More About How Confession Helps Us Stay in Spiritual Shape
(We've been talking this week about spiritual discipline and how Confession helps us stay in spiritual shape. Here's a section of something we posted back on April 19, 2012 that's relevant to our discussion.)
When I get really busy at work, it spills over into the rest of my life. I get out early, get home late, am more tired when I get home, have to do work on weekends, get backed up with home chores - you probably know the drill. Sometimes, this even spills over into my spiritual life.
The worst spill-over has to be when you don't get to confession for a while. I have no excuse, because in Manhattan, lots of churches have confession every day, even during lunch hours. So it's really easy for me to get to confession when I get to daily Mass. But I know that in most places the only time confession is available is for an hour or so on a Saturday.
If you're reading this comment, you probably know how important - essential really - confession is to making any spiritual progress. But just in case you're really busy right now and time between confessions has slipped by, I wanted to share this passage from Psalm 32. It's good expression of why we need to get to confession. David, the author, is speaking of his own sins. Maybe he was referring to his famous sin with Bathsheba, or maybe just his sins in general. I don't know.
(Yes, I realize that David didn't "go to confession" the way we Catholics do. And I realize that confessing to someone else, albeit a priest, is sometimes daunting when you've really done something bad, which makes some of us put off confession. But if that's the case, just remind yourself that even those "little" sins that you don't mind so much confessing are nevertheless sins, and probably caused as much pain to Our Lord during His Passion as the ones you're embarrassed to confess - maybe more. The important thing to remember when you're reluctant to 'fess up because it's embarrassing is that confessing should spring from your sorrow for hurting Our Lord. Put your self-centered embarrassed feelings to the side, OK?)
From Psalm 32;
When you avoid confession, it gets to you. It wears you out inside. So just remember how simple confession really is: you sincerely confess your transgressions to the Lord and do so with the intention of not sinning again; Our Lord forgives you.
Sometimes I've thought that it would be so much easier to face my guilt if I didn't have to actually go into the box and speak out loud to a priest. Maybe you've felt this way too. But you have to remember that the priest just sits there in the place of Our Lord. You're confessing to the One Whom you directly wounded - yes, even crucified - with your sins. And realize that the Church - Holy Mother Church - provides the sacrament in just the form we know it for a reason. In the end, we unburden ourselves in a manner much more satisfying than what David had available to him, plus occasionally you find a priest confessor who makes a good suggestion or two on how to improve. (Of course, a good spiritual director would be even better.)
Anyway, I hope David's words encourage you to continue to get to confession on a regular basis.
When I get really busy at work, it spills over into the rest of my life. I get out early, get home late, am more tired when I get home, have to do work on weekends, get backed up with home chores - you probably know the drill. Sometimes, this even spills over into my spiritual life.
The worst spill-over has to be when you don't get to confession for a while. I have no excuse, because in Manhattan, lots of churches have confession every day, even during lunch hours. So it's really easy for me to get to confession when I get to daily Mass. But I know that in most places the only time confession is available is for an hour or so on a Saturday.
If you're reading this comment, you probably know how important - essential really - confession is to making any spiritual progress. But just in case you're really busy right now and time between confessions has slipped by, I wanted to share this passage from Psalm 32. It's good expression of why we need to get to confession. David, the author, is speaking of his own sins. Maybe he was referring to his famous sin with Bathsheba, or maybe just his sins in general. I don't know.
(Yes, I realize that David didn't "go to confession" the way we Catholics do. And I realize that confessing to someone else, albeit a priest, is sometimes daunting when you've really done something bad, which makes some of us put off confession. But if that's the case, just remind yourself that even those "little" sins that you don't mind so much confessing are nevertheless sins, and probably caused as much pain to Our Lord during His Passion as the ones you're embarrassed to confess - maybe more. The important thing to remember when you're reluctant to 'fess up because it's embarrassing is that confessing should spring from your sorrow for hurting Our Lord. Put your self-centered embarrassed feelings to the side, OK?)
From Psalm 32;
When I declared not my sin my body wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
I acknowledged my sin to thee
and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord;
then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin.
When you avoid confession, it gets to you. It wears you out inside. So just remember how simple confession really is: you sincerely confess your transgressions to the Lord and do so with the intention of not sinning again; Our Lord forgives you.
Sometimes I've thought that it would be so much easier to face my guilt if I didn't have to actually go into the box and speak out loud to a priest. Maybe you've felt this way too. But you have to remember that the priest just sits there in the place of Our Lord. You're confessing to the One Whom you directly wounded - yes, even crucified - with your sins. And realize that the Church - Holy Mother Church - provides the sacrament in just the form we know it for a reason. In the end, we unburden ourselves in a manner much more satisfying than what David had available to him, plus occasionally you find a priest confessor who makes a good suggestion or two on how to improve. (Of course, a good spiritual director would be even better.)
Anyway, I hope David's words encourage you to continue to get to confession on a regular basis.
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