What is scrupulocity?

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Can someone explain to me about scrupulocity and is there something in the Catechism about it? I have avoided daily Mass as I have not been able to go to confession ( I have been helping my husband bale hay). I do NOT want to offend our LORD in receiving His Body and Blood unworthily and I am planning to go to confession this evening. I am growing in my Faith and in getting ever closer to our LORD daily. I remember hearing and reading about the children of Fatima and how Blessed Mother says that so many people offend our LORD. I just want to help console Him, not to hurt Him anymore than He is being hurt. Of course I know that “even the just man sins 7 times a day”. Thank you for your help in understanding.
 
This is my understanding, whiel practical it may not be perfect, i apologize.

simply, it is an unhealthy habit of blaming oneself for things that are not sinful, or dwelling on one’s sins too much. though we should be sorrowful for our sins, if the sorrow for sins that are not grave is an impediment to normal life, even grave sins should not disrupt our everyday lives beyond a urgent attempt to seek confession.
 
Signs of Scrupulosity
Code:
   1.   Fear you are committing sin while doing things even devout people don't find sinful.

   2.   Frequently changing your mind for trivial reasons (or no reasons at all) about whether something is sinful; one minute you think something is not sinful and the next minute you think it is sinful.

   3.   Constant worry or anxiety about sin, without being able to figure out a reason for the worry.

   4.   Constant worry about your confessions, even though the priest has told you that there was nothing wrong with them.

   5.   Stubbornness with the priest in confession — thinking that you are right about something being sinful and that he is wrong — which leads you to go to a lot of different priests for confession, without really heeding the advice or instructions you receive from any of them.

   6.   Repeatedly asking whether or not an action is sinful, even though the priest has told you the answer to the question before.

   7.   Repeatedly confessing as sins — "just in case" — things which the priest has told you are not sins.
For more, see:

traditionalmass.org/Fighting%20Scrupulosity.htm
 
There is an excellent book available on the subject by Father Thomas M. Santa, C.Ss.R., titled Understanding Scrupulosity: Helpful Answers for Those Who Experience Nagging Questions and Doubts.

Based on twenty-five years of questions and annswers to his Scrupulous Anonymous newsletter, the book provides specific answers to questions and concerns related to sin, confession, self-worth, sexuality, prayer, God’s forgiveness, thoughts, dreams, fantasies and other issues.

It is available from Catholic Answers in their webstore.
 
Thanks to everyone replying. In regards to the website that arnulf gives, I went and read about scrupulosity. According to what I read, I shouldn’t stay away from Holy Communion at all unless I commit a mortal sin, and this can only be done knowingly, right? I won’t commit a mortal sin knowingly, since I am trying to get ever closer to the LORD, thereby offending Him. I know I’m not a saint, I do put the LORD first in my life,I do let a cuss word out every great now and then, I don’t miss Sunday Mass, I try to honor my mother and father, don’t covet anyone’s things, haven’t killed anyone, haven’t stolen, etc. So if I pass the test of not having broken one of the ten commandments, I can go to communion to receive Jesus. (I always say an act of contrition before receiving.) I have heard that in the eucharist our venial sins are forgiven. Is this true? Thanks to all of you for your (name removed by moderator)ut! God Bless!

:blessyou:
 
Yes, all of your venial sins are forgiven when you wholeheartedly join in the penitentail rite at the beginning of mass.

Furthermore, all of your venial sins are forgiven every time you pray the Lord’s Prayer, and I’m sure you do that many times every day. Relax and be happy! 😃
 
I didn’t realize that scrupulocity is a sin!
Thanks for the websites listed here.

go with God!
Edwin
 
being in a state of mortal sin without the opportunity to confess is not an excuse to stay away from Mass, even tho you cannot receive communion, you participate in the graces of that Mass, which will accrue to you as soon as you do confess and receive absolution.
 
One of the reasons that Luther came up with his wild ideas was because he was very scrupulous. It is not a sin to be scrupulous. Fr. Corapi tells his classes to resist it like a temptation to sin, because it can cause dispair, which is a sin and can lead to other sins.

God bless you,
Deacon Tony SFO
 
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Edwin1961:
I didn’t realize that scrupulocity is a sin!
Edwin
I didn’t know it at one point of my life either…that was the catalyst that started me ‘cleaning up my act’, so to speak…got counseling…(some people w/ Anxiety disorder tend to fall into this, I have it). Annunciata:)
 
I have struggled some with that too, but it’s getting better now.

A priest actually told me that the devil tries everything to keep us from going to communion. So go unless you are absolutely sure that you have committed a mortal sin.

I am currently reading ‘The way of divine love’ by Sister Josefa Menendez. A great book by the way. As the Lord is using her to get His message of love out into the world the devil does everything to make her fall.
At one point she describes how our Blessed Mother appeared to her and told her about 3 things to do to avoid that the devil, who is trying to make her fall, is successful:
  1. Not to give in to scruples, that’s how he tries to make her give up Holy Communion.
  2. To do everything Jesus asks of her with great love
  3. Not to pay attention to the devil trying to make her believe that the confidence she has in Mary takes something away from her tenderness for Jesus.
These are not exact quotes. If you want to read it up in the book, it’s on page 98.
 
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kerbear:
There is an excellent book available on the subject by Father Thomas M. Santa, C.Ss.R., titled Understanding Scrupulosity: Helpful Answers for Those Who Experience Nagging Questions and Doubts.

Based on twenty-five years of questions and annswers to his Scrupulous Anonymous newsletter, the book provides specific answers to questions and concerns related to sin, confession, self-worth, sexuality, prayer, God’s forgiveness, thoughts, dreams, fantasies and other issues.

It is available from Catholic Answers in their webstore.
Father Santa also publishes a monthly Scrupulous Anonymous newsletter.
mission.liguori.org/newsletters/scrupanon.htm
 
Deacon Tony560:
One of the reasons that Luther came up with his wild ideas was because he was very scrupulous.
Yes. I’ve also heard a comparison to part of the Adam and Eve story. As you all know, God said not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but all the other trees were fine.

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the LORD God had made. The serpent asked the woman, “Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?”

The serpent is tempting Eve to restate the restriction as greater than it is, and to see wrong in any eating of fruit. Eve resists at first.
Genesis 3:2 The woman answered the serpent: "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;

But then Eve herself creates a rule that God didn’t give-- Genesis 3:3 it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’"
I’ve heard this interpreted as adding to the rule and thus making it more likely you will break it.

I think it can also be related to spiritual pride (maybe not the right term). I’ve gone through phases where I did all sorts of devotions and would overreact if I missed one and think it was all messed up–the focus on the perfection being the enemy of what I really should have been focusing on.

(In fact, in Portrait of the Artist…, Stephen Dedalus does that during his regained religious phase before losing faith, and he also can’t believe he is really absolved, since he believes he is such a great sinner that he couldn’t be, and reconfesses the same old sins. Whatever you think of the novel, that part of it is really psychologically accurate.)
 
<<<Yes, all of your venial sins are forgiven when you wholeheartedly join in the penitentail rite at the beginning of mass.

Furthermore, all of your venial sins are forgiven every time you pray the Lord’s Prayer.>>>

This is news to me. I had never heard of such a thing. Can you please give me the source for your contention? I know of partial and plenary indulgences, but they need more than just a prayer or a rite.

Last I knew, one confessed both mortal and venial sins (so far as one is able to) in confession. While venial sins are not enough, in themselves, to separate us totally from God in the way mortal sin can, certainly having MANY unconfessed or unforgiven venial sins would be more LIKELY to draw one into occasions of sin and closer to mortal sin.

For example, if I wish to stay healthy, I must eat moderately, exercise moderately, and take regular care of myself. Every now and then I might “lapse” and have a cheeseburger or cupcake too many. . .and if I don’t realize and take steps to correct it, I might start REGULARLY having too many cheeseburgers or cupcakes. Likewise, I might “skip” a day of exercise, even for a GOOD reason, but if I don’t realize that I need to be vigilant, I might wind up SKIPPING more and more.

So, to keep spiritually healthy, one needs to be ordinarily alert–not hypervigilant and certainly not totally unconcerned, as the two , but ORDINARILY ALERT–to one’s sins, mortal AND venial, and to take proper care to avoid both, confess both, and strive always to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. . .which of course can only be THROUGH our Lord and Brother, Jesus.
 
Tantum ergo said:
<<<Yes, all of your venial sins are forgiven when you wholeheartedly join in the penitentail rite at the beginning of mass.

Furthermore, all of your venial sins are forgiven every time you pray the Lord’s Prayer.>>>

This is news to me. I had never heard of such a thing. Can you please give me the source for your contention? I know of partial and plenary indulgences, but they need more than just a prayer or a rite.

I’ve herd that venial sins were forgiven three times during mass: the penitential rite, the Our Father, and communion. The only “official” support I could find is in regards to the Eucharist. The Catechism states:
[1393](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/1393.htm’)😉 Holy Communion separates us from sin. The body of Christ we receive in Holy Communion is “given up for us,” and the blood we drink “shed for the many for the forgiveness of sins.” For this reason the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins:
For as often as we eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the death of the Lord. If we proclaim the Lord’s death, we proclaim the forgiveness of sins. If, as often as his blood is poured out, it is poured for the forgiveness of sins, I should always receive it, so that it may always forgive my sins. Because I always sin, I should always have a remedy.230
[1394](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/1394.htm’)😉 As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened in daily life; and this living charity wipes away venial sins.231 By giving himself to us Christ revives our love and enables us to break our disordered attachments to creatures and root ourselves in him:
Since Christ died for us out of love, when we celebrate the memorial of his death at the moment of sacrifice we ask that love may be granted to us by the coming of the Holy Spirit. We humbly pray that in the strength of this love by which Christ willed to die for us, we, by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, may be able to consider the world as crucified for us, and to be ourselves as crucified to the world. . . . Having received the gift of love, let us die to sin and live for God.232
As for the rest of your post, I completely agree. Even though it seems venial sins are forgiven at mass, it’s wise to include them in confession (at least the ones that aren’t momentary lapses). I would say forgiveness at mass would refer to those venial sins that have been committed before a confession is made, or those forgotten during confession. Not to mention it just feels really good to get them off your chest…
 
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