In celebration of the Amoris Laetitia Family Year, Universitas republishes the texts of the “Executive Summaries,” one-page evangelization flyers initiated by Dr. Raul Nidoy, faculty member of UA&P, Director of Formation of Parents for Education Foundation (PAREF) and author of Jesus-Centered: Guide to the Happiest Life. The leaflets, which have been printed and shared thousands of times here and abroad, contain key points of Catholic doctrine on topics such as family and chastity, social responsibility, the foundations of the faith, and encountering Jesus. Schools, parishes, and organizations have used the leaflets as a tool for promoting Church teachings. The Executive Summaries can be downloaded here.
Why do I have to go to Confession?
Because your sins have offended your loving Creator who died to make you his divine child. (Cf. CCC 291, 2096, 598) Your sins are the cause of his agonizing, blood-soaked death on the cross. Your grave sin causes the loss of friendship between you and God, and the loss of the greatest treasure in your soul: grace, God’s gift of divine life, greater than the natural universe! Without grace, we cannot enter heaven. Upon dying, souls in mortal sin (sin in grave matter, with full knowledge and full consent) go to hell with its eternal pains. (Cf. CCC 1035)
Above all, what pleases God the most, taught Pope Francis, is forgiving you. God is the compassionate Father of Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son. He looks forward to embracing you, covering you with kisses and making merry with you in Confession. “God never gets tired of forgiving us… His mercy is infinitely greater than our sins.” (Francis)
Forgiveness in Confession is “the greatest miracle” (Jesus to St. Faustina) and brings “the happiest moment in life”. (Blessed Alvaro)
Why go to Confession to a priest? Why not straight to God?
- It is God who determines how he will forgive us. Not us. It’s the offended party not the offender who says, “I forgive you”.
- God said “confess your sins to one another” (Jas 5:16), and gave power to men to forgive our sins. He breathed the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and said: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven” (Jn 20:23). God wanted us to confess to priests to be forgiven of our sins. It is biblical to go to confession!
- God made Confession a sacrament: a concrete sign through which our merciful Father embraces us and gives us back the great treasure of grace we lost in sin. Confession makes us feel the blissful cheer of the heavenly celebration when the prodigal son returns home.
- God is a good Father who wants to assure us by making us know we are forgiven. He wants to lift the burden of guilt we carry by making us hear him say through his priest, “I absolve you”. What a great relief and joy to go to confession!
- We also offended the Church, so we also need to be reconciled with her. Because all Christians form one body, our sins hurt the members of Christ’s body. It’s fair that we say sorry to the Church’s head, Christ, through his representative, the priest.
- As a baptized member of the Church, we follow the laws of this society. As any good member of a community, we do not do just anything we fancy. Instead, we relish God’s laws.
The best devotion, according to St. Josemaría, is to say sorry to God often. When we commit the slightest faults or commit a sin, we return to God at once and embrace him anew, and we know that this gives him utmost happiness. Going to Confession shows the sincerity of our contrition, our decision to act right and follow God.
False excuses exposed
- “I am ashamed. I’m shy.” Since you were not ashamed to do evil, it should be easier not to be ashamed to do the good deed of confessing.
- “Priests are men like me.” God became a man, and he gave men power to do divine things: write God’s Word, to give God’s blessings, and forgive our sins (give us God’s embrace!).
- “Priests will know my sins.” Priests are gravely bound to secrecy, and have heard hundreds of confessions of the same type of sins. Your sins are not special.
How do I go to Confession?
Only three simple steps:
- Examine your conscience. Try to remember all your sins since your last Confession, and be sorry for them.
- Confess to a priest. Say “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. My last confession was: (state when). My sins are: (tell your sins and their frequency).” When done, the priest will give advice and ask you to say an Act of Contrition, while he gives the absolution.
- Do the penance the priest gives.
Simple guide to an examination of conscience: List of sins based on God’s ten commandments.
1st – 3rd: Disrespect for God. No total love for God. Self-centered, not God-centered. Missing prayers, Sunday Mass, other duties to God. Superstition. Distrust, disbelief in God. Communion in mortal sin. Idolatry.
4th: Disrespect, disobedience to parents and authorities. Neglect of family and social duties. Poor religious and moral education.
5th: Indifferent to the spiritual and material needs of others. Wishing evil on others. Harming, bullying someone. Bad example. Overeating. Hatred. Substance abuse. Drunkenness. Self-mutilation. Thoughts of suicide. Murder. Abortion.
6th and 9th: Impure thoughts, desires. Immodesty. Porn. Masturbation. Denial, abuse of marriage rights. Contraception. Premarital, extramarital sex. Homosexual acts.
7th and 10th: Wasting time at work. Indifference to the poor. Envy. Cheating. Stealing. Not returning, damaging other’s property. Not paying debts. Materialism. Paying unjust wages. Not doing duties to society and the environment.
8th: Lying. Gossiping. Calumny. Destroying the good name of another.
Most important: contrition centered on the Crucified
Jesus’ key message is: Repent! Change your heart! Be holy by beginning again and again. The secret of the Christian life is to center our minds on Jesus’ passion, death and rising. To look at Him pierced by our sins, whose wounds heal us with his boundless love.
So we will joyfully encounter Jesus often in Confession: at least monthly. Popes go to confession weekly or every two weeks. Some went daily. They strongly recommend that we go often to help us (1) avoid the build-up of sin, (2) advance speedily in virtues, and (3) keep the desire for holiness alive. And so we will be Jesus’ joy-filled friend, who bring others to meet him in the miracle of Confession.#
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Banner photo by Akira Hojo on Unsplash.
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Ten reasons there is nothing more important than Holy Mass
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