How to 'Let Your Light Shine' to Illumine the Path to God
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Catholic churches in the U.S. generally schedule a specific time each week for their parishioners to confess their sins. If a parishioner has to work or is otherwise occupied at the designated time, he or she can call the parish rectory to make an appointment for confession. The parishioner also has the option of going to another parish with a different schedule. Before holy days such as Easter and Christmas, Catholic churches in an urban locale usually cooperate to hold penance services at different times with many priests to give people a choice of confessors.
Catholics confess their sins (1) anonymously in a darkened booth with a screen between the penitent and the priest or (2) face to face with the priest. The priest acts as an intermediary representing Christ. It is actually Christ, through the priest, who absolves penitents from their sins. After penitents have made a sincere confession, they are said to be in a state of grace, meaning they free of sin and pleasing to God—even if they have not attended church for a long time.
Christ established the sacrament of penance, now called the sacrament of reconciliation, when he told his disciples, “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained” (John 20:23, Douay-Rheims Bible). Receiving forgiveness requires penitents to vow sincerely that they will do their best to amend sinful behavior.
The church mandates that members go to confession at least once a year if they are guilty of committing at least one mortal sin, a grave offense that cuts them off from God and makes them vulnerable to damnation. The church does not require members to make an annual confession if they are guilty of committing only venial sins (less serious offenses), which mar but do not sever their relationship with God and do not condemn them to damnation. Bishops around the country encourage Catholics to confess their sins at least once a month.
Examples of mortal sins are murder, abortion, sexual abuse of children, adultery, rape, blasphemy, idolatry, prostitution, and spreading malicious lies to ruin a person’s reputation. Examples of venial sins are so-called white lies, selfishness, theft by a person of a few pencils from his or her workplace, and showing mild contempt or unkindness to a person who doesn’t deserve such treatment.
What the church defines as a sin of omission (moral or venial) can occur when a person fails to act when he should. Suppose, for example, you witness a neighbor beating his little girl with a switch, raising bleeding welts on her skin. But you don’t report the abuse to authorities in order to avoid becoming involved in a possible lawsuit. You have committed a sin of omission.
If you honestly forget to attend mass on Sunday or a holy day, you have not committed a sin. Likewise, if you absentmindedly eat meat on a Friday in lent, forgetting what day it is, you have committed A Detailed Catholic Examination of Conscienceno sin. Examples of other factors that diminish or erase guilt are mental debility, ignorance that an action is sinful, coercion by another to perform a forbidden act, self-defense in causing death or injury, and a mechanical malfunction in a vehicle that strikes a pedestrian. True guilt requires deliberate intent to commit a sin; a human’s will must be bent on committing a wrong.
Persons who have committed a mortal sin but are temporarily unable to go to confession can receive forgiveness by making a “perfect” act of contrition to God himself, telling him that they are deeply sorry for offending him. To obtain forgiveness, they must assert that they love God more than they fear damnation. They must also bind themselves to going to confession before a priest at their first opportunity.
If you are in doubt about whether an act you are considering is right or wrong, do nothing. For example, suppose you are in thick woods hunting a deer. When you see movement of brush and leaves, you are almost certain that it is a prize buck you spotted a half-hour earlier. But you may not shoot. You must be one hundred percent certain, not almost certain, that you will not harm or kill a human being.
Scrupulous Catholics burden themselves by continually examining their conscience. Scrupulosity is a psychological condition in which its sufferers frequently accuse themselves of sin when they have done nothing wrong. They tend to review every action, every decision, under a “moral microscope” to find even the tiniest flaw in what they did. They may become anxious and depressed over their “unworthiness.” When they go to confession, they may confess a litany of offenses that are not really sins. If you believe you have symptoms of scrupulosity, talk with a priest and consider seeking psychological therapy. Know this: if you are unable to decide whether you committed a sin, your uncertainty is a sign that you did not commit one.
When examining your conscience before confession, consider using the following Internet links to help you:
A Brief Examination of Conscience
A Detailed Catholic Examination of Conscience
An Examination of Conscience for Adults
An Examination of Conscience for Children
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Before retiring, Michael J. Cummings was a public-school English teacher, a journalist for 17 years, an adjunct instructor of English for 19 years at the Pennsylvania College of Technology, a freelance writer, and the author of more than thirty e-books and five print books. He was born in 1941 in Williamsport, Pa.
