A 16th Sunday after Pentecost Thought: Why Confession Should Not Be Difficult

Circling back to our two initial posts about Confession from Father Alfred Wilson's Pardon and Peace, on this 16th Sunday after Pentecost:

“The Sacrament of Penance was instituted to make reparation for sin easier, not to make it more difficult. The inspiration of Confession is mercy not justice. It is remedial not revengeful. To have other thoughts about it, is to insult the mercy of God and regard Jesus as a task-master. Let us never lose sight of the fact that Confession is meant to be a help not a bugbear. It is evident that confession to a fellow-man can never be easy, and may be extremely difficult, if there is a shameful tale to tell. From the nature of the case, Confession is a burden. It is unthinkable that our Savior would add unnecessarily to the natural difficulties of Confession. He was indignant with the Pharisees because they ‘bound heavy and insupportable burdens and laid them on men’s shoulders.’ It would be implicit blasphemy to presume that He has followed their vicious example. A law which is too severe for ordinary mortals is no law at all. Instead of being ‘an ordinance of reason for the common good,’ which is the definition and purpose of law, an excessively severe law would be a stumbling-block to the common detriment. If Confession were made too difficult, it would be not a help but a terrifying bugbear. The burden would then be insupportable, and the remedy worse than the disease. It is safe to presume, therefore, that our Savior has not added to the inevitable intrinsic difficulties of Confession. It is impossible to visualize Him piling on the agony. Better for Him not have instituted Confession at all than to have done that. Better to have left us free to confess directly to God in secret. He would defeat His own purpose if He made Confession unnecessarily difficult. The burden was imposed to be a blessing in the long run. Unnecessary requirements would be unnecessary sources of anxiety and insecurity, tending to make Confession a sacrament of strain and worry instead of a sacrament of peace. Let us not defeat our Savior’s merciful designs by approaching Confession as though it were the imposition of a prosecuting-attorney anxious to trap us into further mistakes. We must be careful not to hurt our Savior by want of trust. If we make Confession a botheration, we are not using it properly, because we are not using it according to the mind of Christ.”

A "Sacrament of peace": Let this sink in. 

It's hard enough to simply get to Confession these days. It's hardly available outside of a a few minutes before the anticipated Mass Saturday evenings in many if not most parishes. But if we see Confession as something difficult, a source of anxiety, we'll easily forego even those scant moments when it's offered to us.

Instead, we find here a certain logic that relocates Confession from being, as Father puts it, a "bugbear" to a source of peace. Sure, it can be difficult to spit out certain sins to another human, as Father points out. But if we understand why Our Lord instituted this Sacrament as He did, we may find solace and strength to overcome that difficulty.

Now, it's likely that Sunday Confessions are not available where you are, unless your parish offers Confession before and during Sunday Mass - a very rare practice these days. But if we're observing Sunday as Our Lord designed it - a Day of Rest - we might take advantage of a restful interval in our busy lives and not simply read Father Wilson's words, but re-read them, think about them, meditate on them. It won't take long - what, 5-10 minutes?

And with that, we can allow the true nature of Confession to work it's way into our minds and hearts, resulting it - you guessed it - a desire to get to Confession soon. Even better, to develop the habit of regular Confession.

Sure, it's likely going to be challenging with the current sparse offerings out there. But we can at least do our best, given our individual circumstances - to get to Confession more than once in a blue moon.

It's important and we'll re-visit Father Wilson next week with more insights into the true nature of Confession.

Happy Sunday!