The truth will set you free.
The basic requirement for a good confession is to have the intention of returning to God.
Now that we are in Lent, we can consider how we receive the sacrament of Penance or Confession. It is a one-on-one meeting with Christ via a priest in persona Christi. During the encounter, Jesus welcomes, embraces, forgives, raises us up from the pool of sins. As the Good Shepherd, Christ heals wounds, cleanses us and strengthens us. He said, “I myself will be the Shepherd of my sheep and I will make them lie down. I will seek the lost; I will bring back the slayed, bind up the wounds of the crippled and strengthen the weak, and the fat and strong I will watch over.”
It was when He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday and appeared to His apostles that He gave them authority to forgive sins as He said, “Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive, are forgiven them. Whose sins you retain, are retained.” From then on, confession has been practiced in the Church.
Our Protestant brothers beg to disagree. For them, it is not necessary to confess your sins to a priest or pastor who is also human like us. They do not have the sacraments or at least the understanding of sacraments as signs through which the Lord gives us grace.
Sadly, there are also some Catholics who are not comfortable confessing their sins to a priest and so they do not go for confession. They cannot imagine how one can confess to someone who has the same nature as ours. No matter how one explains to them the essence of confession, they would still rather not. If you look around you, some of our friends and even our relatives fall into the same notion. They are afraid that somehow and somewhere, the secrets that rest in the deep recesses of their souls may be divulged. They forget, or rather they simply do not know that there is the seal of confession which is the absolute duty of priests not to divulge anything that they learn from the penitents during the course of the confession.
This sacrament is likened to Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. After squandering all his shares from the riches of his father, being in the company of bad people, and showering himself with wine, women and booze, the younger son returned to his father with the ardent desire to be with his father and to ask for forgiveness.
In the same token, when we go to confession, we only think of Jesus and to be united with Him once more. The desire to be with Jesus is imminent. And for Jesus, it’s heaven.
When we are able to bring someone back to confession, heaven opens up wide with one repentant sinner than a multitude of righteous people who do not need to repent.
My friend was telling me that during her recent trip to Europe, specifically in Vienna, she wanted to go to confession before they left for another country. There is a church called Saints Peter and Paul which is run by the priests of the Work. Unfortunately, confession started at a later time so she looked for another church. As she walked in the plaza, she was able to find one– a confessional box with a priest inside with the cubicle door open. She got in and knelt down and heard the priest murmuring in German. She started, “Bless me, Father…” Suddenly, the priest raised his voice, went out of the confessional box and knocked on her door. Turns out, there was a penitent in the other cubicle. She couldn’t understand what was being said. Of course she got embarrassed but on the other hand, it was for the Lord. I told her with the right intention, I think your sins are forgiven.
We receive the sacrament of Penance to ask for the forgiveness of our sins. We pray with Psalm 51, as we express: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
In doing so, we ask for absolution for our faults as if we are begging for alms. But we go with confidence; trusting, not in our merits, but in his mercy, which is forever and ready to forgive. And all that God is asking from us is a humble and contrite heart that He will not despise.
He asks us only to acknowledge our faults with all humility and sincerity. That is why we go to confession– so that the person who takes God’s place and acts on God’s behalf can forgive us for him. That is why accusing ourselves of sins does not consist simply of going back to the scene of the past, but rather sincerely and truly accusing ourselves of them. We regret doing them and wish that it never happened. Beating around the bush to cover up our faults diminishes our integrity before our merciful Lord.
St. Josemaria Escriva advises us that our confession should be concise, concrete, clear and complete. A good examination of conscience before our confession will help us to confess humbly with few words, go directly to the point, be easily understood without frills and bows, and without leaving anything out through a false sense of shame so as not to appear bad.
Although the Church has advised Catholics to confess at least once a year, the frequent reception of the sacrament is for the good of our soul.
Frequent confession is the spiritual practice among Catholics of going to the sacrament of reconciliation often and regularly in order to grow in holiness. It is a powerful means of growing in love with God, in humility with great sorrow and abhorrence for sins, since it is considered a personal encounter with Jesus who is the source of God’s grace, help, and forgiveness.
St. Pope Pius XII went to confession daily, and he explained that by frequent confession:
- Genuine self knowledge is increased
- Christian humility grows
- Bad habits are corrected
- Spiritual tepidity is resisted
- The conscience is purified
- The will strengthened
- Much self control is attained
- Grace is increased in virtue of the sacrament itself
St. John Paul II added:
- We are renewed in fervor
- Strengthened in our resolution
- Supported by divine encouragement
Thus, in frequent confession, we get considerable value in the direction we get from our confessor, who in every confession will urge us anew and encourage us to continue along the way of virtue with full fervor.
Let us endeavor always to make our confessions well indeed, to try and make them better every time.
Let us keep in mind that Jesus is always waiting for us in the sacrament of confession to forgive us from our offenses. He is the same Jesus who, knowing our struggles, sufferings, efforts, and perseverance, will judge us on the Last Day.
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