We recently had a man e-mail us here at Catholic Truth. After many years away, he decided to come back home to the Catholic Church. We helped ease his fears and worries about going to confession. In the process, he asked us how to properly prepare for Confession after having been away for so long. Therefore, in this article, we will offer great advice on preparing for confession, whether you went last week or have not gone in 40 years.

Remember, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is also known as the Sacrament of healing! It’s not about your garbage, but about getting right with God and receiving forgiveness, healing, and new life.

If you wonder why we must go to confession to a priest, see our YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/dXIgaKZhQp8

Let’s begin.

STEPS FOR PREPARATION 

1. First, take a good amount of time to pray and prepare before confession, whether at home in quiet or in a church. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you, to enlighten you, and to help call to mind all the sins that need to be confessed.

2. We recommend taking 10 to 20 minutes in quiet to reflect on your sins. During this prayer time, try to think of as many sins as possible which you have been committed since your last confession, starting with the biggest ones.

3. If you need, write them all down one by one on paper or on your phone. By doing this, you can focus more on confessing your sins with heartfelt contrition rather than spending your mental energies trying to remember all the sins. After you think of as many as you can, look at an Examination of Conscience to see if you missed anything.

4. After writing down everything you can think of, look over the list. Take some time to consider your sins and feel sorrow for them. Reflect on how these sins may have hurt God, others, relationships in your life, and even yourself.

If these are constant and habitual sins, take time to consider why you fell to that sin again and how you can avoid it in the future. Consider why you continually fall for these particular sins and how you can rectify that. Make a firm purpose of amendment!! In other words, choose to never do that sin again in your life. Make that active decision to try your best to avoid it. Think of ways you can avoid it, the root causes that always lead to it, and how you can do much better – not a little better – but much, much better. Identify the triggers and avoid them.

After sufficiently reflecting on your sins, you can move on.

5. In the confessional, there is usually a chair to face the priest and talk with him directly, or a kneeler behind a screen in between you and the priest. Choose whichever you prefer, if you have the option.

7. The priest will welcome you with some opening words. When he finishes speaking, say: Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. The last time I went to confession was ____ years ago. Here are my sins. Then use your list to confess your sins one by one, slowly and thoughtfully, with great heartfelt sorrow and contrition.

Start with your biggest sins, and confess them in detail. Don’t mumble something about the 6th commandment. We need to be open and honest about what we have done so we can be forgiven.

Side Note: When in confession, you are not confessing your sins to the priest but to God! The priest is just the vessel of forgiveness, but it is God who forgives your sins. So, if you are scared or nervous, it sometimes helps to close your eyes as you give your laundry list of sins. Picture God taking each one and throwing them away forever.

7. After you finish listing your sins, the priest will ask you to say an Act of Contrition (which you can find online or use the one we provide below). Pray it from the bottom of your heart to God thinking of the words.

8. The priest will then bless you and forgive you. You will hear the words, “Go in peace, your sins have been forgiven.” Then, he will give you a penance to say in the church, or by the end of the day. It may be some prayers, or a passage of the Bible, a decade of the Rosary, or just an Our Father, etc.

At this point, you can know for sure that all your sins have been forgiven and forgotten by our good and gracious God. God will breathe new life into you, and you will be completely cleansed. After praying your penance, take a few moments to greatly thank God for his unconditional love and mercy. Ask Jesus to fill you with His light, love, peace, joy, and healing – and the strength to do better in the future.

When you finish everything, delete the sins from your phone (or rip up the paper) as a symbolic sign that Jesus, our loving Savior, just forgave all of your sins and they are gone forever. You are completely free of them. They are deleted from your life!

What if you truly forgot to say a sin in confession? If you intended to say it, but honestly forgot, then the Church teaches that it is forgiven. God is good!

If you are worried about going to confession, scared, or need to know God’s mercy, we have two videos below which will absolutely help you and assure you of the wonderful, life-changing love of God in Jesus Christ! God be with you.

1. Scared to go to confession? Need to know God’s love? https://youtu.be/gxPAYBpptuA

2. Think your sins are too big to be forgiven by God? https://youtu.be/ByV4iKOnLKQ

Don’t think you were forgiven? Watch both links.

3. Why go to a priest for confession? https://youtu.be/dXIgaKZhQp8

As always, if you are struggling or have questions, (or would like to tell us you went to confession), e-mail us at info@catholictruth.org