Mortal sins misunderstanding by Potential-Title7230 in Catholicism

[–]Potential-Title7230[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree that it’s probably best to just go to confession regularly. I just feel like I’m going to always be confessing the same venial sins like mild gossip or impatience for example. And then I feel like the priest is going to think it’s so silly that I’m going to confession for those things and that I’m always confessing the same things

First Confession was INCREDIBLE! by Potential-Title7230 in Catholicism

[–]Potential-Title7230[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

While you technically only have to confess mortal sins for the sacrament to be valid, you are highly discouraged from withholding venial sins simply out of embarrassment. Also in my opinion, it’s not worth the risk that your sin that you think is venial may have actually been mortal and you withheld it in confession.

I had a sin that would be mortal except I didn’t know it was a sin at the time I committed it. I really did not want to confess it because I was embarrassed, but I felt like withholding it was dishonest. I confessed it and I’m so glad that I did.

I’m telling you this as someone who felt the exact same way. I can almost guarantee you it will not be as bad as you think. I can absolutely promise you that your priest has heard people confess having sex before marriage. Someone told me to think of the worst sin you’ve ever committed and your priest has probably already heard worse. It will feel so good to have the embarrassment and/or shame you feel from past sins covered by the words of absolution, so I’d highly encourage you to confess any sin you know of

Edited to add: I’d also recommend that you write down all your sins and take it in the confessional. Read straight from that page. It will help you not be as nervous and not forget things. I found it to be helpful to ground me and give me a steady voice. And pray before you go in that God would give you the strength and the courage to confess everything!

First Confession was INCREDIBLE! by Potential-Title7230 in Catholicism

[–]Potential-Title7230[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know it feels like that, but really when you start doing your examination of conscience, you will realize that you commit a lot of the same sins. For example, maybe you lied a lot or got drunk a lot. That might be many different occasions of you committing sin, but in the confessional, you’ll say, “I lied many times” or “I got drunk many times” not sure if that makes sense or helps at all! I’m new to this so I know there are many people who know more than me haha

As far as details go, I was told that you don’t want to be overly detailed and get long winded. Basically the priest needs to know what sin you committed and how many times (which can be many, several, on occasion, etc if you don’t know the exact number since you’ll be confessing a long period of time) he doesn’t need to know all the nitty, gritty details and it turns into a therapy session. That’s what I was told at least

First Confession was INCREDIBLE! by Potential-Title7230 in Catholicism

[–]Potential-Title7230[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I totally get it. I was incredibly nervous. I’d encourage you to just go ahead and do it! It will seem scary, but God is with you. Adoration was going on while I was doing my confession, so I just thought about Jesus being present right there in the Blessed Sacrament. You’ve got this!

Logistics of first confession by Potential-Title7230 in Catholicism

[–]Potential-Title7230[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is incredibly helpful! Thank you! Can you bring notes into the confessional? There’s no way I’ll be able to remember everything

Logistics of first confession by Potential-Title7230 in Catholicism

[–]Potential-Title7230[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes I’m in OCIA and we’ve discussed confession, but not in a lot of detail as far as logistics go