What makes an absolution valid?

[Monica4316]

Hi, I was wondering… is an absolution only valid if the priest says “I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”. What if he says, "may the Lord absolve you from your sins… " does that make it invalid?

I went to Confession and the priest used those words. But I feel that God used this occasion to teach me about His mercy. For the past several weeks, I’ve been going through a spiritual trial and found it very difficult to trust God. But after this Confession, something happened and the trial suddenly ended, and now I feel close to Him again and can trust Him. I think EVEN IF the absolution words were not valid, God still used it to give me grace and help me in my difficult time. We know that God can forgive even without Confession, and He’s not bound by any rules… Confession is just the regular, normal way.

I tend to think that if the absolution words were not correct, God maybe still forgave me because the priest had a good intention and I tried to make a good Confession, and most of all because of His mercy. But in that case I might still have to repeat the sins at my next Confession, just in case. (by the way, I can’t really tell if they were mortal or venial, but just to be safe I’m assuming at least one was mortal).

My questions are…

1. was the absolution formula invalid?
2. would it be a good idea to repeat the sins at my next Confession, just in case, - even if they’re already forgiven… for example, we know if a person forgot a sin in Confession, it’s forgiven but they still have to say it next time if they remember it.

It could also be that my sins have not been forgiven, but in His mercy God still used the Confession to help me with what I was struggling… in any case, I’m glad He helped me

thanks!!

 

[Shin]

For the Latin Church…
(Eastern differs, bi-ritual perhaps too, I do not know)

From what I have read the essential words are 'I absolve you. . ."

What should be said is partly thus: “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

If there are mortal sins, you should confess and explain what happened at your next confession.

There appears to be some debate over how/if one is fully reconciled in such a case where the proper words are not used, in some extraordinary fashion or another. Some say yes, some say no. This being the case, in a situation of doubt, the norms not followed, and mortal sin, one should confess these again.

I’d also consider talking to the confessor about the problem, and/or switching confessors if there is a persistent one. If the confessor is determined about not using proper form, I’d take that up the hierarchical ladder because it’s a serious problem.

 

[PaulAndrew83]

a priest in the latin rite should use the longer form stated by shin. Anything less there is doubt about validity.

Paul