What about crying during confession?

[Hellisreal]

I have a few times. Then I get mad at myself for dragging out the confession thinking someone else may be getting ripped off due to my taking extra time with the waterworks. Then I cant always remember all I need to confess and have to go again. thankfully its only happened less than a handful of times so far.

 

[arewethereyet]

What about crying during confession? Does anyone have tears come when they are in the confessional?

I bawled LIKE A BABY during my first confession.
I cried so hard I could barely talk at times.
Obviously, it was a big one!
And the priest was as gentle as a lamb!
Talk about spiritual experiences!!!
Karen

 

[Miserissima]

I have cried before confession plenty of times.

I hear ya on that one!

I haven’t had tears come, but it’s probably because I get the hardcore jitters before confession and tend to “compartmentalize” my emotions when I face somethign dificult. (It’s a military thing, I think.)

Confession is the single most difficult thing for me to do, bar none. But yeah, I do feel very…refreshed after. Like a shower for the soul.

 

[CB_Catholic]

What about crying during confession? Does anyone have tears come when they are in the confessional?

I cry almost every single time I go to Confession. I don’t know why, though. I don’t experience any particular emotion to pin it on. But I notice there is always a box of Kleenex in the Confessional, so I must not be the only one.

 

[LilyM]

I have a few times. Then I get mad at myself for dragging out the confession thinking someone else may be getting ripped off due to my taking extra time with the waterworks. Then I cant always remember all I need to confess and have to go again. thankfully its only happened less than a handful of times so far.

If you honestly forget some sins they’re forgiven anyway. You should (though you’re not obligated to) mention them in your next confession, but you don’t have to go back specially to confess 'em. The only problem is when you deliberately don’t mention something.

 

[Denae]

nods head I’m a crier too. I cry during the confession, but not before or after… I think it’s a combination of several different things with me, happiness (Because I know that my sins are going to be forgiven) sadness (Because I know I have offended God) nervousness (Because I’m always a nervous wreck before and during confession) Sometimes I’ve cried so hard I can barely talk. But our priest is very gentle and patiant and that always helps. I can’t stand it when you get the really impatiant priest or the one that just stares at you impatiant when you have a hard time communicating!

 

[MelanieAnne]

Good grief, I often cry at Mass. I guess Mass is just a “warm up”!

 

[Chrystal]

I know that there have been times when I want to cry during Mass, and there have also been a few times when I want to cry during confession. But then, there have also been times when I don’t feel like I’m going to cry during confession. This is a dumb question, but if you don’t cry, that doesn’t mean that you are less sorry for your sins, does it? I often feel like God may think I’m not truly sorry if I’m not crying my eyes out.

 

[LilyM]

I know that there have been times when I want to cry during Mass, and there have also been a few times when I want to cry during confession. But then, there have also been times when I don’t feel like I’m going to cry during confession. This is a dumb question, but if you don’t cry, that doesn’t mean that you are less sorry for your sins, does it? I often feel like God may think I’m not truly sorry if I’m not crying my eyes out.

Not at all!

 

[3GirlsRUs]

I’m a crier. Sometimes I don’t. But any time I have a pretty embarrassing sin, or sometime when I am just really ashamed that I did something so stupid…they really start then. Then sometimes I cry because I just feel like a horrible person. I know I am not…but I just think “How could I have done these things that I am confessing?” and it makes me cry.

 

[Michael_Howard]

What about crying during confession? Does anyone have tears come when they are in the confessional?

Sometimes I let it all go and just sob to the point of barely being able to utter a word, I figure there’s no better place

 

[m134e5]

I never have cried during confession. I do not cry very often at all. I don’t ever cry because I’m happy, and guilt doesn’t ever make me cry either.

 

[Abira]

But our priest is very gentle and patiant and that always helps. I can’t stand it when you get the really impatiant priest or the one that just stares at you impatiant when you have a hard time communicating!

do you actually get some priests that are impatient??.. that would scare me to death!! lol… I wouldn’t be able to look a priest in the face if I ever had to confess my sins.

Despite that, confession is something I wish I had, especially the last time I did something really bad. I think I wrote something in a thread ages and ages ago and it still weighs on my conscience… I’d be like: er… can we do this over the phone so you don’t have to look at me talking about my most shaming moments, it’d be so awful!

none of your posts seem to feel this way though… it must be just my guilty conscience!

S

 

[Vittorio23]

I’ve never cried, though I’ve only been to Confession about six or seven times.

See, it’s kind of weird, because I’m probably the typical type that would cry. I’m quite emotional, really. I cry about a lot of things.

But I have yet to cry when receiving any of the Sacraments. I thought I would lose it when I was baptized and when I received my first Holy Eucharist. Or even during my first Confession (which was after my baptism). But everytime I have received one of the Sacraments, I am filled with a great peace and resounding joy that is beyond tears or emotion. I can’t explain it.

Although, I do have to admit, I get awfully nervous during Confession. I stutter at times and have a hard time naming out all of my sins, even when I haven’t necessarily done anything extremely horrible or embarassing.

 

[LilyM]

I’ve never cried, though I’ve only been to Confession about six or seven times.

See, it’s kind of weird, because I’m probably the typical type that would cry. I’m quite emotional, really. I cry about a lot of things.

But I have yet to cry when receiving any of the Sacraments. I thought I would lose it when I was baptized and when I received my first Holy Eucharist. Or even during my first Confession (which was after my baptism). But everytime I have received one of the Sacraments, I am filled with a great peace and resounding joy that is beyond tears or emotion. I can’t explain it.

Although, I do have to admit, I get awfully nervous during Confession. I stutter at times and have a hard time naming out all of my sins, even when I haven’t necessarily done anything extremely horrible or embarassing.

Oh me too and I’ve done a lot more than six or seven in my time

It may help to take a written list in with you, that helps if you get stuck.

 

[Vittorio23]

Oh me too and I’ve done a lot more than six or seven in my time

It may help to take a written list in with you, that helps if you get stuck.

Haha, that’s what I have to do. Otherwise I’m afraid my mind will go completely blank and I won’t be able to confess everything I was planning on confessing. I’m told that I’ll get used to it and will eventually get rid of the lists. But, , who knows?

 

[anniemart]

I’ve wept once during confession…I will always remember a time that I was going through a very difficult experience…many hurtful things were said between my husband and I. When it was my turn to confess, I asked the Holy Spirit to speak through me so that I could confess what was in the very bottom of my soul and before I knew it, I was weeping; albeit quietly.

My confessor gently told me that this wasn’t the time for counseling and recommended some reading material. I had a lump the size of Texas in my throat that whole weekend. Ever since then, I’ve tried to avoid crying and I haven’t since. I do weep openly at mass with joy quite often, however.

How beautiful it is to be wrapped within the comforting robes of the one true church.

 

[oiboyz]

I’m always nervous and embarrassed before confession and I usually feel light-hearted afterwards. But I’ve never cried. Sometimes I wish I would. I cry easily enough in other circumstances, but in confession the nervousness seems to keep me from feeling anything else.

One great effect of confession for me is that when I kneel afterwards, for once my prayers aren’t primarily “Dear Lord, I’m sorry, please forgive me and help me…” but rather I pray much more for the people in my life. Feeling closer to God myself, I have more confidence and desire to intercede for others.

I have a friend who cries at nearly every confession (she goes weekly) and often at communion as well (which she receives daily). She tells me that when she walks into the confessional the very kind priest immediately shoves the tissues over to her side of the desk.

Another friend of mine bawled like a baby when she did a general confession for an Ignatian retreat. She says it wasn’t her sins that made her cry, but the incredible gentleness of the priest.

I’ve never had an impatient priest, but the one mentioned in the above paragraph hears confessions for twelve to fourteen hours every Saturday, and he’s been known to yawn. Pretty understandable.

 

[Redbulls133]

I realize this thread is several years old but I am really grateful to have found it. I am a lifelong Catholic but for several years have not been a practicing Catholic. I recently suffered a traumatic event at my workplace that involved being falsely accused of a crime. I was suspended while an investigation took place and was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, but have had real issues with forgiving my accuser. It has taken a heavy toll on my health, my well being, and my psyche.

Yesterday I decided that the best place I could look for guidance was the Catholic Church. I hadn’t been to confession in several years and knew that would have to be my first step of my coming home. I had two choices; I could take the easy route and go the the Franciscan Monastery where they hear confessions every hour and you’re in and out in a couple of minutes, or I could go the tough route and go see a priest face-to-face at my local parish. I chose the latter.

I started crying the second I walked into the church, and I couldn’t compose myself. I waited several minutes for my turn in the confessional and when I walked in I sat down face-to-face with the priest. I began by explaining that I had lost my way, that I wanted to come back to the church but I knew I had to seek absolution first. The second I began confessing my sins I fell completely apart.

There is nothing uglier than a grown man crying, and I tried very hard to maintain my composer but I just couldn’t. The priest couldn’t have been kinder to me. He could see how broken I am and he closed his eyes as he consoled me with his words. After about ten minutes I was done.

I walked out of there feeling completely different than when I walked in, but still an emotional mess. It was embarrassing to walk through the church in such an obvious state but I considered it part of my penance.

I attended church today for the first time in years. The readings, the gospel, and the homily were all about forgiveness and it couldn’t have come at a better time, or been more appropriate to my situation. God forgave me yesterday, and today it is up to me to forgive my accuser.

So I think it’s completely appropriate to cry in confession. It’s a normal human emotion and confession, at least to me, is a deeply moving surrender to Jesus. Thank you for listening to me, and God bless all of you.

 

[Dorothy]

Thank you for sharing your great blessing!

We are given emotions for a reason, and all of us express them in different ways when necessary.

Tears are a wonderful release, and we need not force them to stop when they start to come.