God Is Waiting for You to Approach Him – Part 1

Confession provides graces and serves as a wonderful opportunity for Catholics to experience God’s mercy. Sadly, the majority of today’s Catholics pass up this amazing opportunity. 

Some Catholics forego this Sacrament merely out of embarrassment. While others decline out of not understanding the importance of confessing one’s sins to a priest and not realizing the delight in the pureness the Sacrament creates. 

Every time we go to Confession – also referred to as the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Penance – we are bringing to our Almighty Father all the choices we made that kept us from loving Him and His people. If we have committed mortal sins (those of a grave or serious nature), we have separated ourselves entirely from the life and love of God and must ask to amend our relationship with Him. God then takes it from there. Being a heavenly Father who loves us, he absolves us of our sins.

Why Do Catholics Confess to a Person?

Many non-Catholics don’t understand why Catholics confess their sins to a human being instead of just going directly to God. To clarify, we indeed are to first silently converse directly with God and ask Him for mercy, but we also speak to a human. We do this for three reasons.

For one, it is a great act of humility to have to do this. The second reason we confess to a priest is because Jesus Himself bestowed this power of absolving sins on the Church’s first priests – his Apostles – as described in John 20:19–23:

 “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them…‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

The third reason is it imparts assurance when we hear the priest’s words, “May God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” In the privacy of your bedroom, you can talk to God in hopes that He will forgive your sins. In the confessional, you will receive verbal assurance of God’s forgiveness.

The Priest Is the Conduit

A Catholic priest is acting in persona Christi, which is Latin for meaning he is acting in the person of Christ. The priest is the human conduit of God’s mercy. It is our Lord to whom we are confessing our transgressions, but we do so through the priest. 

When we confess our sins to the priest, who stands in the name of the Church and Christ, our Lord takes our sins which are as dark as mud and makes them as white as snow. He offers to wash us clean, which is something we could never accomplish on our own. Through the suffering, death, and resurrection of His Son, God forgives us and restores our relationship with Him.

You shouldn’t think of the Sacrament of Confession/Reconciliation/Penance as confessing humiliating secrets to a priest. Instead, you should think of it as sincerely and humbly bringing your darkness into the light as you confess your sins to your Almighty Father and His Son. 

Go Regularly 

With Confession, you will feel great afterward, but eventually your human nature causes you to sin again, and it’s time for another trip to the confessional room. That’s why the suggestion for Catholics to return to the confessional monthly, or at least no longer than every two months, makes sense.

Of course, if one commits a grave or mortal sin, a smart move is not to wait until a month or two has passed before confessing this and receiving absolution, but to get to your parish as soon as possible.

Father Dave Nix touched on the necessity and frequency of confessing our sins to a priest thusly:

“If your body sustains a mortal injury, you usually die.  If your body sustains a non-mortal injury, the body usually self-heals.  Same with mortal sin versus venial sin but for the soul.  But considering the amount of unbaptized souls and the amount of Christians regularly committing grave sins, it’s not judgmental to say:  Most people on earth are walking around with dead souls inside living bodies.  So, if people could see this disgusting spiritual reality with physical eyes, we priests (who actually believe in salvation) would be doing baptisms and confessions 20 hours a day.”

The Benefits of Confessing Sins

The Church minimally requires Catholics to confess their sins to a priest at least once a year. However, if one were to ask those who go to Confession on a more regular basis than this, such as monthly, they would agree on how beneficial it is to be a recurrent participant in the Sacrament. 

Walking out of the barber shop or hair salon after the barber/stylist washed, cut, and styled your hair is comparable to walking out of the confessional booth. You feel great and with that perfect look, don’t want to mess up your do. But eventually your style does indeed get messy and your hair gets dirty, and so you have to make another trip to the shop/salon.

In a similar way but using a different analogy, Pope Benedict XVI said the following:

“It is very helpful to confess with a certain regularity. It is true: our sins are always the same, but we clean our homes, our rooms, at least once a week, even if the dirt is always the same, in order to live in cleanliness, in order to start again. Otherwise, the dirt might not be seen, but it builds up. Something similar can be said about the soul.” 

A clear conscience, a strengthened faith, and a holier persona than you had prior to Confession are the results of regularly confessing your sins to God.

If It’s Been a While Since You Last Went

It can be daunting to Catholics for whom it’s been many years since they’ve been to Confession. It can feel uneasy to admit they haven’t participated in the Sacrament for decades. There can be worry about not remembering the steps to take in making a good Confession. Furthermore, many find it shameful or awkward to name embarrassing sins.

The upcoming Part 2 will offer some directions for Catholics who haven’t been to confession for a long while. There is guidance to help people ease their minds and receive encouragement to get themselves in the confessional booth as soon as possible.