Confession question

[Nikolai]

Gday,

I went to confession today and I wanted to tell the priest that a while back I confessed some mortal sins to a priest who I wonder now if he could even understand my english because he was spanish, knowing only some english. The confessor today told me not to worry about it. I didn't confess them then. I know that for a confession to be valid the priest must be able to understand you, but how are you supposed to know? I didn't realise at the time so I didn't act on it until now, which is about 5-6months down the track. Back then too I did a general confession but I don't remember if that was before or after this.

I ain't gonna try and do the logic on it because I'm too confused and worried.

Why is going to confession so hard sometimes ??? I just want to do the right thing...

JMJ,

Nik

[mariology21]

[quote name='Nikolai' date='Jul 8 2005, 11:50 PM']I went to confession today and I wanted to tell the priest that a while back I confessed some mortal sins to a priest who I wonder now if he could even understand my english because he was spanish, knowing only some english. The confessor today told me not to worry about it. I didn't confess them then. I know that for a confession to be valid the priest must be able to understand you, but how are you supposed to know? I didn't realise at the time so I didn't act on it until now, which is about 5-6months down the track. Back then too I did a general confession but I don't remember if that was before or after this.
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Hmmm....I may be under the wrong impression here but....I thought it didn't matter if the priest could understand you or not....as long as you confessed your sins the same as you would if the priest COULD understand you. I guess I just assumed that since the priest is acting in persona Christi that it was really Jesus whom you were confessioning to anyways, so the fact that the priest could understand or not didn't really matter?" Maybe I'm way off base here too. I'm sure someone else will be able to answer it better. I'd always opt for the going to confession to a priest who would be able to understand, but when it comes down to it confessioning and receiving the graces from the Sacrament really is what "counts."

I'd say don't worry about it too much....you DID confess, you DID receive absolution whether you "understood" the language or not, so you WERE sacramentally blessed. In other words you "got" what you went in for!

~Jen

[phatcatholic]

also, i think its safe to assume that the priest would not have given you absolution if he did not understand what you were saying.

[StColette]

I agree with Nick and Jen. As long as the priest understood the sins that you were confessing everything should be okay. And as Nick stated if the priest had not understood you then I doubt he would have given you absolution.