Guide to Confession
For a helpful guide to making a good Confession, please click here. What follows on this webpage is an online version of this Guide to Confession. We should examine our consciences daily, and then go to Confession regularly, as one of the spiritual practices that helps us grow in our relationship with Christ. For an overview of the importance of this Sacrament in our spiritual lives, please click here. The priest can always help you make a good Confession. Just ask him!
Never forget that we are forgiven sinners on the way to becoming saints. In order to stay the course, we need to examine our consciences daily, and go to Confession regularly. In this way, we avoid backsliding into our old ways, and recommit ourselves to following Christ more fully each day. The pursuit of holiness and the quest for perfection require constant vigilance and increasing sacrifice. For more about a Catholic Christian lifestyle, please click here.
This sacrament is known by several names: Confession, Penance, and Reconciliation. Do not let the terminology of this sacrament distract you from the blessings which come from it. Our Christian lives, begun in Baptism, perfected in Confirmation, and nourished by the Eucharist, are restored to grace in the sacrament of Confession, Penance, and Reconciliation. In our pursuit of holiness of life, this is a sacrament that focuses not on guilt as much as on growth.
How to Go to Confession
Confession Prayers. Begin with the Sign of the Cross, using these or similar words (your parts are in bold print).
“Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. My last confession was ____ ago. These are my sins: _____________.”
Finish confessing your sins with these or similar words:
“I am sorry for these sins and all the sins of my life, especially for the sin of ____.”
After receiving your assigned Penance from the priest, make an Act of Contrition, using these or similar words of sincere repentance:
“O my God, I am sorry and repent with all my heart for all the wrong I have done and for the good I have failed to do, because by sinning I have offended you, who are all good and worthy to be loved above all things. I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid the occasions of sin. Through the merits of the Passion of our Savior Jesus Christ, Lord, have mercy.”
When the Priest says the prayer of Absolution over you, make the Sign of the Cross at the end of his prayer, as he blesses you.
“Give Thanks to the Lord for he is good.” “For his mercy endures forever.” “The Lord has forgiven your sins. Go in peace.”
Examination of Conscience
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS: I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD. YOU SHALL NOT HAVE OTHER GODS BEFORE ME. YOU SHALL NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD YOUR GOD IN VAIN. REMEMBER TO KEEP HOLY THE LORD’S DAY. HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER. YOU SHALL NOT KILL. YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY. YOU SHALL NOT STEAL. YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST YOUR NEIGHBOR. YOU SHALL NOT COVET YOUR NEIGHBOR’S WIFE. YOU SHALL NOT COVET YOUR NEIGHBOR’S GOODS.
BIBLICAL CHALLENGES: “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, SOUL, MIND, AND STRENGTH; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” “LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU.” “BE PERFECT AS YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS PERFECT.” “IF YOU LOVE ME, KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS.”
DEADLY SINS AND SAVING VIRTUES: PRIDE VS. HUMILITY AND MEEKNESS, ENVY VS. KINDNESS AND GRATITUDE, GLUTTONY VS. FASTING AND MODERATION, LUST VS. CHASTITY AND SELF-CONTROL, ANGER VS. LONG-SUFFERING AND PATIENCE, GREED VS. GENEROSITY AND STEWARDSHIP, SLOTH VS. DILIGENCE AND FAITHFULNESS
THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH: ATTEND MASS ON SUNDAYS AND HOLYDAYS. FAST AND ABSTAIN ON THE DAYS APPOINTED. GO TO CONFESSION AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR. RECEIVE THE EUCHARIST DURING EASTER TIME. CONTRIBUTE TO THE SUPPORT OF THE CHURCH. FOLLOW THE MARRIAGE LAWS OF THE CHURCH.
THE SEVEN VIRTUES OF HOLY LIVING: PRUDENCE, JUSTICE, TEMPERANCE, FORTITUDE, FAITH, HOPE, LOVE.
PREPARATION FOR HOLY COMMUNION: BE FREE FROM MORTAL SIN THROUGH SACRAMENTAL CONFESSION. FAST FOR AT LEAST ONE HOUR
FROM FOOD AND DRINK, EXCEPT WATER AND MEDICINE.
Common Prayers for Penance
THE SIGN OF THE CROSS: IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN.
THE LORD’S PRAYER: OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED BE THY NAME. THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD, AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US. AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL. AMEN.
THE HAIL MARY: HAIL, MARY, FULL OF GRACE, THE LORD IS WITH THEE. BLESSED ART THOU AMONG WOMEN, AND BLESSED IS THE FRUIT OF THY WOMB, JESUS. HOLY MARY, MOTHER OF GOD, PRAY FOR US SINNERS, NOW AND AT THE HOUR OF OUR DEATH. AMEN.
THE GLORY BE: GLORY BE TO THE FATHER, AND TO THE SON, AND TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING, IS NOW AND EVER SHALL BE, WORLD WITHOUT END. AMEN.
After your Confession is Over, the Real Work begins!
After Confession, remember that doing your Penance means more than just saying some prayers. Doing Penance is the first step toward amending our lives. Although we have been forgiven from the eternal consequences of our sins, Amendment or Reconciliation means addressing the temporal damage of our sins as well, in charity and in justice! So, after Confession, complete your assigned Penance, worthily receive Holy Communion, and resolutely amend your life as a Catholic Chrisian believer. In conclusion: Be sorry for your sins, confess your sins, do your penance, receive Communion, amend your life, and then repeat!
Sacramental Confession is not the end, but the beginning of your renewed life in Christ. While Confession does indeed deal with guilt, it is even more concerned with growth in your spiritual life. Once we are forgiven, then the challenge of reconciliation becomes our focus. By not only amending our lives, but by addressing the collateral damage of our sins, we pursue both justice and charity as forgiven sinners who are on the way of becoming saints. The additional resources given below are designed to help you to make progress in the universal call to holiness in life, for the will of God is truly our sanctification.
Additional Resources
Mercy: For reflections on God’s mercy through the sacraments, please click here, and then click here to learn even more about God’s merciful love.
Amendment: For perspectives about the amendment of our lives as a result of the forgiveness received through confession, please click here.
Judgment: For information about God’s judgments as the standard for our conscience, ethical decisions, and moral lives in Christ, please click here.
Jesus Prayer: For an introduction to the Jesus Prayer, the noble ancient Prayer of the Heart from the earliest days of the church, please click here.
For some historical quotes from the early church about the importance of the sacrament of confession, please click here. Also, consult the Catechism as well. The forgiveness of sins through confession has always been an important part of the pastoral ministry of the church. When was your last confession?
As forgiven sinners who are on the way to becoming saints, regularly
confess your sins, do penance, receive Communion, and amend your lives.
For a helpful spiritual guide to making a good Confession, please click here.
For information about Confession times at nearby parishes, please click here.
If you are not Catholic, you may come to Confession to talk with the priest and receive a blessing.
Please ask the priest about how you can receive the sacraments of the Church as a Catholic Christian.
If you are not Catholic, but feel that God is calling you to receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church,
please click here for more information, because this means that God wants you to become a Catholic Christian.
