Confession

I went to Confession today. What a great grace! There is a wonderful Church in downtown Buffalo called St. Michael's that is run by the Jesuits and offers daily Confession from 11:30 am to 12:00 pm. It is rare to find daily Confession, so I feel very blessed to have that option available in my hometown. Better still, St. Michael's also has daily adoration. So, the Eucharist is exposed the entire time that one is there to confess. I find that to be a great grace as well.

Confession is definitely one of the most underappreciated and underutilized sacraments in the Church today. I suspect that people tend to think of Confession as being "old fashioned" and not an important part of a Catholic's life post-Vatican II. Nothing could be further from the truth! Confession is integral to the life of a practicing Catholic-- the opportunity to confess and reconcile with God is key, but so to is the grace that flows from the sacrament. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is about both confessing our sins, as well as obtaining the grace to overcome sin in the future.

Just ponder the words of the Act of Contrition, which powerfully reflect this dichotomy:

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended thee,
In choosing to do wrong and failing to do right,
I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things.
I firmly intend, with the help of your grace,
to sin no more,
And to avoid whatever occasion leads me to sin. Amen.

If you are a Roman Catholic, I wholeheartedly encourage you to go to Confession at least once a month. I promise you, by the grace of God, you will be the better for it.

Praise God!!