We would like to encourage all to take advantage of this infinite ocean of God’s mercy by frequenting this Sacrament often, with an excellent preparation and with a limitless trust in His Infinite mercy.
SANCTIFYING GRACE. By making a good sacramental confession, Jesus forgives mortal sins, through the person of the priest, and the state of sanctifying grace is restored to the soul. Once again the soul is alive!
HUMILITY. To examine one’s conscience, come to terms with his misery and dark shadows, to repent and then to go to the priest and sincerely open up one’s heart demands courage and much humility. But God loves the humble of heart.
SELF-KNOWLEDGE. By approaching the Sacrament of God’s mercy, after a thorough examination of conscience, and a humble expression of our sins to the priest, we arrive at greater self-knowledge. We get to know what makes our inner clock tick; we get to know our strong points, but we also get to know our own “Kryptonite”— that is to say, our own weakness. With this self-knowledge, we can avoid future moral pitfalls. Historians are well aware of this maxim: “He who does not know history is condemned to repeat the same errors.” With respect to
our spiritual life, if we do not know why, when, the reasons behind our falling in to sins, we are more than likely to fall into them again. This is the vicious cycle of repeating the same sins ad-infinitum!
BETTER HOLY COMMUNIONS! Saint Ignatius of Loyola, who encourages the making of a General Confession, also makes this observation. After making a good general confession, the individual is much more inclined to receiving Holy Communion with a much better disposition. An analogy! You clean your windows with WINDEX. Notice now how the sunlight will enter and inundate your room much more. Why? The reason is simple: the window is crystal clear. The sun has nothing to prevent it from penetrating and inundating the room to the fullest possible extent! Therefore, the purer the soul, the more abundant the light of God’s grace!
PEACE OF HEART, MIND AND SOUL. In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Lady Macbeth was not at peace and had to wash her hands over and over. This was symbolic of the cleansing of her conscience. Many people today live nervous, stressed out, tense, discouraged and depressed. Worse yet, they do not even know the reason for this anguished state of soul. The reason is simple and one word: SIN! Unconfessed sin that lodges in the depths of the heart, and torments the conscience takes away inner peace. Why not today pursue this inner peace by making a good sacramental Confession. The words of dismissal from the priest are most encouraging: “Your sins are forgiven. Go in peace!”
