From The Pastor:
Jesus tells us to “be watchful! Be Alert! You do not know when the time will come. This is the Advent message. St Paul also gives us spiritual encouragement by telling us to be confirmed in Christ. In Him, we will not lack in any spiritual gifts as we wait for His second coming. In order to watch and be ready we must not be blinded by any sin. That is why during the Advent season like lent there is a call to repentance, almsgiving and prayer.
While prayer helps us to establish a deeper relationship with Christ and His kingdom. Confession is just as helpful in washing us of the obstacle of sin. Confession will give us grace to live closer to Christ and as St John of the Cross says, we become a source of the Holy Spirit.
Today, however, there has been so many misconceptions about confession. You hear many notions. “My priest told me I only have to go when it’s serious.” “I didn’t think I sinned.” “Why do I have to confess to a priest, why not just go to God?” “I’m ashamed of telling my sins to Father, he might think bad of me.” While these are prevalent thoughts today there is nothing that cannot be overcome.
The first reason we should go to Confession is to please God. Many people look at secondary aspects but the reason why we are created—-is to love and adore God. Therefore, if we love God we want to first and foremost please him. Secondarily, we may experience psychological peace and fulfill our duty to God.
A person may receive the sacrament of Penance frequently to not only please God but help them overcome a mortal sin through grace. There may be various weaknesses and bad habits and perverse inclinations, or the struggle of inordinate desires and self love. Therefore, we should be anxious to purify the soul through confession and keep our will striving for perfect union with God. Frequent confessions are good.
There are several points to making a good confession. First, we must make an examination of conscience. Ancient monks always regarded daily examination of conscience as essential to holiness. A daily examination reflects our choice of sin. Our reflection makes the examination in light of the ten commandments. Second, we confess our sins. The actual confession is the place where we tell our sins and receive grace. Third, we have a contrite heart. Without a contrite heart we cannot receive forgiveness or absolution. We must be heartfelt in being sorry for our sins. This implies that we make an amends not to sin again. Finally, we make satisfaction for our sins. The prayer and penance given in confession help us to mend up what was lost by sin. Works of penance are give by the priest and they become satisfaction that remit the temporal punishment. Let us follow Christ more deeply this Advent.
