Advice needed on how to make a good general confession.

[Catmom]

Have been attending a Latin Rite parish for about four months now. The last time I went to confession the priest suggested I make an appointment to make a general confession because I admitted to feeling overwhelmed by all the sins of my past life since I had returned to the faith later in life and didn't feel like the priest at my previous, Novus Ordo parish took such matters seriously enough. All such suggestions will be much appreciated. I'm going through an unpleasant time but I know it's because taking my faith more seriously has served to show me how much time I've wasted and how much I have to ammend for.

[Tax-chick]

When I teach the First Confession lessons to the Bilingual Supplemental Sacrament Class, I tell them to focus on three areas: Did you love God? Did you love yourself? Did you love your neighbor? The Ten Commandments provide another level of detail.

Remember, God already knows everything you’ve done. An important benefit is if you can see patterns in your life. What have you done that doesn’t reflect God’s love? Why do you think you did those things? What ways have you deflected love for God and need for God into wrong directions?

Don’t beat yourself up: you’ll end up a basket case.

[ealgeone]

In John 20:23, Jesus tells the apostles he is giving them the power to forgive sins.

To say that we never need to confess our sins in order to be forgiven is to contradict Jesus.

And this is how it was done.

37Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39“For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” Acts 2:37-40 NASB

You will also note that I said we confess our sins to Christ and He will forgive our sins...just as John wrote in 1 John.

[CodeToad]

Try speaking to God. A priest is just a man.

[ealgeone]

Ask the Lord to lead you. You don’t have to do them all at once. Cover the Ten Commandments.

It's more than just the Ten Commandments if you're trying to keep the Law. You have to worry about all 614 Laws found in the OT.

When we converted, the very liberal parish we attended told us - ‘Just choose one sin; the priest is busy.’ !!! The ones you don’t confess that needed to be confessed will bubble up and you can chuck them next time around.

Fortunately, God has plenty of time to listen to us. Confess your sins straight to Him.

[teeman8r]

Hehehe...

Blasphemy is a man made construct

[Claud]

The best confessions come from the Holy Ghost, so pray to Him to enlighten you about your past sins and even to take over your will and your heart when you are receiving the sacrament.

Find a good traditional examination of conscience to set the stage. Here’s one I just found, but you may like another one better.

http://www.fatima.org/essentials/requests/examconc.asp

That said, I wouldn’t get hung up on cataloging every venial sin. I would concentrate on any mortal sins, particularly whatever is most gnawing at you. You can even ask the priest for help covering the bases since it sounds like you’ll have a bit of time with him.

And, of course, expect to walk out of there lighter than air!! Some of the posters on here don’t realize what a powerful, powerful grace it is to humble yourself before another human being. There is a reason that Christ gave the power to forgive sins to the Apostles—He understands human psychology better than we do!

And be assured of my prayers....you really made my night with this post. :)

[FranklinsTower]

I strive for once a month, but 40 days works good.

I came into the church about ten years ago. I was a morally relativistic secular humanist, who more or less felt that “as long as I am not hurting anybody...”

As one can imagine, I had A LOT of past sins. I did a VERY thorough examination of conscience — you should be able to find good one from a poster’s links above — Salvation.

Make an appointment with priest and away you go! You don’t have to go into the nitty gritty detail, but it is good to be reasonably specific. This will be one of the best things you’ll ever do!

I also recommend looking up St. Faustia and praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet. It is prayed every weekday on Relevant Radio at 3pm central. Relevant Radio has an app with great prayer resources, live shows as well as recordings of past shows.

The power of Our Lord’s Mercy is awesome! It is the attribute the Devil hates the most. It would be wise to remember that as you will invariable struggle with sins. It is a life long process, so don’t ever get discouraged — God’s Mercy is unfathomable and infinitely powerful.

Now I am a joyful prayer warrior.

God Bless!

[Claud]

My apologies, I replied a little too hastily and didn’t understand you had already been going to confession for a while already.

Well, hopefully someone else can use the info, and you’re still in my prayers.

Read, Claud, read!! :)

[ealgeone]

Have I made fun of God, Our Lady, the Saints, the Church, the Sacraments, other holy things?

Roman Catholicism continues to seemingly equate God and Mary as being on the same level.

There is nothing, repeat nothing, in the New Testament about giving any worship or praise to Mary, the Saints, the Roman Catholic Church, etc....it is only about worship and praise to God.

[Iscool]

The last time I went to confession the priest suggested I make an appointment to make a general confession because I admitted to feeling overwhelmed by all the sins of my past life since I had returned to the faith later in life

I hope you don't run out of time before you get all penanced up...

[Salvation]

Welcome home!

[Yaelle]

I don’t know why I started reading this thread, probably because I’ve always been interested in the Catholic religion. As a Jew I recognize that Catholics become closer to the Holy by their senses and by actions (scents, candle lighting) like we Jews.

Anyway, I can imagine how hard it must be to go to Confession and say all your sins out loud. I’m sure it is greatly beneficial though. One thing we are lucky about on the one day we publicly apologize for our sins (Yom Kippur) is that the liturgy has us all as a congregation beating our breast (symbolically) for each of many sins together. In other words, the entire congregation together chants our sorrow over committing adultery, even if only 7 people in there committed it that year. I kind of like that.

Blessings to you.

[King Moonracer]

Confess to wanting to kill pedophiles. See where it takes you.

[cmj328]

Here's that very good Examination of Conscience suggested by MomwithHope - by Fr. Altier.

A few pieces of advice:

• Take some time (about 30 minutes) over the next few weeks to examine your conscience, if possible in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Repeat before the confession in case anything new pops to mind. Make a written list and plan to burn it afterward. Use abbreviations if you're worried someone might find it.
• Don't omit any sins. Give 'em all to the priest. Every last one.
• Make an appointment for the Confession so that Father has enough time. Find a good priest.
• Plan to go again the following week, or at least the following month. And then keep going back. If you don't have any sins, you can ask forgiveness for "all of the sins of your past life".

[boatbums]

It's more than just the Ten Commandments if you're trying to keep the Law. You have to worry about all 614 Laws found in the OT.

And, as Jesus showed, there is a spiritual and therefore deeper meaning to the Ten Commandments. For example, when the commandment to not commit adultery was given, it was presumed to imply the actual ACT of adultery, but Jesus said if we even look after a person not our spouse to lust after them, we have already committed adultery in our heart. So, rather than trying to go through a checklist of every time we broke one of the commandments, we should examine ourselves to see where we have wronged another person, where we have damaged our relationships with them, with ourselves and with our God. I really believe the Holy Spirit will bring conviction to our spirit of both how AND why we continue to mess up and give us the ability to effect the change He desires in our lives so that we bring glory and honor to Him.

Just telling a priest when we sin, without ever going to the person we might have wronged by our action, is a cop-out, to me. It's the easy way out and may help explain why we continue to repeat the same sins and never realize the victory over them.

[johniegrad]

Thanks for the ping. How have you been? I’ll probably see if the original poster will take this offline. But I appreciate you thinking of me.

[pbear8]

Good spiritual directors recommend a general confession, bless you for listening to them. Many people write down everything they can remember, start with raiding the cookie jar and move on. All sin offends Our Lord but as others have mentioned, concentrate on the biggies and as many of the less serious as you can remember. Don’t beat your self up and don’t have anxiety, good priests love helping people through this. The shower of love, mercy and forgiveness is well worth the effort.

[ealgeone]

If you don't have any sins, you can ask forgiveness for "all of the sins of your past life".

If anyone thinks they make it through one day without sin they are deluding themselves.

[Bodleian_Girl]

1 Timothy 2:5

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

7 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy+2&version=KJV

[Bodleian_Girl]

Why should it be Catholic only?

Obviously that’s failed her so far.