faustina or Therese.

Blessings!

 

[dconklin]

Perhaps you need to work on your relationship with God - spirituality. He wants more than to just hear your faults. Ask your priest about spiritual direction.

 

[edward_george1]

when I go into the confessional and rattle off sins it doesn’t seem sincere.

As I tell people rather frequently, trust that God knows what you did and why you did it, he just wants to hear you say that you did it. No details are necessary, and no strong feelings are either, to be honest. I rarely feel anything when I go to confession. We must not confuse the need for sincere contrition with some kind of emotional experience; God doesn’t demand emotions or feelings of us, but good will. If someone is in the confessional and confessing their sins,I assume they are repentant, even if they don’t show any emotion about it.

I would say you should speak to your priest and get some counsel on this. What you describe sounds like the beginnings of scrupulosity. If you indulge this impulse to go to confession more frequently because you don’t feel like you’re confessing sincerely enough, it might become compulsive. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

-Fr ACEGC

 

[newconvertcatholic]

I rarely feel anything when I go to confession.

I think I’m a still at phase in my spiritual journey where I do ‘feel’ a difference after each confession.
I feel like things have been set right and I can start out again without worrying too much about the past.

I know that it can become a sort of an addiction and I struggled with scrupulosity but thankfully I have a SD now and I take his word and confess once a month. I also receive communion every time I attend a mass (unless I’ve just had dinner before and I go to the 10 pm mass at Montmartre). There are so many times I feel like I’ve sinned gravely that I cannot receive communion but usually it’s just scruples. So now I trust my SD and not my feelings. If I did I’d never receive communion.