St. Mary's East Eden
  How to Make A Good Confession
      Followed by:  Does God Love Me Less When I Sin?		  

 

 

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  1. Begin by making the Sign of the Cross & greeting the priest: "Bless me father,
    for I have sinned, my last confession was . . . " (weeks, months or years)

  2. Confess you sins to the priest.  Place you trust in God's mercy 
    "Remember he wants to forgive you."

  3. Following you confession of sins, say: "I am sorry for these and all of my sins."

  4. A penance will be given and advice will be offered to help you be a better
    Catholic.  The penance imposed will take into account your personal situation
    and support your spiritual good.  It may be a prayer, an offering, works of
    mercy, service or sacrifice; but it joins us in some way to Christ and to the cross

  5. Pray an Act of Contrition, expressing sorrow for your sins

  6. The priest, acting in the person of Christ, then will absolve you from your sins
    by saying the Prayer of Absolution, to which you make the Sign of the Cross
    and respond, "Amen"

  7. The priest then will dismiss you.  Because sin often harms others, "YOU MUST
    MAKE SATISFACTION FOR YOUR SINS BY COMPLETING
    YOUR ASSIGNED PENANCE."

  
DOES GOD LOVE ME LESS WHEN I SIN?
Fortunately, God's love doesn't depend on how good we are.  Remember the parable Jesus told
of the prodigal son (Lk.15)?  No matter what the son's transgressions, the father received him in
complete love.  That's how God feels about us.  Think of God's love as the light from the sun-It's
so bright we can't comprehend it.  But we can close our eyes or pull the curtains to keep the
 light from coming in.  The light is still there, but we can't experienceit as well because we have
shut it out.  Sin shuts out hearts to God's love.  To help, Jesus created the
Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Receiving absolution and being assured of God's Forgiveness opens
our shuttered hearts so we can feel God's love again.
     
The humility required in confession and
completing penance helps us to submit
again to God's will and follow Him more
closely.  Confession is a blessing, offering
peace, a clear mind and a hopeful heart
     
  ACT OF CONTRITION
O My God I am heartily sorry for having offended you, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love.  I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.  Amen.		  
   
     
     
 
 
   
WHY DO CATHOLICS BELIEVE THAT MARY WAS BORN WITHOUT
ORIGINAL SIN?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that God gave Mary all the gifts
necessary for her to become a mother of our Savior.  In fact, when the angel Gabriel
addressed Mary as "full of grace" in Luke 1:20, he means that Mary had the special
divine help necessary for the task ahead.  While we are cleansed of Original Sin at
Baptism, Pope Pius IX infallibly affirmed that Mary's role in Jesus' work was so
crucial that it kept her from Original Sin from her birth		  

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