Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30
The sacrament of reconciliation also called confession or penance, is the sacrament where we receive and experience the forgiveness of God. By this sacrament by the infinite Mercy of the Lord, we are freed from our sin.
Our Saviour Jesus Christ, when he gave to his apostles and their successors power to forgive sins, instituted in his Church the sacrament of penance. Its purpose is that the faithful who fall into sin after baptism may be reconciled with God through the restoration of grace. The Church 'possesses both water and tears: the water of baptism, the tears of penance.’ (The Rite of Penance 16, 17)
We confess during a meeting with a priest, we begin by making a sign of the Cross in order to put ourselves in the presence of the Lord. Then comes the time to confide to the Lord - through the priest - our sins so that He may deliver us from them.
During the exchange, the priest can advise us not to fall again, then he gives forgiveness from God through the prayer of absolution.
The sacrament of reconciliation allows us to start “from scratch” and continue our journey with the certainty that God is by our side.
HOW TO MAKE A GOOD CONFESSION? (From the Rite of Penance)
The most important act of the penitent is contrition, which is 'heartfelt sorrow and aversion for the sin committed along with the intention of sinning no more 'Contrition' is a profound change of the whole person by which we begin to consider, judge, and arrange our life according to the holiness and love of God, made manifest in his Son in the last days and given to us in abundance'. Genuineness of penance depends on this heartfelt contrition. For conversion should affect a person from within toward a progressively deeper enlightenment and an ever-closer likeness to Christ.