A Guide to Confession – Part 2

Pre - Confession Stage

Before going into confession, you should be willing to turn away from sin and follow God’s teachings. Additionally, you should be able to identify, acknowledge and regret your sins. As Catholics continue to grow spiritually, they develop a sense of hatred for sin, and tend to notice even the slightest of them, thus leading into confession.

The original sin committed by mankind is usually washed away during baptism and the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior, the Holy Spirit as our helper and the Father as our creator. When we fall backinto sin after bapt ism, we are required to confess, seek His forgiveness, and renew our covenants with Him. Actual sin falls into two categories; mortal and venial. Mortal sin has more severe repercussions than venial sin. Mortal sin damages our relationship with God but venial sin leads to partial loss of God’s grace until we confess and repent. For a sin to be considered mortal, it must meet the following conditions: It must be a very serious sin

The sinner must be aware that he or she is committing sin

The sinner must have been willing to sin, out of ignorance

The essence of the act of penance, or confession, is to accept and condemn a particular sin that you have committed. You must, therefore, express your regret and seek God’s forgiveness and make a resolution to avoid committing that particular sin in the future, as a true sign of regret and genuineness in your confession. However, this does not necessarily mean that you will not sin or commit the same sin again in the future; we are all sinful and weak but with God’s grace, all our sins are forgiven.

Before going into confession, review all mortal and venial sins that you have committed from the day of your confession. If you cannot remember all sins, use the 10 commandments of God as a guide.