Finding God’s Love in the Sacrament of Confession
Is the Sacrament of Confession a sacrament that you avoid receiving, yet you feel unburdened and freer after you have gone to Confession? Yep. We know it is good for us, yet we can tend to avoid going.
Once, a priest we know told me that the Sacrament of Confession was his favorite sacrament. I was initially surprised when he told me this, but when he explained why it was his favorite, it made perfect sense: this sacrament is where we reconcile ourselves with God and He cleanses our soul of sin. That is a very good thing!
You may like this article on Confession in Scripture.
Why do we have the Sacrament of Confession?
The short answer is that Jesus established this sacrament. In John 20: 22-23, Jesus appeared to the Apostles after He had risen from the dead:
“Then He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven them; if you hold them bound, they are held bound.”
Even before Jesus gave these instructions, we can look back in the Old Testament (see Leviticus 4) and see the sin offerings God instructed the Jews to make. This shows us how God has always provided a way for us to reconcile with Him.
In God’s great love for us, He makes sure we know how to reconcile with Him so we can live the best life possible.
What is Confession?
Put simply, this sacrament, also known as the Sacrament of Penance, is the sacrament in which sins we have committed are forgiven.
We should be truly sorry for our sins and plan not to commit a sin again. We need to be sincere in our regret over our sins because without this, is our confession true?
We don’t like it when our kids say, “I’m sorry,” and not mean it. The same goes for us and God; we need to mean it when we say, “I’m sorry” to God. If we aren’t sure if we are truly sorry for something we did that we know is wrong, we can pray and ask God to help us to be sorry for our sin.
Jesus is the one who forgives us, not the priest. The priest is physically present, acting as Christ’s representative on earth. He hears our confession, talks with us, and gives us our penance. He speaks the words of absolution and our sins are forgiven by God.
You may like the video Why Confess My Sins to a Priest? by Fr. Mike Schmitz.
Benefits of going to Confession.
Reconciliation with God.
When we are reconciled with God, we can live our purpose better. We do not have the weight of sin on our souls anymore. Our souls are clean and unblemished once again.
Sin in our lives is like having roadblocks on our path with God. When the road we are traveling is blocked, we either have a difficult time going by the blockages, or we take a detour on another road.
If I am walking with God and I divert to another path due to my sins, I move further and further away from God’s influence in my life. It is then easier to make even more decisions (aka sins) that will lead me even further away from Him.
When I go to Confession, God clears away all those roadblocks in my life. I can see my next steps more clearly and I have fewer distractions in my way.
More grace in our lives.
When we receive an of the sacraments, we receive grace. Grace is help from God to live our lives more closely united to Him. Grace is spiritual strength to live out our vocation and accomplish the work God has called us to in our lives. More grace to strengthen us spiritually is a great thing to have!
To read some accounts that explain grace and the Sacrament of Confession, see “The Healing Grace of Sacramental Confession.”
We are loved.
God Father loves us. He wants to do everything He possibly can so that we can live with Him in Heaven when our time on earth is complete. In the Sacrament of Confession, also called the Sacrament of Reconciliation, God invites us to share our true selves with Him and unburden ourselves of our sins that have drawn us away from Him and from others.
God invites up to this sacrament to heal us and to make us whole again so that we can live in closer union with Him. He extends this invitation to us, but He leaves it up to us whether or not to take it. It is up to us to say, “Yes,” to God.
Finding God’s Love in the Sacrament of Confession
Are you ready to find God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation?
He is waiting for you.
Recently a priest said that people say they repeat the same sins with each Confession so why bother going. He said it is like cleaning the windows. It is the same dust and dirt each time you clean, yet you need to clean to be able to see more clearly.
Thank you for sharing. That is such a good point! It is important that we go to the Sacrament of Confession regularly and not avoid it.