In your accustomed loving kindness, O Lord, forgive this your servant…

WHAT IS HOLY CONFESSION?

Confession is also a God-instituted Sacrament, established by our Lord out of extreme goodness and love for man, so that man’s sins committed after Baptism might be remitted. For this reason the Sacraments is sometimes called a “Second Baptism.” Our Lord established and founded this Sacrament when He said to Peter: whatsoever you bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven (Matt 16:19). Furthermore, after His Resurrection, when granting the Holy Spirit to all of His Disciples, He said Receive the Holy Spirit: whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted, and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained (John 20:22-23). These words constitute the founding act of the divine Mystery.

WHY IS CONFESSION CALLED REPENTANCE?

It is called Repentance because it refers to the inner change of thought, mind and disposition of the individual. It is a complete recognition of responsibility and blame for all the evil that the sinner has committed such that he feels a sense of his own sinfulness and a deep sorrow and contrition of heart, even to pain and tears, for his sins and iniquities.

WHY IS IT CALLED 'CONFESSION'?

It is called Confession because the individual reveals his sins before his Spiritual Father, the Priest and celebrant of the Sacrament. This revelation is of his soul’s inner repentance, compunction and contrition, and his tearful and humble acknowledgment and confession of his guilt, and the seeking of divine mercy and of the remission of sins. This is a necessary part of the Sacrament in order to show true repentance for his transgressions. The enumeration of one’s deviations or moral transgressions and failings is necessary if the Spiritual Father is to assist him in turning away from behaviors, attitudes and ideas which have contributed to these transgressions. Without the Spiritual Father’s assistance, it is likely that the individual will fall again into the same sins and transgressions.

The Sacrament of Holy Chrismation confers upon us the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Christian armed with these gifts struggles all-powerfully and fights determinedly against evil, so that he may emerge victor to achieve the virtuous God-pleasing life. Therefore through Holy Chrismation he is strengthened and confirmed for a life of virtue, a new life, which he entered through Holy Baptism.

WHY IS IT CALLED 'CONFESSION'?

The forgiveness of sin is in God’s power alone, as he demonstrated with the curing of the Paralytic of Capernaum when he reproved the Scribes by saying, “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has power on Earth to forgive sins,” and then performed the miracle “he said to the paralytic, I say to you, Arise, and take up your bed, and go your way to your own house” (Mark 2:10-11). This is the Lord’s power – a divine and benevolent power which of course springs from His divinity, but also from His atoning sacrifice on the Cross which he offered for the forgiveness of sins of sinful humanity.The Sacrament of Holy Chrismation confers upon us the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Christian armed with these gifts struggles all-powerfully and fights determinedly against evil, so that he may emerge victor to achieve the virtuous God-pleasing life. Therefore through Holy Chrismation he is strengthened and confirmed for a life of virtue, a new life, which he entered through Holy Baptism.

WHY DOES CONFESSION REQUIRE A PRIEST-CONFESSOR?

Because the Lord transmitted this authority to His Apostles and to their successors, the Shepherds of the Church: Bishops and Priests. And only they, as canonical and lawful successors of the Apostles have the power to grant forgiveness and remission. This is elaborated beautifully by St. John Chrysostom who said, “For he did not say unto the Angels whatsoever you bind, etc. For those who rule over the earth have the power to bind, but only men’s bodies, but the authority to bind that we speak of touches the souls and transcends the heavens. And those things which the Priest works below, these does God certify and the decision of his servants does the Master confirm…for they have the authority not to verify the cure from leprosy of the body (as in the Old Testament), but the authority to completely release from the uncleanliness of the soul.” And St. Cyril of Alexandria states, “And in another manner do (the Spirit-bearing Fathers) remit and bind sins, by placing penance on the Church’s children who sin, and by forgiving those who repent.”

WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR TRUE FORGIVENESS?

The one who repents and confesses must display full and complete repentance, and in so doing receives pardon from the Priest. If he does not display the repentance he should, then the Priest may give penances, according to his discretion, such as fasting, the study of spiritual books and especially the reading of the Holy Scriptures, prayer and almsgiving. These have and educational and edifying character, and are not meant as a punishment, but are intended to assist the penitent to come to a complete realization of his sins and to display full repentance so that he may receive the full remission of his sins.