Traditionally, the Sunday before Great Lent in the Orthodox Church is called Forgiveness Sunday. During the Vespers service in the evening, every person in attendance will ask forgiveness of the others there for whatever things they have done wrong during past year. The refrain is always the same: “Please forgive me.” “God forgives, forgive you me” and so it goes around and around for a long time until everyone has forgiven and has been forgiven.
That word “forgiveness” has a bitterness to many people. There are many people out there who simply cannot forgive others for what they do wrong. Perhaps, it is because they do not believe that they have anything to forgive in the first place. Maybe, it is because the hurt is too great to forgive. Sometimes, they are just not the forgiving kind.
Yet forgiveness is the first step to reconciliation with God. We need His forgiveness in order to be reconciled to Him. When a man goes to Confession and tells the priest his sins, he is not telling the priest, but Christ Himself what he has done. In the Orthodox Church, the priest will hear the confession in front of the icon screen. In a darkened confessional, it is sometimes extremely easy to lose this awareness. We may feel that we are simply talking to the priest and telling him what he wants to hear. We shouldn’t think that way.
Rather, we should go to Confession and talk to the priest as if we were talking to God Himself. We should feel profound sorrow for what we have done to God. It doesn’t matter what the sin is. The fact that it exists and that we have brought it up in the confessional should be enough for us to feel contrition and this contrition should be life changing and profound. The confession that we make could be the last one that the priest ever hears from us and we should imagine that it is.
Believe me, it is extremely hard to get oneself to go to Confession. I haven’t been to confession in several months, but I will go at some point. It’s not because I have to or because Roman Catholics are required by Church Law to make an Easter confession. No. I want to go to Confession so that I can be cleansed of my sins and continue on the path to salvation. Even if I fall a thousand times, the confessional door is always open for me.
You may ask yourself, though, why are you telling me this? Why do I have to go and confess to someone when I can speak to God alone in my room? I can tell you that God forgives sins if we ask Him to, but it’s not the same. When we are in the confessional or in front of the iconostasis, we are given absolution by the priest who is a representative of Christ Himself. Indeed, he is an alter Christus (another Christ). Like I have said above, we are not confessing to a man, but to God Himself.
So what do I do when I go? Well, it’s always a good idea to prepare oneself for Confession. I’ve been in the Confessional when I had three minutes of silence before I continued. Believe me, it was embarrassing to me not to remember what I had called to mind. Therefore, it’s always a good idea to read an examination of conscience the day before you go to Confession. These are contained in many Catholic prayer books as well as Orthodox ones. Look through it and find out which sins you have committed. Then when you go to Confession, it may be easier for you to recall these things to mind.
Also, don’t worry about what you tell the priest in the Confessional. The priest has probably heard it all before. Believe me, the priest will not be angry with you and he won’t laugh at you. He will simply give you instructions, a penance, and absolve you. Know also that whatever you say in the confessional will be kept secret. The seal of the confessional is inviolable even if the priest is forced to say what he heard. Therefore, don’t be afraid about confessing.
One last thing. Even if you don’t go to Confession because you do not have the opportunity. Make frequent acts of contrition and ask God’s forgiveness. It will help you to stay strong.
I ask all of your forgiveness for my lack of writing. May God bless you abundantly.
Our Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us!
St. Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us!
St. John Baptist de La Salle, pray for us!
