to tell the amount you took. But if
you stole from a church you would have to tell that, because that is a
circumstance that gives the sin of stealing a new character, and makes
it sacrilegious stealing. Or if you stole from a poor beggar all he
possessed in the world, so that you left him starving, that would be a
circumstance making your sin worse, and so you would have to tell it.
Therefore you have to tell any circumstance that really makes your sin
much worse or less than it seems; all other circumstances you need not
tell: they will only confuse you, and make you forget your sins and
waste the priest's time.

214 Q. What should we do if we cannot remember the number of our sins?
A. If we cannot remember the number of our sins, we should tell the
number as nearly as possible, and say how often we have sinned in a day,
a week, or a month and how long the habit or practice has lasted.

*215 Q. Is our confession worthy if, without our fault, we forget to
confess a mortal sin?
A. If without our fault we forget to confess a mortal sin, our
confession is worthy, and the sin is forgiven; but it must be told in
confession if it again comes to our mind.

216 Q. Is it a grievous offense willfully to conceal a mortal sin in
confession?
A. It is a grievous offense willfully to conceal a mortal sin in
confession, because we thereby tell a lie to the Holy Ghost, and make
our confession worthless.

"A lie to the Holy Ghost." God sees every sin we commit, and in His
presence we present ourselves to the priest in the confessional, and
declare that we are confessing all. If, then, we willfully conceal a sin
that we are bound to confess, God is a witness to our sacrilegious lie.
If I see you in some place to which you were forbidden to go, and you,
knowing that I saw you, positively deny that you were there, your guilt
would be doubly great, for, besides the sin of disobedience committed by
going to the forbidden place, you also resist the known truth, and
endeavor to prove that I, when I declare I saw you, am telling what is
untrue. In a similar manner, concealing a sin in confession is
equivalent to denying before God that we are guilty of it. Besides, it
is a great folly to conceal a sin, because it must be confessed sooner
or later, and the longer we conceal it the deeper will be our sense of
shame for the sacrileges committed. Again, why should one be ashamed to
confess to the priest what he has not been ashamed to do befor