On Scrupulosity
July 5, 2012
JAMES M. writes:
During Confession, a priest recently said to me: “I think you are too hard on yourself. Your penance is to think about that.”
Laura writes:
Hmm, perhaps he was a bit lenient, eh?
I hope you will add the following short essays on scrupulosity to your reflections. They are by the Rev. James Jackson and can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
In the third of these essays, Father Jackson writes:
Like everyone else, the scrupulous man experiences temporary bouts of depression, or fear or anxiety. But not like everyone else, he can wrongly attribute his vague depression to sin, thinking he has committed some mortal sin which has resulted in the sadness.
Scrupulosity, Fr. Jackson continues, “works against progress in the interior life.”
