Why Go To Confession?

Excerpts and Adaptations from the Pastoral Letter of Archbishop Bruno Forte.


Together, let us try to understand what Confession is: If you
really understand it, with your mind and heart, you will feel the
need and the joy of experiencing this encounter, in which God,
granting you his forgiveness through the ministry of the Church,
creates a new heart in you, puts a new Spirit in you, so that you can
live a life reconciled with Him, with yourself and with others, so
that you also will be able to forgive and love, beyond any
temptation to mistrust and weariness.

* * *

1. Why go to Confession?

Among the questions posed to bishops, I choose one that I am
often asked: Why must one go to Confession? It is a question that
is posed again in many ways. Why go to a priest to tell one's sins
and not do so directly to God, who knows and understands us
much better than any human interlocutor?

And, in a more radical way, why speak of my affairs, especially of
those that even I myself am ashamed of, to someone who is a
sinner like me, and who perhaps assesses my experience in a
completely different way than I do, or doesn't understand it at all?
What does he know about a sin for me? And some add: Does sin
really exist or is it only an invention of priests so that we will
behave well?

I think I can answer this last question right away and without fear
of being refuted: Sin exists, and not only is it wrong but it does
evil. It suffices to look at the daily scene of the world, where
violence, wars, injustices, abuses, egoisms, jealousies and
vengeance burst out regularly.

He who believes in the love of God, moreover, perceives that sin is
love that falls back on itself ("amor curvus," closed love),
ingratitude of the one who responds to love with indifference and
rejection. This rejection has consequences not only in the one who
lives it, but also in the whole society, to the point of producing
conditions of egoisms and violence that become authentic
"structures of sin" (think of social injustices, of the inequality
between rich and poor countries, of the scandal of hunger in the
world ?).

Precisely because of this, one must not hesitate to emphasize the
tragedy of sin and how the loss of the sense of sin -- very different
from that sickness of soul that we call "guilt feeling" -- weakens
the heart in the face of the spectacle of evil and the seductions of
Satan who tries to separate us from God.

2. Experience of Forgiveness

Despite all this, however, I do not think I can say that the world is
evil and that it is useless to do good. On the contrary, I am
convinced that good exists and is much greater than evil, that life
is beautiful and that to live correctly for love and with love is really
worthwhile.

The profound reason that leads me to think this way is the
experience of God's mercy that I feel in myself and that I see shine
in so many humble people: It is an experience that I have lived
many times, both giving forgiveness as minister of the Church, as
well as receiving it.

The joy stems from feeling myself loved in a new way by God,
every time that his forgiveness reaches me through the priest who
gives it to me in his name. It is the joy I have seen often on the face
of those coming to Confession: not the futile sense of relief of the
one who has "emptied the sack" (Confession is not a psychological
relief or a consoling meeting, at least not primarily), but the peace
of feeling well "within" oneself, touched in the heart by a love that
cures, that comes from above and transforms us.

To ask for forgiveness with conviction, to receive it with gratitude
and to give it with generosity is a source of great peace: Because of
this, it is right and beautiful to go to Confession.

3. Confess to a priest?

You then ask: Why must one confess one's sins to a priest and not
do so directly to God? Of course, one always addresses God when
confessing one's sins. However, that it is also necessary to do so to
a priest is something that God himself makes us understand: In
sending his Son with our flesh, he shows he wants to encounter us
through a direct contact that passes through the signs and
language of our human condition.

Just as He came out of Himself for love of us and has come to
"touch us" with his flesh, we are also called to come out of
ourselves for love of Him and to go with humility and faith to him
who can give us pardon in his name with word and gesture. Only
the absolution of sins that the priest gives in the sacrament can
communicate the interior certainty of having been truly forgiven
and received by the Father who is in Heaven, because Christ has
entrusted to the ministry of the Church, the power to bind and to
loose, to exclude and admit in the Covenant community (cf.
Matthew 18:17).

It is Jesus, who, risen from death, said to the Apostles: "Receive the
Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you
retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:22-23).
Therefore, to go to Confession to a priest is very different from
doing so in the secret of one's heart, exposed to so many
uncertainties and ambiguities that fill life and history.

You will never know absolutely if what has touched you is the grace
of God or your emotion, if you have forgiven yourself or if He has
forgiven you in the way He chose. Absolved by the one the Lord
has chosen and sent as minister of forgiveness, you will be able to
experience the freedom that only God gives and understand why
going to Confession is a source of peace.

4. A God close to our weakness

Confession therefore is the encounter with divine forgiveness,
which is offered to us in Jesus and transmitted to us through the
ministry of the Church. In this effective sign of grace, meeting with
endless mercy, we are offered the face of a God who knows our
human condition and comes close to it with very tender love.

Innumerable episodes in the life of Jesus demonstrate this to us,
from the meeting with the Samaritan woman to the healing of the
paralytic, from the forgiveness of the adulteress to the tears in the
face of the death of his friend Lazarus. ? We have immense need
of this tender and compassionate closeness of God, as a simple
glance at our existence also shows: Each one of us lives with his/
her own weakness, goes through sickness, draws near to death, is
aware of the challenge of the questions that all this poses to our
heart.

No matter how much we wish to do good, the frailty that
characterizes us all, exposes us continually to the risk of falling
into temptation. The Apostle Paul described this experience with
precision: "I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not
do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do" (Romans
7:24).

It is the interior conflict from which is born the invocation: "Who
will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24). To it
responds in a special way the sacrament of forgiveness, which
comes to rescue us always again in our condition of sin, reaching
us with the healing power of divine grace and transforming our
heart and our behavior.

Because of this, the Church does not tire of proposing the grace of
this sacrament to us during the whole journey of our lives: Through
it Jesus, true heavenly physician, takes charge of our sins and
accompanies us, continuing his work of healing and salvation. As
happens in every love story, also the Covenant with the Lord must
be tirelessly renewed: Faithfulness is the ever-new desire of the
heart that gives itself and receives the love offered it, until the day
that God will be all in all.

5. Stages of the encounter with forgiveness

Precisely because it was desired by a profoundly "human" God, the
encounter with mercy that Jesus offers us takes place in several
stages, which respect the seasons of life and of the heart. At the
beginning, is listening to the Good News, in which you hear the call
of the Beloved: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at
hand; repent and believe in the Gospel" (Mark 1:15).

Through this voice the Holy Spirit acts in you, giving you docility to
consent and believe in the Truth. When you are docile to this voice
and decide to respond with your whole heart to Him who calls you,
you undertake the journey that takes you to the greatest gift, a gift
that is so valuable that it leads Paul to say: "We beseech you on
behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God!" (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Reconciliation is precisely the sacrament of the encounter with
Christ who, through the ministry of the Church, comes to help the
weakness of the one who has betrayed or rejected the Covenant
with God; he reconciles him with the Father and with the Church,
he re-creates him as a new creature in the strength of the Holy
Spirit.

This sacrament is also called the sacrament of penance, because in
it is expressed man's conversion, the way of the heart that repents
and comes to invoke the forgiveness of God.

The term confession -- used normally -- refers instead to the act
of confessing one's faults to the priest but it also recalls the triple
confession that must be made to live in fullness the celebration of
the reconciliation: the confession of praise ("confessio laudis"), with
which we remember the divine love that precedes and accompanies
us, recognizing its signs in our lives and thus better understanding
the gravity of our fault; the confession of sin, with which we
present our humble and repentant heart to the Father,
acknowledging our sins ("confessio peccati"); the confession of
faith, finally, with which we open ourselves to forgiveness that
liberates and saves, which is offered to us with the absolution
("confessio fidei").

In turn, the gestures and words in which we express the gift that
we have received will acknowledge in life the wonders realized in
us by the mercy of God.

6. Celebration of the encounter

In the history of the Church, penance has been lived in a great
variety of ways, communal and individual, which nevertheless have
maintained all the fundamental structure of the personal encounter
between the repentant sinner and the living God, through the
mediation of the ministry of the Bishop or the priest.

Through the words of the absolution, pronounced by a man who is
a sinner who, however, has been chosen and consecrated for the
ministry, it is Christ himself who receives the repentant sinner and
reconciles him with the Father and in the gift of the Holy Spirit,
renews him as a living member of the Church.

Reconciled with God, we are received in the life-giving communion
of the Trinity and receive in ourselves the new life of grace, the
love that only God can infuse in our hearts: The sacrament of
forgiveness thus renews our relationship with the Father, with the
Son and with the Holy Spirit, in whose name we are given
absolution from our faults.

As the parable of the Father and the two sons shows, the encounter
of reconciliation culminates in a banquet of tasty dishes, in which
one participates with a new robe, a ring and shoes on one's feet
(cf. Luke 15:22f): images that express all the joy and beauty of the
gift offered and received. Truly, to use the words of the Father in
the parable, "let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead,
and is alive again; he was lost, and is found" (Luke 15:24).

7. Return to the Father's House

In relation to God the Father, penance presents itself as a "return
home" (this is in fact the meaning of the word "teshuva" which the
Hebrew uses to say "conversion"). Through becoming aware of your
faults, you realize you are in exile, far from the homeland of love:
You feel ill at ease, sorrow, because you understand that sin is a
rupture of the Covenant with the Lord, a rejection of his love, it is
"unloved love," and because of this is also a source of alienation,
because sin uproots us from our true dwelling, the Father's heart.

It is then that we need to remember the house in which we are
awaited: Without this memory of love we would never have the
necessary confidence and the hope to make the decision to return
to God. With the humility of the one who knows he is not worthy of
being called "son," we can decide to call at the door of the Father's
house. What a surprise to realize he is at the window scrutinizing
the horizon because he has been waiting for a long time for our
return!

To our open hands, to our humble and repentant heart, responds
the free offer of forgiveness with which the Father reconciles us
with himself, "converting us" in some way to ourselves: "While he
was still at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and
ran and embraced him and kissed him" (Luke 15:20). With
extraordinary tenderness, God introduces us in a renewed way to
the condition of sons, offered by the Covenant established in Jesus.

8. Encounter with Christ, Dead and Risen for Us

In relation to the Son, the sacrament of Reconciliation offers us the
joy of the encounter with Him, the crucified and risen Lord, who
through His Pasch, gives us the new life, infusing His Spirit in our
hearts. This encounter takes place through the journey that leads
each one of us to confess our faults with humility and sorrow for
our sins, and to receive forgiveness with gratitude full of wonder.

United to Jesus in His death and on the Cross, we die to sin and to
the old self that has triumphed in Him. His blood shed for us
reconciles us with God and with others, demolishing the wall of
enmity that keeps us prisoners of our solitude without hope and
without love. The force of His resurrection reaches us and
transforms us; the Risen One touches our heart, makes it burn in
us with new faith, opens our eyes and makes us able to recognize
Him beside us, and His voice in which there is need for us.

All our life as sinners, united to Christ crucified and risen, is
offered to the mercy of God to be healed of anguish, freed from
the weight of guilt, confirmed in the gifts of God and renewed in
the power of His victorious love. Liberated by the Lord Jesus, we
are called to live like Him, in freedom from fear, guilt and the
seductions of evil, to accomplish works of truth, justice and peace.

9. New Life in the Spirit

Thanks to the gift of the Spirit that diffuses in us the love of God
(cf. Romans 5:5), the sacrament of Reconciliation is a source of
new life, renewed communion with God and with the Church, of
which, in fact, the Spirit is the soul and the force of cohesion.

It is the Spirit that drives the forgiven sinner to express in life the
peace received, accepting above all the consequences of the fault
committed and the so-called punishment, which is like the effect
of the sickness represented by sin and which must be regarded as
a wound to be healed with the oil of grace and the patience of love
that we must have toward ourselves.

The Spirit then helps us to build a firm intention to undertake a
journey of conversion consisting of concrete commitments of
charity and prayer: the penitential sign required by the confessor
serves precisely to express this choice. The new life to which we
are reborn, can show more than anything else, the beauty and the
force of forgiveness invoked and received always anew
("forgiveness" means precisely renewed gift: to forgive is to give
infinitely!).

I ask you, then, why do without such a great gift? Draw near to
Confession with a humble and contrite heart and live it with faith: It
will change your life and give peace to your heart. Then your eyes
will open to recognize the signs of the beauty of God present in
creation and in history and from your soul will rise a song of
praise.

And to all the priests who read this letter and like me are a minister
of forgiveness, I would like to address an invitation that springs
from my heart: Be always willing -- in season and out of season --
to proclaim mercy to all, and to grant forgiveness to those who ask
it of you. For that person asking, it might be their one special hour
of God in their life!

10. Let Us Be Reconciled with God

Thus the invitation of the Apostle Paul becomes an invitation for all
of us: "be reconciled with God."

I think we must echo the voice of St. Francis of Assisi, who
expressed the truth of a renewed life by the grace of forgiveness
by praying: "Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace: where
there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where
there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine
Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to
console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to
love with all my soul."

These are the fruits of Reconciliation, invoked and heard by God,
that we share as his children. Let us open our hearts to them.

For an Examination of Conscience

If possible, prepare yourself for confession with regularity, not
allowing too much time to pass. Prepare your confession in a
climate of prayer, responding to these questions under the gaze of
God, seeing him as the one you can go to for help to progress
more quickly along the path of the Lord.

1. "You shall not have other gods besides me" (Deuteronomy 5:7).
"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your
soul, and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37).

Do I love God like this? Do I give him the first place in my life? Do I
eagerly reject all idols that could get between him and me, be it
money, pleasure, superstition, or power? Do I listen with faith to
his Word? Do I persevere in prayer?

2. "You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in
vain" (Deuteronomy 5:11).

Do I respect the holy name of God? Do I abuse him in my
references to him, offending him, or making use of him, instead of
serving him? Do I bless God in each one of my actions? Do I
surrender myself without reserve to his will for me, trusting
entirely in him? Do I entrust myself with humility and confidence to
the guidance and teaching of the pastors which the Lord has given
to his Church? Do I make an effort to deepen and strengthen my
life of faith?

3. "Take care to keep holy the Sabbath day as the Lord, your God,
commanded you" (Deuteronomy 5: 12-15).

Do I make Sunday the center of my week, beginning with the most
important moment, the celebration of the Eucharist? Do I use it,
and the other days consecrated to the Lord, to praise and give
thanks to God, to entrust myself to him and take rest in him? Do I
participate faithfully and actively in the liturgy, preparing myself
beforehand with prayer, and making the effort to obtain its fruits
during the entire week? Do I sanctify the holy day with some act of
love toward the needy?

4. "Honor your father and your mother" (Deuteronomy 5:16).

Do I love and respect those who have given me life? Do I make the
effort to understand and help them, above all in their weaknesses
and limits?

5. "Thou shalt not kill" (Deuteronomy 5:17).

Do I make the effort to respect and promote life in all of its stages
and aspects? Do I do everything in my power to promote the good
of the others? Have I done evil to someone with the explicit
intention of doing it?

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39).

How do I live charity toward my neighbour? Am I attentive and
available, above all with the poorest and weakest? Do I love myself,
knowing how to accept my limits under the gaze of God?

6. "You shall not commit impure acts" (cf. Deuteronomy 5:18). "You
shall not covet your neighbor's wife" (Deuteronomy 5:21).

Am I chaste in thoughts and actions? Do I make the effort to love
with gratitude, free of the temptation to possess or be jealous? Do I
always respect the dignity of the human person? Do I treat my body
and the bodies of others as a temple of the Holy Spirit?

7. "You shall not steal" (Deuteronomy 5:19). "You shall not desire
your neighbor's goods" (Deuteronomy 5:21).

Do I respect the goods of creation? Am I honest in my work and in
my relations with my neighbor? Do I respect the fruit of others'
labor? Am I envious of the goods of the others? Do I make an effort
to make others happy, or do I only think of myself?

8. "You shall not bear dishonest witness against your
neighbor" (Deuteronomy 5:20).

Am I sincere and loyal in each word and action? Do I always speak
only the truth? Do I try to give confidence and act in a way that
inspires confidence in the others?

9. Do I make an effort to follow the example of Christ in my life of
surrender to God and my neighbor? Do I try to be like him: humble,
poor and chaste?

10. Do I faithfully find the Lord in the sacraments, in fellowship,
and in service to the poor? Do I live with hope in eternal life, seeing
each thing under the light of God, always trusting in his promises?