Confession: The Sacrament of Reconciliation

The Sacrament of Reconciliation: An Ocean of Mercy

"When you go to confession, to this fountain of mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul" (Jesus to St. Faustina-Diary #1602)

From the Secular Carmelite Rule:

The Secular Carmelite will, in addition, have a great esteem for the Sacrament of Penance, or Reconciliation and practice, as far as possible, acts of traditional Christian piety laid down by special statute for local observance.

Our society, in general, suffers from a lack of the sense of sin. As Catholics we can witness this each weekend when we see multitudes approaching the Eucharist and only a few souls in line for confession on a Saturday afternoon.

The Carmelite is called to be a witness, that small voice crying out in the wilderness, to the great graces of healing in this powerful sacrament. We are called to have a "great esteem" for this sacrament. That should mean that we do not approach it with a matter-of-fact attitude, but also at the same time approach it simply and straightforward.

It's a good idea to examine our conscience in light of the fact of our vocation as a Carmelite. We can ask ourselves:

*Have I been faithful to praying the liturgy of the Hours?

*Have I been faithful to mental prayer?

*Have I been faithful to spiritual reading?

*Have I lived according to the Beatitudes?

*Have I shown love, mercy, and forgiveness as God has shown it to me?

As I said, we should approach this sacrament simply. It is not necessary to elaborate and give detail upon detail. The learned Fr. Thomas Dubay, in his book Deep Conversion Deep Prayer states that the penitent should be brief, clear and accurate.

In Fr. Dubay's own words:

The first is that the penitent confess guilt, not mere feelings or mistakes--as we have already explained. The second is that one avoids mentioning the failings and faults of others, for example, the other person's part in an argument, what they did or said that triggered the penitent's outburst of anger. ..Thirdly, one should confess only the essentials of the sin, not a history of what took place, not unnecessary details. Lastly, do not repeat two or three times what has already been said once. If something is not clear the confessor can ask about it. (Deep Conversion Deep Prayer, Pg. 115)

Fr. Dubay also talks about the problem of Prolixity (verbose, long-winded). This is an excellent paragraph in the chapter, and I would highly recommend it. To give you some idea of his thought, he is talking about the people who have a real need to talk about themselves. They see other people waiting in line, perhaps even a long line for confession and they proceed to take undue amounts of time in the confessional.

Here is a teaching on the subject from St. Claude de la Colombiere, the spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary of the Sacred Heart devotion:

Half an hour a month in which to give an account of your prayer and disposition should suffice and would be real direction: for it is mere waste of time and real illusion to expect endless visits which recommence daily; self is satisfied, and self is distracted by so much talk, but God is left alone and it is with him alone that we ought to try and be united.

We must take care not to be so occupied with our self that we try to interest everyone in our soul, while at the same time we do not think of God who alone ought to occupy our love, so that we go to him with simplicity, without so much thought of self and without bothering others by so much talk about our self.

Let's pray for ourselves-to humbly confess our sins and with God's grace begin anew the quest for holiness. Let us pray for others who are away from the Church and the sacraments.

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, ocds