Catechism of the Catholic Church
§ 1458 Without being strictly necessary, confession of everyday faults (venial sins) is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church. Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins helps us form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit. By receiving more frequently through this Sacrament the gift of the Father’s mercy, we are spurred to be merciful as He is merciful.
It was a divine initiative that brought us out of nothingness and into existence.
God is well aware that we carry within us the fault of our first parents and that we too are individual sinners. That is why the Father determined that the Word should become incarnate and allowed Him to be “put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Rom 4:25).
However, this God who created us without us does not want to save us without our co-operation.1 He asks of us the small effort of fighting against our evil inclinations, our faults, our failings, and repenting of them, begging forgiveness, because whoever confesses his faults and detests them will “obtain mercy” (Prv 28:13).
As St. Augustine explains, “because a man, so long as he bears the flesh, cannot but commit some sins, even though they be light.
But these sins which we call light, do not make light of them. If you make little of them when you weigh them, be fearful when you count them. Many light objects make a heavy mass: many drops of water fill a river; many grains make a mound. Where, then, is our hope? Before all, in Confession.”2
The Sacrament of Penance forgives all sins, however serious or numerous they may be. However, there is a widespread idea, which is completely erroneous, that we need to commit a serious offence in order to approach it.
Such thinking is absurd, because proper to this Sacrament are excellent graces that are valuable for our sanctification, and which we only receive when we make use of it.
These are especially graces of defence, of support, and of strength to fight sin, to resist temptation, and not to succumb because of human frailty – in a word, to persevere towards holiness!
We can demand these graces from God without presumption, by virtue of the infinite merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He wants us always to return joyfully to the sources of salvation (cf. Is 12:3), and we cannot without rashness renounce such divine help.3
Furthermore, sacramental absolution helps to form a brake in our soul to stop our heart when it wants to go astray, or to repress our disordered desires.
History shows that where Confession is abolished or relaxed, libertinism and licentiousness creep in, as people begin to live at the mercy of their bad tendencies and end up corrupting their morals.
Let us take advantage of this fountain of graces that has gushed forth from the side of Jesus opened by the lance, even if our conscience does not accuse us of any serious fault! ◊
Notes
1 Cf. ST. AUGUSTINE. Sermo 169, n.13.
2 ST. AUGUSTINE. In Epistolam Ioannis ad Parthos. Tractatus I, n.6.
3 BOURDALUE, SJ, Louis. Sermon pour le Treizième Dimanche après la Pentecôte. Sur la Confession. In: Œuvres. Paris: Firmin Didot Frères, 1840, t.II, p.130.
