Confession is probably one of the best graces of the catholic church. There is nothing like being in a room with your sin and feeling the weight of your sin while simultaneously feeling the fullness of God's grace hit you. No matter how much sin you drag in you can leave it all at the feet of Jesus. It's incredible.
A commonly misunderstood practice in the Catholic church, confession is a sacrament of grace. God's grace is all around us but it is specially poured out in the sacraments and it's something indescribable.
During advent many Catholics go to confession in preparation for Christmas. It's a beautiful time as we reflect on the WHY Jesus came, before we celebrate the WHAT, that we would be called to not only identify our need for a savior but take part in the gift that allows us to have an outpouring of His grace.
Many believe that catholics "confess to the priest" and if I could count the number of times people have tome me that they confess directly to Jesus I would run out of fingers and toes. The amazing things is, what many don't realize is I believe the same thing. I confess my sins to Jesus directly. He tore the veil in the holy of holiness in two and he paid for the gift of prayer. Of course, I would have been one of those people sure that catholics didn't know about the veil tearing and certain that I had a more personal relationship with my savior, but friends I stand corrected. I won't tell you what the church teaches but I'll let the catechism tell you.
VI. THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION
1440 Sin is before all else an offense against God, a rupture of communion with him. At the same time it damages communion with the Church. For this reason conversion entails both God's forgiveness and reconciliation with the Church, which are expressed and accomplished liturgically by the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.38
Only God forgives sin
1441 Only God forgives sins.39 Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, "The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" and exercises this divine power: "Your sins are forgiven."40 Further, by virtue of his divine authority he gives this power to men to exercise in his name.41
1442 Christ has willed that in her prayer and life and action his whole Church should be the sign and instrument of the forgiveness and reconciliation that he acquired for us at the price of his blood. But he entrusted the exercise of the power of absolution to the apostolic ministry which he charged with the "ministry of reconciliation."42 The apostle is sent out "on behalf of Christ" with "God making his appeal" through him and pleading: "Be reconciled to God."43
Reconciliation with the Church
1443 During his public life Jesus not only forgave sins, but also made plain the effect of this forgiveness: he reintegrated forgiven sinners into the community of the People of God from which sin had alienated or even excluded them. A remarkable sign of this is the fact that Jesus receives sinners at his table, a gesture that expresses in an astonishing way both God's forgiveness and the return to the bosom of the People of God.44
1444 In imparting to his apostles his own power to forgive sins the Lord also gives them the authority to reconcile sinners with the Church. This ecclesial dimension of their task is expressed most notably in Christ's solemn words to Simon Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."45 "The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of the apostles united to its head."46
The confession of sins
1455 The confession (or disclosure) of sins, even from a simply human point of view, frees us and facilitates our reconciliation with others. Through such an admission man looks squarely at the sins he is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible.
In summary: yes I confess directly to Christ. Yes I drag my sins to the feet of Jesus to have Him wash me white as snow and yes I know that when I sin I offend NOT ONLY GOD (who is most supreme) but also the beautiful body of Christ in my brothers and sisters. As a member of that body, I want to ask for forgiveness not only from God, but from the body,
The priest is also there to encourage confession. While I confess at the time of sinning to God I also hear the audible words of the priest. Yesterday He said to me as I began to share my shortcomings, He patiently said "God is just to forgive you and wants to forgive you." Our God lends to clemency, he lends to mercy. It's amazing.
Some articles that might help you:
http://www.catholic.com/blog/tim-staples/is-confession-in-scripture-0
http://www.catholic.com/tracts/confession
I'm sure that there are hundred of more resources and much more to say but if I leave you with anything its the knowledge that confession is beautiful. It's an indescribable grace that grows your heart to want to love and serve the Lord. It can be challenging to humble yourself to your sin and open your heart to it but He is just to forgive and opens His arms wide not only in our hearts and minds by helping to absolve the guilt of sin, but also through the kindness of the priest who serves as a tangible reminder of what God is doing to join is not only to God but to the church.
Friends please if you have never been to confession know that its a grace that is beautiful and to be experienced. Don't just throw rocks at it, having never done it. It's something that has been practiced by the church since the days of Christ and is an amazing gift of the Church.
Go to your confessor; open your heart to him; display to him all the recesses of your soul; take the advice that he will give you with the utmost humility and simplicity. For God, Who has an infinite love for obedience, frequently renders profitable the counsels we take from others, but especially from those who are the guides of our souls.
--St. Francis de Sales
Confession is an act of honesty and courage - an act of entrusting ourselves, beyond sin, to the mercy of a loving and forgiving God.
--Pope John Paul 2
Friends even if you aren't catholic as God to forgive you for the things you are afraid to share with Him and for the things you've done this year that weren't honoring to Him. Ask for His grace and forgiveness as your first gift this Christmas.
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