Confession

originally posted FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 05, 2010

Confession

St. Augustine said: "In failing to confess, Lord, I would only hide You from myself, not myself from You."

Sometimes Confession is hard -really hard -especially when we have some sin which we consider to be the 'worst sin' and therefore 'unforgivable.' But that's precisely when we need to force ourselves to go to Confession -not just to 'get it over with' by slipping it in between lying and impatience. We need to go to Confession and open our 'big sin' wounds right up naked before the priest -because the priest is Jesus Himself at that moment. Only by opening our wounds to our Doctor is He able to touch them and heal them.

The devil wants us to fear Confession -and the number one way he works on us to prevent us from making a good one is our pride. People have a problem with pride -all people do in some way or another -and so if the evil one can make us excessively embarrassed or excessively excusive or excessively afraid of humiliation, than he can prevent us from receiving the forgiveness and healing that God is waiting to give us.

St. Josemaria Escriva: "At the time of your examination beware of the devil that ties your tongue."

So, what are we supposed to do in order to receive that deep, down total forgiveness of all our sins, in addition to healing from the wounds our hearts suffered from them? Here's some suggestions:

1.) Be honest with yourself. Brutally honest. Leave no stone unturned in your heart -and if you are going to err, err on the side of over-accusing yourself as opposed to under-accusing yourself. There is such great merit to be gained by humbly admitting our faults. So often priests say that people spend way more time in the Confessional listing other peoples' sins or excusing themselves, than actually presenting one's own faults honestly and asking forgiveness and healing love. What a great grace to be able to take the sword of truth and pierce the gangrene parts of our hearts open and to cut them off of us. It might hurt for a moment, but the healing touch of God's Love that reaches down to soothe us in such humility can make us closer to Him than if we never did such things. Jesus said, "Those who are forgiven much, love much." So, if you want His gift of Love, you must ask for His forgiveness. His mercy is truly amazing.

2.) Remember that it is NOT a person you are talking to in the Confessional -some priest who is just like you and me and is there to judge you. These are lies put forth by satan. It is JESUS Himself Who waits for you in the Confessional. And if you prepare well and pray begging the Holy Spirit to somehow speak to you through that priest -you can trust that his words are God's words of love to you. I used to love to go to Confession face-to-face in order to humiliate myself more. But now I find deep graces behind a screen or with my eyes shut, so that I can imagine speaking right into the Heart of my Jesus Who already knows everything and is waiting to pour out His unfathomable Love upon me when I ask through admitting my sins and weaknesses. Either way is fine and great and deep -just do it knowing that it is your God Who sits and waits and listens and forgives you. Many priests have told me that they have the grace to not remember people's sins outside of Confession.

3.) Think of the Passion of Christ and it will make it easy to run to Him through Confession. If you can't bring yourself to confess something -then watch the Passion of Christ by Mel Gibson and you will change your mind. When you see His suffering Love, you can't but trust Him to forgive you for anything and everything. And when you see His suffering Love, you realize how you should get over your selfishness and think more about Him (suffering and waiting for you to return to Him in the life of grace) than about yourself (and your fear and pride in admitting your sins). I mean, He IS God... so He is more important than you.

4.) Beg for grace. If you have no courage to mention something specific in Confession -write out your sins, find a way to say it that is blunt, read them... and beg for the grace. God will send His Holy Spirit to give you courage and grace if you beg Him. Lean on grace and not on yourself. Looking too much at yourself is how you got into the predicament of sin in the first place. Lean on His Love and go.... Just Do it.

5.) And spend some time after Confession with the Blessed Sacrament. After you confessed all of your sins you have a perfectly pure soul -but it might still have 'wounds' or 'weaknesses' of the tendencies towards the sins you have become habitually attached to. The best remedy for this is to link the Sacrament of Reconciliation with the Eucharist. Go directly to Jesus after Confession -if you were given a penance of prayer, do it immediately. Then THANK Him for the graces you received (Jesus entered and suffered hell on the Cross in order to forgive your sins and save you from hell -big graces that you enter into in each Confession). And beg His Blood to wash you and the Holy Spirit to fill you so that you are healed totally and preserved with extra 'vitamins' of grace and strength in order to not sin again later. It is amazing how God can transform us by us just sitting with Him before the Eucharist. It is healing because it is like a bath of His Love.

6.) Go to Confession often -weekly or every two weeks. Pope John Paul II went every day! It is easier to clean a room that is dusty than one that has not been touched for weeks or months (or years). When we quickly remove the 'dirt' of sin from our lives -it stains us less and is less ground into our souls. We remain closer to God when we frequently visit Him in Confession, and we can be greater vessels of His grace to others.

7.) And remember that Confession is not just a dry-cleaners (a place we bring our sins in order to be washed of them). Confession is a personal encounter -soul to soul -with Christ. A place where we meet Jesus to speak not only about our sins, but the deepest concerns of our soul. It is a place where He reaches His ear down to our whispering hearts and listens and discusses with us how we are doing in our work on earth for Him. Its like a mid-semester progress report from God. Where He helps us see our faults and gives us a plan on how to 'bring our grade up' before the Final Test. And it is a place where we receive the drink of His Love -whether we feel it or not, our soul receives it through the grace of absolution.

Today is First Friday. So, Just DO IT! Go make the best confession of your lives today. Confess those sins you never had the courage to do before. Or Confess again those sins you poorly confessed in the past (without total admittance of your wrong in them, or those you did not admit in detail or those that especially still pain you). Let God heal you today, again, from your pride, your sin, your wounds, your doubts, your weakness. Throw them at God openly, totally and then forget them go on in the life of grace. You won't be denied forgiveness if you are sincere. I always tell myself that the worst case scenario that could happen is that I will be yelled at (it might not be pleasant, but is it something bad enough to keep me from heaven?) -and really, don't we deserve that humiliation and then we are forgiven forever -FOREVER! Your Father is waiting for you -in the Person of His Son Jesus living in His priests in Confession. Don't make Him wait longer to love you. You know how painful it is to wait and wait and wait with longing for a person who you love to return home. Let the Holy Spirit take your hand and lead you.... You will make GOD'S HEART rejoice if you can do that!

St. Faustina said: "A soul does not benefit from the sacrament of Confession if it is not humble. Pride keeps it in darkness. The soul neither knows how, nor is it willing to probe with precision the depths of its own misery. It puts on a mask and avoids everything that might bring it recovery."