Accepting forgiveness after reconciliation

KimberlyAnn0218 · #1 Feb 6, '11, 5:10 am

Greetings!
I am wondering if I can get some thoughts about forgiving one's self after confession? In the month of December I had a spiritual re-awakening. I went to confession 3 times ands started off 2011 well. What I seem to have a problem with is acceptance of forgiveness. ONe of the items I confessed is quite grave in nature although at the time in my life it was occurring I was not fully aware of the implications. I gave a true confession and was forgiven but am still haunted. I did meet with my priest and will do so again. I had a long talk with God last night and contemplated alot. God MUST have been right with me because I got to thinking a lot about things I hadn't considered. I will get there but am just wondering how do people manage their guilt and go on?

Revert_43 · #2 Feb 6, '11, 7:00 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by KimberlyAnn0218

Greetings!
I am wondering if I can get some thoughts about forgiving one's self after confession? In the month of December I had a spiritual re-awakening. I went to confession 3 times ands started off 2011 well. What I seem to have a problem with is acceptance of forgiveness. ONe of the items I confessed is quite grave in nature although at the time in my life it was occurring I was not fully aware of the implications. I gave a true confession and was forgiven but am still haunted. I did meet with my priest and will do so again. I had a long talk with God last night and contemplated alot. God MUST have been right with me because I got to thinking a lot about things I hadn't considered. I will get there but am just wondering how do people manage their guilt and go on?

I had a similar discussion with a priest yesterday about the same topic. He directed me to the Divine Mercy Chaplet. He also said our personal sins are like a drop of water in the ocean, have faith in Jesus mercy and compassion which is far more encompassing than any sin(s) we could ever commit.

PerfectTiming · #3 Feb 6, '11, 7:22 am

I had this recently. I had confessed a mortal sin, only to go and do exactly the same thing only a short time later. The guilt was consuming: I couldn't understand how God could forgive me again after I had so swiftly committed the same sin again. You have to accept that you cannot change what has happened: the past is in the past. What you learn from your experiences is what makes the difference. Remind yourself that God has forgiven you, that your sins have been absolved. If God has forgiven you and you learn and grow from your errors, what is there to feel guilty about?

I posted a thread asking for help when I was struggling and the advice I received was very helpful, maybe something there will be useful to you as well
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=527194

KimberlyAnn0218 · #4 Feb 6, '11, 8:56 am

Thank-you for such quick replies! The link was quite helpful as was the knowledge that others have had the same type of issue. That was very helpful for me.

devossm · #5 Feb 21, '11, 6:50 am

Saw this thread and wanted to share a wonderful experience I had recently. I went to confession worrying so much about a previously forgiven sin and really talked to the my parish priest. Of course he assured me that I was forgiven but God also blessed me with further help. When I returned to my car and started the engine the first words from my radio were "You are forgiven." Wow!