What's Worse:

[CreepyCrawler]

I didn't receive communion this sunday because I didn't go to confession on saturday and I wasn't sure if my sins that week were mortal or not. I think I worry too much but I am aware enough to know right from wrong and I don't want to receive Jesus with mortal sin on my soul. Was it wrong for me to not get communion if I had doubts or is my scrupulosity a worse sin? I'm not even sure if I am scrupulous, but I usually try to get to confession every saturday so I don't have to worry about and all my sin is confessed. Sorry if this is a redundant/stupid question.

[Theologian in Training]

[quote name='CreepyCrawler' date='May 31 2004, 10:04 PM'] I didn't receive communion this sunday because I didn't go to confession on saturday and I wasn't sure if my sins that week were mortal or not. I think I worry too much but I am aware enough to know right from wrong and I don't want to receive Jesus with mortal sin on my soul. Was it wrong for me to not get communion if I had doubts or is my scrupulosity a worse sin? I'm not even sure if I am scrupulous, but I usually try to get to confession every saturday so I don't have to worry about and all my sin is confessed. Sorry if this is a redundant/stupid question. [/quote]
There are no stupid or redundant questions when it comes to your immortal soul. That said, if you believe that you did commit a mortal sin then you would be perfectly justified in not receiving communion. However, if your sins were venial in nature and you knew that, then although there is no sin not receiving communion, unless you don't fulfill the Easter obligation, you do yourself a grave disservice in not receiving. Effectively, you are denying yourself that which gives you the strength to avoid sin in the first place.

If you feel your scrupulosity is getting the better of you, just remember what three things are requisite for a sin to be mortal: you must know it is a mortal sin, give full consent, and give it sufficient reflection before the committing of a mortal sin. In other words, you cannot "accidentally" commit a mortal sin. You can, however, commit a mortal sin and be ignorant of the fact that it is indeed a mortal sin but, even in that case, you incur no sin since you were not aware that it was a mortal sin. Of course, once you know it is a mortal sin, your ignorance can no longer save you

Hope that makes sense and helps you out a bit.

BTW. you might also want to start praying to St. Alphonsus Ligouri. Although he has a reputation for being a great moral theologian, he too was horribly scrupulous and it ate away at him constantly.

St. Alphonsus Ligouri. Pray for us

God Bless

[cappie]

Depends whether the sins are mortal or not.

Code of Canon Law
Can. 988 §1 The faithful are bound to confess, in kind and in number, all grave sins committed after baptism, of which after careful examination of conscience they are aware, which have not yet been directly pardoned by the keys of the Church, and which have not been confessed in an individual confession.

I would encourage people to go to confession [b]if [/b]they feel the need for the sacrament but have not committed any grave sins.
However if you are aware of only venial sins then you should go to Holy Communion, your unity with the healing, forgiving, reconciling power of Jesus is remedy enough for lesser sins. To deny yourself the Eucharist when there is nothing stopping you e.g. serious sin, is a mistake in my opinion.