Dear Cody:

I would advise you to read the article, Sin, in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

There are not three, but seven cardinal (capital, deadly) sins: pride, avarice, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and sloth. These sins are called capital because they lead to other sins.

Schism, apostasy, and heresy are three grave sins that certainly require Confession. There are lots more grave sins than that as I already pointed out in the previous post.

Denial of any point of faith that is required for Catholics to believe is heresy, a grave sin.

You need to do what I already advised you to do — read the Catechism for the details on the Ten Commandments. You could not have studied the Catechism since I answered your last question a few minutes ago. Scrupulous people tend not not like doing their homework and thus fret over things without knowing the facts. READ THE CATECHISM. Then, talk to your confessor about it.

The Church declares:

Canon Law  916: A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible.

The "not to celebrate Mass" applies to priests. Laity are still to attend Mass even if they cannot receive the Eucharist. To be conscious or grave sin implies that you know what constitute grave sin.

Scrupulosity is the "habit of imagining sin where none exists, or grave sin where the matter is venial. To overcome scrupulosity, a person needs to be properly instructed in order to form a right conscience, and in extreme cases the only remedy is absolute obedience (for a time) to a prudent confessor."

Listen to the advice I gave previously, which is general advice. Since I do not know you, if your scrupulosity is severe, then temporary absolute obedience your confessor may be needed. Obeying your confessor is not sin.

You need proper instruction. That begins by reading the Catechism. Thus, do your homework by reading the Catechism. You might find that it will answer your questions. But, you need to stop trying to point to every nuance and to over think this based in fear of committing sin. Fear and anxiety are a symptom of the scrupulosity, not a indicator that you have sinned.

I imagine that your confessor is weary in trying to teach you the difference between grave and venial sins. That is why I made the point to confess all sins, mortal and venial without fretting over what is mortal and what is venial.  You do need to understand that you do not need to fret. Fear and anxiety are not a clue that you have sinned, it is rather a symptom of the scrupulosity.

As such, scrupulous people are notorious for not listening, misinterpreting advice, and not doing homework.

Review my advice about getting counseling and perhaps even medication. This can really help you if there are problems with brain chemistry. Finding a confessor or spiritual director who knows how to deal with scrupulosity and has experience in dealing with this, if your current confessor is unsure of how to handle this, can be very helpful.

Finally, here is an article about how to overcome scrupulosity that should help you. Subscribing to the newsletter of  Scrupulous Anonymous is also advised. Their articles are great. There is one called the Ten Commandments for the Scrupulous is fabulous. Read it and all of their other resources. DO YOUR HOMEWORK.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary