5 Great Reasons to Go to Confession Tomorrow (and Often)
- Sin aggravates you. Sin leads to depression because it isn’t just an arbitrary violation of rules: It’s a violation of the purpose built into our being by God. Confession lifts the guilt and anxiety caused by sin and heals you.
- We need to say it.
If you break a favorite item belonging to a friend, you would never be satisfied just feeling regret. You would feel compelled to explain what you did, express your sorrow, and do whatever is necessary to set things right.
It is the same when we break something in our relationship with God. We need to say we’re sorry, and try to fix it.
3. Confessing helps you know yourself. Confession forces us to look at our lives objectively, separate the real sins from the bad feelings and see ourselves as we really are.
As Pope Benedict XVI put it: “Confession helps us to make our consciences more alert, more open and hence, it also helps us to mature spiritually and as human persons.”
4. Confession helps children. Confession can give children a place to unburden themselves without fear, and a place to get kindly adult advice when they are worried about speaking to their parents. A good examination of conscience can guide children toward appropriate things to confess. Many families make confession an outing, followed up with ice cream.
5. Confession is a personal encounter with Christ.
In confession, it’s Christ who heals and forgives us, through the ministry of the priest. We have a personal encounter with Christ in the confessional.
