Confession
Jesus is waiting to forgive you—all you have to do is ask! Don’t miss out any longer on the healing power of Confession.
Importance of Confession
Fr. Thomas Dubay, in Deep Conversion Deep Prayer, writes: “There is a gap for most people between prayer and performance. At our devotions we can say sublime things about loving God with out whole heart, and then ten minutes later divide that heart with selfish overeating—or any one of a dozen other petty clingings.”
This website is meant to help you bridge that gap between prayer and performance—to help you not simply desire a growth in virtue, but actually accomplish a growth in virtue.
You’ve often heard the verse from John quoted: “the truth will set you free” (8:32). Well, this verse is very applicable here: acknowledging the truth of your sinfulness before God and recognizing your need for His grace to help you become the person He wants you to be will really, truly set you free.
The words of absolution in the Confessional are beautiful: “I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus is waiting to forgive you—all you have to do is ask! Don’t miss out any longer on the healing power of Confession.
5 Benefits of Frequent Confession
St. Augustine and countless other saints and doctors of the Church talk about the importance of knowing ourselves well. Through coming to know ourselves better, we realized how fallen we are, and how badly we need God’s help and grace to get through life. Frequent Confession helps remind us to rely on God to help rid us of our sins.
The grace we receive from the Sacrament of Confession helps us combat our faults and failings and break our habits of vice much more easily and expediently than we could otherwise do without the sacramental grace.
Guilt from the sins we commit can make us feel all mixed up inside and cause us to lose our peace and joy. When we hear God’s forgiving words to us from the lips of the priest in Confession, a burden is lifted off our shoulders. Sins weigh us down and enslave us, often giving our passions power over us, instead of us having control over our passions. With the healing power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we can again feel the peace of heart and soul that comes from being in a good relationship with God.
Jesus was perfectly humble, perfectly generous, perfectly patient, perfectly loving—perfectly everything! Don’t you wish you could be as humble, generous, patient, and loving as Jesus? Saints throughout history have felt that way too, and they have frequented the Sacrament of Reconciliation to help transform them into people who are more like Christ. Little images of Christ—that’s what saints are!
Every time we experience the Sacrament of Confession, God strengthens our will and our self-control to be able to resist the temptations that confront us in our lives. We become more resolute to follow God’s will and not our own whims.
Of course, the list of benefits of Confession goes on and on! But you have to go to reap the benefits! Going to Confession regularly will truly change your life. What’s keeping you from Reconciliation?
Stages of Spiritual Development
Purgative Way
This is the state of beginners. In this stage it is often difficult to overcome daily temptations, and practicing the virtues can require an inner battle because of attachment to venial sin. Though the desire for perfection and progress is there, the beginner falls frequently.
Illuminative Way
This is the intermediary stage between purification and total union with God. In this stage, there is enlightenment in the ways of God and a clear understanding of his will in one’s life. There are now only occasional “slips” into sin.
Unitive Way
This is the final stage of Christian perfection. A soul in the unitive state has a constant awareness of God’s presence and habitually conforms to God’s will. In this stage, the soul loves God and others without limit.
Conversion
These three levels are not necessarily static or chronological. During our lives, we may experience tastes of each of the stages in greater or lesser degree as we grow in holiness or experience setbacks.
Now, what’s the point of all this? CONVERSION.
Conversion is a process. Everyone is called to ongoing conversion. St. Bernard once said that no matter how sinful one might have been in the past, he is stilled called to the heights of prayer—to the depths of the riches of the spiritual life.
Conversion isn’t just about avoiding sins. It is also about making improvements—growing in the virtues of humility, temperance, zeal, love, and so on. This site is meant to help you in the process of conversion. For you to grow in holiness and be a saint, you don’t need to do extraordinary things. You need only to focus on continuous conversion, the nitty-gritty practice of daily avoiding sins, growing in virtue, being fervent in prayer, and growing in intimacy with the God who loves you.
The Sacrament of Confession
The Sacrament of Reconciliation, also called Confession or the Sacrament of Penance, is one of the most unique and beautiful aspects of the Catholic Church. Jesus Christ, in His abundant love and mercy, established the Sacrament of Confession, so that we as sinners can obtain forgiveness for our sins and reconcile with God and the Church. The sacrament “washes us clean,” and renews us in Christ. Making a good confession is one of the best things for your soul and continued growth in virtue. Confession not only forgives our sins, but it also strengthens and renews us to help us stop sinning and become the person that God made us to be. This video from our friends at Sensum Fidelium provides a wealth of information and some helpful tips in making a good confession.