Lesson 19: On Confession

A. Confession is the telling of our sins to a duly authorized priest, for the purpose of obtaining forgiveness.

A. A duly authorized priest is one sent to hear confessions by the lawful bishop of the diocese in which we are at

the time of our confession.

A. It is allowed, when necessary, to write our sins and read them to the priest, as persons do who have almost

entirely lost their memory. It is also allowed to give the paper to the priest, as persons do who have lost the use of

their speech. In such cases the paper must, after the confession, be carefully destroyed either by the priest or the

penitent.

A. Persons who must make their confession and who cannot find a priest who understands their language, must

confess as best they can by some signs, showing what sins they wish to confess and how they are sorry for them.

A. We are bound to confess all our mortal sins, but it is well also to confess our venial sins.

A. It is well to confess also the venial sins we remember:

1. Because it shows our hatred of all sin, and

2. Because it is sometimes difficult to determine just when a sin is venial and when mortal.

A. One who has only venial sins to confess should tell also some sin already confessed in his past life for which he knows he is truly sorry; because it is not easy to be truly sorry for slight sins and imperfections, and yet we must be sorry for the sins confessed that our confession may be valid -- hence we add some past sin for which we are truly sorry to those for which we may not be sufficiently sorry.

A. A person should not stay from confession because he thinks he has no sin to confess, for the Sacrament of

Penance, besides forgiving sin, gives an increase of sanctifying grace, and of this we have always need, especially

to resist temptation. The Saints, who were almost without imperfection, went to confession frequently.

A. A person should go to Communion after confession even when the confessor does not bid him go, because the

confessor so intends unless he positively forbids his penitent to receive Communion. However, one who has not

yet received his first Communion should not go to Communion after confession, even if the confessor by mistake

should bid him go.

A. The chief qualities of a good Confession are three: it must be humble, sincere, and entire.

A. Our Confession is humble when we accuse ourselves of our sins, with a deep sense of shame and sorrow for

having offended God.

A. Our Confession is sincere when we tell our sins honestly and truthfully, neither exaggerating nor excusing them.

A. It is wrong to accuse ourselves of sins we have not committed, because, by our so doing, the priest cannot

know the true state of our souls, as he must do before giving us absolution.

A. Our Confession is entire when we tell the number and kinds of our sins and the circumstances which change

their nature.

A. By the "kinds of sin," we mean the particular division or class to which the sins belong; that is, whether they be sins of blasphemy, disobedience, anger, impurity, dishonesty, etc. We can determine the kind of sin by discovering the commandment or precept of the Church we have broken or the virtue against which we have acted.

A. By "circumstances which change the nature of sins" we mean anything that makes it another kind of sin. Thus to steal is a sin, but to steal from the Church makes our theft sacrilegious. Again, impure actions are sins, but a person must say whether they were committed alone or with others, with relatives or strangers, with persons married or single, etc., because these circumstances change them from one kind of impurity to another.

A. If we cannot remember the number of our sins, we should tell the number as nearly as possible, and say how

often we may have sinned in a day, a week, or a month, and how long the habit or practice has lasted.

A. If without our fault we forget to confess a mortal sin, our Confession is worthy, and the sin is forgiven; but it

must be told in Confession if it again comes to our mind.

A. A person who has forgotten to tell a mortal sin in confession may go to communion before again going to

confession, because the forgotten sin was forgiven with those confessed, and the confession was good and worthy.

A. It is a grievous offense willfully to conceal a mortal sin in Confession, because we thereby tell a lie to the Holy

Ghost, and make our Confession worthless.

A. Concealing a sin is telling a lie to the Holy Ghost, because he who conceals the sin declares in confession to

God and the priest that he committed no sins but what he has confessed, while the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth,

saw him committing the sin he now conceals and still sees it in his soul while he denies it.

A. It is foolish to conceal sins in confession:

1. Because we thereby make our spiritual condition worse;

2. We must tell the sin sometime if we ever hope to be saved;

3.It will be made known on the day of judgment, before the world, whether we conceal it now or confess

it.

A. He who has willfully concealed a mortal sin in Confession must not only confess it, but must also repeat all the

sins he has committed since his last worthy Confession.

committed since his last worthy confession?

A. One who has willfully concealed a mortal sin in confession must, besides repeating all the sins he has committed since his last worthy confession, tell also how often he has unworthily received absolution and Holy Communion during the same time.

A. The priest gives us a penance after Confession, that we may satisfy God for the temporal punishment due to our sins.

A. Christ has fully satisfied for our sins and after our baptism we were free from all guilt and had no satisfaction to make. But when we willfully sinned after baptism, it is but just that we should be obliged to make some satisfaction.

A. The slight penance the priest gives us is not sufficient to satisfy for all the sins confessed:

1.Because there is no real equality between the slight penance given and the punishment deserved for sin;

2.Because we are all obliged to do penance for sins committed, and this would not be necessary if the

penance given in confession satisfied for all.

The penance is given and accepted in confession chiefly to show our willingness to do penance and make amends

for our sins.

A. The Sacrament of Penance remits the eternal punishment due to sin, but it does not always remit the temporal

punishment which God requires as satisfaction for our sins.

A. God requires a temporal punishment as a satisfaction for sin to teach us the great evil of sin and to prevent us

from falling again.

A. The chief means by which we satisfy God for the temporal punishment due to sin are: Prayer, Fasting,

Almsgiving; all spiritual and corporal works of mercy, and the patient suffering of the ills of life.

A. The fasting imposed by the Church on certain days of the year, and particularly during Lent, has the greatest

merit.

A. Lent is the forty days before Easter Sunday, during which we do penance, fast and pray to prepare ourselves

for the resurrection of Our Lord; and also to remind us of His own fast of forty days before His Passion.

A. By almsgiving we mean money, goods, or assistance given to the poor or to charitable purposes. The law of

God requires all persons to give alms in proportion to their means.

A. The ills of life that help to satisfy God for sin are sickness, poverty, misfortune, trial, affliction, etc., especially,

when we have not brought them upon ourselves by sin.

A. The Christians in the first ages of the Church did public penance, especially for the sins of which they were

publicly known to be guilty. Penitents were excluded for a certain time from Mass or the Sacrament, and some

were obliged to stand at the door of the Church begging the prayers of those who entered.

A. These severe penances of the first ages of the Church were called canonical penances, because their kind and

duration were regulated by the Canons or laws of the Church.

A. We can know spiritual from corporal works of mercy, for whatever we do for the soul is a spiritual work, and

whatever we do for the body is a corporal work.

A. The chief spiritual works of mercy are seven:

1.To admonish the sinner, to instruct the ignorant, to counsel the doubtful, to comfort the sorrowful, to bear

wrongs patiently, to forgive all injuries, and to pray for the living and the dead.

A. We are bound to admonish the sinner when the following conditions are fulfilled:

1.When his fault is a mortal sin;

2.When we have authority or influence over him, and

3. When there is reason to believe that our warning will not make him worse instead of better.

A. By the ignorant we are to instruct and the doubtful we are to counsel, are meant those particularly who are

ignorant of the truths of religion and those who are in doubt about matters of faith. We must aid such persons as far as we can to know and believe the truths necessary for salvation.

A. We are advised to bear wrongs patiently and to forgive all injuries, because, being Christians, we should imitate the example of Our Divine Lord, who endured wrongs patiently and who not only pardoned but prayed for those who injured Him.

A. Christians establish courts and prisons to punish wrongdoers, because the preservation of lawful authority, good order in society, the protection of others, and sometimes even the good of the guilty one himself, require that crimes be justly punished. As God Himself punishes crime and as lawful authority comes from Him, such authority has the right to punish, though individuals should forgive the injuries done to themselves personally.

A. It is a work of mercy to aid those who are unable to aid themselves. The living are exposed to temptations, and

while in mortal sin they are deprived of the merit of their good works and need our prayers. The dead can in no

way help themselves and depend on us for assistance.

A. The chief corporal works of mercy are seven:

1.To feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to ransom the captive, to harbor the

harborless, to visit the sick, and to bury the dead.

A. We may briefly state the corporal works of mercy by saying that we are obliged to help the poor in all their

forms of want.

A. Christians are aided in the performance of works of mercy through the establishment of charitable institutions

where religious communities of holy men or women perform these duties for us, provided we supply the necessary means by our almsgiving and good works.

A. Religious are self-sacrificing men and women who, wishing to follow more closely the teachings of Our Lord,

dedicate their lives to the service of God and religion. They live together in societies approved by the Church,

under a rule and guidance of a superior. They keep the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, and divide their

time between prayer and good works. The houses in which they dwell are called convents or monasteries, and the

societies in which they live are called religious orders, communities or congregations.

A. There are many religious communities of priests, who, besides living according to the general laws of the

Church, as all priests do, follow certain rules laid down for their community. Such priests are called the regular

clergy, because living by rules to distinguish them from the secular clergy who live in their parishes under no special rule. The chief work of the regular clergy is to teach in colleges and give missions and retreats.

A. There are many different religious communities:

1. Because all religious are not fitted for the same work, and

2. Because they desire to imitate Our Lord's life on earth as perfectly as possible; and when each

community takes one of Christ's works and seeks to become perfect in it, the union of all their works

continues as perfectly as we can the works He began upon earth.