I’ve been sitting in the confessional in a parish where I’m filling in for 50 minutes now. Not one penitent. The door is open the available light is on.
I hear sharply the criticism from people that priests aren’t available enough for confession. Perhaps this is a reason. Both the lack of availability of priests and the lack of penitents are a symptom of what Pope Pius XII called back in 1950 “the loss of the sense of sin.”
People don’t think they’ve done anything wrong. The Ten Commandments are outdated. They say mistakenly “Everybody goes to heaven, to the same place, a better place. You can presume that God forgives you.”
Yet this is not compassion it is a loss of morality, a dead conscience. If you have knowingly violated one of the Ten Commandments you are in mortal sin and need to repent.
Confession is the ordinary means Jesus gave the Church to do this. He wished us to receive his own forgiveness through this very human encounter with a priest because when you repent of your sins out loud before another human person you are only then really owning up to them, it neutralizes the shame, you immediately feel unburdened, and grace is given by the invisible God who also receives your confession through the visible minister.
Grace is given as Jesus promised “whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven”. So you hear his voice through the priest say, “I absolve you.” Then you know without a shadow of a doubt that you are forgiven.
Repent. Go to confession.
Excellent