28 — CONFESSION

Presence of God. — At the foot of Your Cross, O Jesus, I confess my sins and invoke upon myself the outpouring of Your Blood, that it may purify my soul.

Meditation

1 — Confession is the sacrament of Christ’s Blood, of which God - according to the expressive saying of St. Catherine of Siena - “has made us a bath to wash the face of our souls from the leprosy of sin.” If necessary matter of this sacrament is only mortal sins, venial sins are sufficient matter and all Catholic tradition insists on the usefulness of frequenting confession even for venial sins alone. But whoever, following this directive, practices weekly confession must watch attentively that, far from becoming a mechanical habit, his act be a true living act, that makes him capable of taking full profit from all the graces offered by this sacrament.

“Do not despise the Blood of Christ!” exclaims St. Catherine of Siena, and certainly he who does not despise it will not approach confession lightly. For this purpose it is useful to reflect that absolution is precisely the outpouring of the Precious Blood which, flooding and penetrating the soul, purifies it from sin, restores sanctifying grace if it has lost it, and increases it if it already possesses it. This remission of sin and production of grace is the fruit of Christ’s action, expressed in the formula the priest says in His name: “I absolve you...” At this moment Jesus is acting in the soul, both remitting sin and producing or increasing grace. And it is useful to remember that the efficacy of absolution is not limited only to sins committed, but extends also to the future, safeguarding the soul against relapses, offering it strength to resist temptations and to carry out good resolutions, and this through sacramental grace. In this sense the Blood of Christ is not only medicine for the past, but also preservative and strengthening for the future: the soul, immersed in it as in a salutary bath, draws from it new vigor and little by little sees in itself the force of passions extinguished.

Hence the importance of frequent confession for a soul that, longing for union with God, must necessarily aspire to total purification.

2 — When, at the tribunal of penance, a soul has to submit only venial sins, there is no need to concern itself with the integrity of accusation - as instead is required for mortal sins - that is, it is not necessary to enumerate all the venial faults that escaped it during the week; it is much more profitable that it fix its attention first on deliberate ones, then on semi-deliberate ones, even if they were simple imperfections, and denounce not only their external aspect, but also the interior motive. Although this is not in itself necessary for the validity of confession, it is certain that the more the accusation lays bare the root of evil, the more the soul will gain from it both for the act of humility accomplished and for the impulse to deeper repentance and to a livelier desire to correct itself, which logically derives from considering the very little noble motives on which, in general, our faults depend. Moreover, such an accusation will allow the confessor to know better the penitent’s weak points and therefore suggest the remedies best suited, something particularly important when direction is connected with confession. But even more than about accusation, the soul must concern itself with sorrow for its sins insofar as they are offense against God, infinite Goodness; that it be sorrow ex amore, proceeding from love, that is, repentance of the child who, more than thinking of his shame and deserved punishments, grieves over the displeasure caused to a Father who loves him so much and whose love he ought to return. Sorrow is so necessary for the validity of the sacrament that, if it were lacking, absolution would be null; and on the other hand, the more perfect sorrow is, the more absolution destroys not only sin, but also the temporal punishment contracted by it. The more the penitent brings to confession a contrite heart, the more the Blood of Jesus purifies him, renews him, enriches him with strength, charity, and grace.

Colloquy

“Sweet Jesus, Jesus love! To clothe us in the life of grace, You stripped Yourself of the life of Your body; on the wood of the most holy cross You stretched out Your body, so that it seemed a slaughtered lamb losing blood from every side. And in the Blood You recreated us to the life of grace.

“Sweet Jesus, my soul ardently desires to see itself all bathed and drowned in Your Blood... Because in the Blood I find the fountain of mercy; in the Blood, clemency; in the Blood, fire; in the Blood, pity; in the Blood justice is made for our faults; in the Blood mercy is satisfied; in the Blood our hardness is dissolved; in the Blood bitter things become sweet and great burdens light. And since, O Christ, in Your Blood virtues mature, inebriate and drown my soul in the Blood, that it may be clothed in true and real virtues” (St. Catherine of Siena).

O Jesus, if one drop alone of Your most precious Blood has the power to erase all the crimes of the world, what will not be worked in me when, at the moment of absolution, You pour it out with such abundance upon my poor soul? O Jesus, rekindle my faith and make me penetrate deeply the immense value of the sacrament of Your Blood. It is only Your Blood that washes me from sins, that purifies me from impurities, that heals and vivifies my soul. Oh, grant that this salutary laver may penetrate all my being and renew it all in Your grace, in Your love!

By the merits of Your Passion, grant me, O Lord, always to bring to the tribunal of penance a heart truly humble and contrite, an ever more perfect sorrow for my faults, an ever more sincere and profound detestation of everything that is offense against You, my God. Only thus Your Precious Blood, finding in me no attachment to sin, may wholly penetrate my soul, may wholly cleanse it, wholly renew it, wholly vivify it. O Jesus, grant that Your Blood bear in me all its fruit!