CONFUSION CONCERNING CONFESSION???

Due to the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, sin entered into the world! One of the negative effects of sin is darkness of the intellect and with this CONFUSION!!!

With the building of the tower of Babel still more confusion pervaded the world at large!   This time the confusion spread through an actual “Confusion” of languages! Everybody began to speak but in a different language resulting in extreme difficulty in understanding.

MORAL RELATIVISM.  Today many decide to reject the moral authority of the Church, the Magisterium and the Papacy; this leads to moral relativism and still more confusion.

In this short essay we would like to respond to another crisis—the crisis of the loss of the sense of sin, the failure of the formation of the conscience and the huge drop off in the reception of the Sacrament of Confession.  An immortal saying of Pope Pius XII, so applicable today is “The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.”    Let us launch into our defense of Confession!

TYPICAL OBJECTIONS LAUNCHED AGAINST THE SACRAMENT OF CONFESSION!

1.     “ It is a man-made invention. Where is it in the Bible!”  Wrong!  It is not a man-made invention!  Rather, Jesus, the Son of God and Divine Healer instituted this marvelous Sacrament. Read Jn. 20:21-23.   Jesus breathes on the Apostles the Holy Spirit and says: “Whose sins you forgive they will be forgiven; whose sins you bind will be held bound.”   Jesus forgives but through the person or minister of the priest.

2.    “ I always confess the same thing. “  Maybe this is true, but thanks be to God you are not committing other sins.    In Sacramental theology there is a key element that must be understood to receive the Sacraments efficaciously.  This is called “Dispositive grace”.  This means the better the disposition the more open the soul is to God’s graces.   Maybe you confess the  same  sins but with less gravity and less frequency!  Bravo!  There is improvement.   This is called the Principle of Graduality—gradually, with the help of God’s grace, the gravity or the seriousness of the sin is diminished as well as the number of times is less.  The Italians have a saying: “Roma no fue fatto en un giorno.”   Rome was not built in one day and we cannot become saints overnight! Many want a “Micro-wave” spirituality—to become saints in the same time it takes to boil water in the Micro-wave oven.  Not that easy, my friend!

                  

3.     “The priest does not understand me.”   The priest acts in the person of Christ.  He has received the Sacrament of Holy Orders. He is the Doctor of the soul. Once Saint Faustina left the confessional in a state of confusion. Jesus revealed to her that she failed to pray for the priest before entering the confessional. Get in the habit of praying for the priest—maybe even his Guardian angel—before entering the confessional.  The confession will flow more smoothly!

4.    “ I forget my sins; my memory goes blank.”    You are neither the first nor the last that this has happened to!  However, here is a helpful tip!   Write down the sins on a sheet of paper as a memory aid!  No way to forget if this is done!

5.    “ I get tongue-tied.” Pray to the Holy Spirit.  At Pentecost he was able to untie the tongue-tied Apostles—especially Peter who denied Him three times.   The Holy Spirit inspires us with honesty, sincerity and the ability to express our inner thoughts and of course our sins.

6.    “ ASHAMED!”   You were not ashamed to commit the sin.   It is interesting how the devil works to block our salvation and the flow of grace.  When we sin, the devil takes all of our shame away. However, when we must confess the sin, the devil can fill us with so much shame that we are paralyzed!  Beg the Lord for interior fortitude!

             

7.     “PRIEST IS A TATTLE TALE!”  Not true!  On the contrary, the priest has a very serious obligation to maintain what is called the “Seal of the Confessional”.    In concrete this means that the priest can never—even to the point of surrendering his life—reveal the sins that are confessed in the Confessional.   In the history of the church, priests have actually died as martyrs to defend the seal of the confessional.  One of the most famous saints is SAINT JOHN NEPOMUCENE!

8.    “ TOMORROW!!!”  One of the most common victories of the devil is to convince us that we have a long life and that we can always put it off until tomorrow!  If your house were burning down, would you wait? If your child accidently took poison, would you wait till tomorrow?  If you stepped on a rusty nail, would you wait to have it extracted? To all of these questions, a blunt no!  These demand a quick and immediate response, if not serious consequences might follow, even death!  If we commit a mortal sin, we should seek to reconcile ourselves with God as soon as possible. Blessed Pope John Paul II calls mortal sin, “Moral suicide”.   We should not play “Russian Roulette” with the salvation of our soul. We have one life to live and one soul to save. This is our primary and principal goal in life—to save our soul!

                 

9.    “I do not know the Commandments!”   The success of a good confession depends on prior preparation.  You might even say that ninety percent of making a good confession is the preparation made even before entering into the confessional.   Find a good booklet as a help to examine your conscience with a clear explanation of the Ten Commandments. Recently I published a rather lengthy but clear explanation of the Ten Commandments. Check out my blog!

              

10. “ I always forget the basic steps to make a good confession!”   Well, try to memorize them, they are short and easy to memorize! Here they are:

1.    Examination of Conscience.

2.    Contrition for the sins.

3.    Firm Purpose of Amendment.

4.    Confession of sins to the priest.

5.    Carry out the penance.

 

We have responded to ten of the basic objections to making a good confession. As a means of encouragement we will list ten awesome fruits of a good confession. These fruits are available for your picking and gathering in!

1.    FRIENDSHIP WITH JESUS.  Mortal sin ruptures the friendship with Jesus, but confession restores it!

2.    SANCTIFYING GRACE INCREASES!  Related to friendship with Jesus is the growth of sanctifying grace every time we make a good confession!

3.    HUMILITY.  Confession demands humility of heart. Jesus loves the truly humble of heart.

4.    SHIELD FROM THE DEVIL.  The devil is constantly attacking us with temptations, like fiery darts.  Confession serves as a shield of protection against the wiles and attacks of the devil.

5.    PREVENTIVE MEDICINE.  Even if one confesses venial sins this serves as spiritual medicine to prevent future sicknesses. Indeed sin is infirmity of the soul.

6.    HEALING GRACE.  The specific sacramental grace of the Holy Eucharist is spiritual nourishment. In confession, the sacramental grace is healing of the sick soul! Jesus came to heal the lepers of body and soul!

7.    FERVENT COMMUNIONS.  St. Ignatius states that there is an intimate connection between Confession and Holy Communion.  Confession purifies the soul to be more receptive to receiving Jesus with greater purity of heart and greater love.

8.     PEACE OF SOUL.  Sin robs us of our interior peace of soul. Confessions well-made restore peace to our souls.  Indeed we can be a living “Shalom”—Peace be to you!

9.    SELF-KNOWLEDGE.  Being honest with the confessor, listening attentively and seeking advice all serve to help the sincere penitent to grow in self-knowledge. In the spiritual life self-knowledge is indispensable to grow in holiness of life!

10.HEAVEN.  Frequent confession frees us from sin, liberates us from vices, forms in us permanent attitude of humility and contrition and repentance.  With this disposition of soul God is very pleased and will be ready to welcome us home like the Prodigal son.