Daily Prayer Online

Sacred Space

Something to think and pray about this week

Begin the Prayer

 

Confession, or the sacrament of Reconciliation, has a long history among Christians, but is often misunderstood. ‘Putting words on it'- that's what makes confession at once so painful and so healing. All of us build defences against accepting guilt, against facing what is mean or cowardly or cruel in us. In Confession we are not looking for counselling or psychotherapy, or for a warm blanket of forgetfulness to be cast over our past. In our own minds we tend to be vague about what we have done, and easily excuse it. In Confession we try to see our meanness as others might see it, putting it in words to an anonymous priest. ‘That is what I did, it was bad, and I am sorry.' In all our religious life, there is no act as personal as this. The other sacraments can easily turn into empty rituals. Confession, taken seriously, makes the most intense personal demands on us; and brings a comfort we can feel.