Importance of Confession

One of the most under-used, and perhaps misunderstood sacraments, in my opinion, is the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The sacrament offers us the opportunity to receive so many graces that God wants to give to us to help us improve our spiritual life.

Oftentimes, people have a hard time going to Confession because they feel ashamed, or feel it is unnecessary, or because they think the priest is going to “judge” them for what they have done. It is important that we feel sorrow for our sins, and that we do not allow guilt or shame to hold us back from receiving God’s forgiveness. So often the devil will try to use that guilt or shame to hold us back, but we need to set aside those feelings and seek the most important thing, God’s forgiveness. Priests hear many sins throughout their ministry and likely will not hear anything new said to them in the confessional and, most importantly, they can never repeat anything they hear in the confessional to anyone under any circumstances.

To have a good Confession, one needs to do a proper examination of conscience beforehand, that is looking to see where they have failed since their last confession, have sorrow, or what the church refers to as contrition, for their sins and desire not to want to sin again. The sorrow we feel can be out of love of God or out of fear of going to hell, what is called perfect, or imperfect, contrition.

Nobody is perfect in everything. We all sin. As we all know, if we want to get better at anything in life, we need to look at the areas we are weak in and find ways to improve. The spiritual life is the same way. We need to see where we are weak, where we need to improve, and we need assistance to help us get better, which is the graces we can receive in the sacrament of reconciliation. So, whether it has been one week, one year, 25 years, or however long, never be afraid of seeking out the Sacrament of Reconciliation.