Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 232 - Part III

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

YOUCAT Question n. 232 - Part III. What must I bring to a confession?

(Youcat answer – repeated) Essential elements of every confession are an examination of conscience, contrition, a purpose of amendment, confession, and penance.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1456) Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance: "All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret and have been committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue; for these sins sometimes wound the soul more grievously and are more dangerous than those which are committed openly" (Council of Trent (1551): DS 1680 (ND 1626); cf. Ex 20:17; Mt 5:28). When Christ's faithful strive to confess all the sins that they can remember, they undoubtedly place all of them before the divine mercy for pardon. But those who fail to do so and knowingly withhold some, place nothing before the divine goodness for remission through the mediation of the priest, "for if the sick person is too ashamed to show his wound to the doctor, the medicine cannot heal what it does not know" (Council of Trent (1551): DS 1680 (ND 1626); cf. St. Jerome, In Eccl. 10, 11: PL 23:1096).

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) The examination of conscience should be done thoroughly, but it can never be exhaustive. No one can be absolved from his sin without real contrition, merely on the basis of “lip-service”. Equally indispensable is the purpose of amendment, the resolution not to commit that sin again in the future. The sinner absolutely must declare the sin to the confessor and, thus, confess to it. The final essential element of confession is the atonement or penance that the confessor imposes on the sinner to make restitution for the harm done.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 1490) The movement of return to God, called conversion and repentance, entails sorrow for and abhorrence of sins committed, and the firm purpose of sinning no more in the future. Conversion touches the past and the future and is nourished by hope in God's mercy.

(This question: What must I bring to a confession? is continued)