10 Ways to Make a Better Confession.
By Father Gil Pierre
Examine your Conscience. The first step for a good confession is to examine your conscience for sins committed since your last confession. This should happen in a spirit of prayer before coming to Confession. If you have trouble thinking of sins, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the sins you should confess.
Be not afraid! There can often be a spirit of fear surrounding the Sacrament of Confession. We can often think that the priest will be shocked by our sins or that our sins are too bad to say out loud. As someone who sits on the other side of the confessional, I will tell you that I am rarely shocked by what I hear. The devil is not creative and tends to use the same temptations. Don’t let fear stand in the way of a good confession!
Don’t worry about knowing exactly what to do. If you have trouble remembering how to go to confession, simply tell the priest. He will be happy to walk you through the process.
Make a complete confession. The Church asks us to make a complete confession. This means that we should confess all of our mortal sins in number and in kind. That means naming the specific sin and saying around how many times we committed it. Venial sins may be confessed more generally and according to how often we struggle with them.
Be mindful of others. If there are more than a few people in line, then it is good to be mindful of not making too long of a confession. Of course there are good reasons to make a longer confession. You might be confessing after a long time away from the sacrament or may have committed a sin that needs some counsel.
Focus on confessing your own sins. Confession isn’t a time to talk about the sins of others. Focus on where you need God’s mercy the most and talk about that.
Limit stories. For most situations, stories aren’t necessary to convey the sinned being confessed. Brief explanations may be needed sometimes, but we should always stay focused on the sins we commit.
Don’t stress over repeated sins. Don’t worry about confessing the same sins again and again. Part of growing in the Christian life means conquering habitual sins. This takes time and we need to remember to be patient with ourselves.
Go to confession regularly. Confession becomes easier when you make it a regular part of your spiritual life.
Trust in God’s mercy! Confession is above all an encounter with God’s mercy. Trust that God has forgiven your sins and will provide you with His grace