I was in confession for the renewal of my Marian Consecration. As I was confessing my sins, I came across this venial sin I had written down, which I had done in the past and as I was confessing it, I felt this urge to exaggerate it, and so I added more detail to it. I didn’t lie, but I described more what I could remember from that venial sin I was confessing. Did I do anything wrong?
RW, There have been times when a month has passed since my last confession, and when I've examined my conscience, I fail to come up with many sins. In such a situation, I'm tempted to add sins in because, 1) I know that I'm no saint, 2) I must be overlooking some sins I committed, 3) The priest will think I'm silly for bothering to take up his time (translate: I'm worried what he will think of me), or 4) Scrupulosity is nipping at my heels. Still, being straightforward and honest is the better policy. Two ways to avoid this dilemma is to go to confession every two weeks, and to do an examination of conscience 3 or 4 times in between. One can then better recall when preparing to enter the confessional. (Or perhaps you can find a priest that reads your soul and then tells you what you forgot. Unfortunately, there are not too many Padre Pio's running around!) Seriously speaking, I would recommend you assess what motivated you to exaggerate the particular sin you confessed, and then work on uprooting that tendency. Remember, as you grow more in your love of God, the sins you confess will tend to shift from sins against a particular commandment (sins of commission) to sins in which you failed to do good when prompted to do so (sins of omission). As you grow closer to the Lord, confession is motivated less by a fear of hell, and more by failing to bring joy to the Heart of Jesus. Safe in the Refuge of the Immaculate Heart!
Ya...not bad but probably not good. Exaggeration is basically A lie. But knowing it was wrong probably a good thing. God understands Brother al
