Confession

Since I’ve been thinking about spiritual disciplines lately, I feel compelled to examine the practice of confession. I was raised in the Catholic Church, and I used to go to confession regularly. I must confess that I never got much out of it! So eventually, I stopped the practice of going and reciting the same five sins to a priest. Every so often, I examine my conscience and ask God to forgive and cleanse me. This has felt satisfactory till now.

Every year around this time, we get a thick envelope from our accountant. It’s full of paperwork that we have to fill out for our taxes. It requires me to dig up all of last year’s receipts and forms. I always wonder why I need an accountant when I have to do most of the work before I even get to his office! I guess we use an accountant to make sure it’s done right, hoping he will catch our inadvertent omissions. A formal confession with a priest is a lot like meeting your accountant after you’ve dug up all the information. It prompts you to do what needs to be done. It keeps you accountable. 

Recently, I’ve had the urge to go do a real confession, or as we Catholics call it now, a Sacrament of Reconciliation.

 “As a sacrament of healing, Reconciliation addresses the disease (sinfulness) rather than the symptoms (sins). So, the sacrament calls us to more than prepared speeches or lists of sins. We are challenged to search deep into our heart of hearts to discover the struggles, value conflicts, and ambiguities (the disease) which cause the sinful acts (the symptoms) to appear.” (www.americancatholic.org)

Confession is only one part of healing. Repentance, transformation, and rededication are also just as important in the process. Once we acknowledge what has caused us to get off track, we turn back and get on the right path. As we walk with Jesus, we are transformed and reconsecrated.