Learn how to confess before marriage

How to confess, if you still do not know how and what confession is for, in this article we are going to explain in a very simple way everything related to this religious act that is so important for Catholics.

how to confess

Before explaining the procedure that every Christian must do to carry out this process, first we have to know the confession, it is said that it is a process that allows reconciliation with God, it is called “The sacrament of joy”, through it, recapture the joy and peace that connection with God brings again.

This is a gift that only through sin can be achieved, the actions of sin steal from souls is passion and delivery of faith towards God, through confession it is possible to obtain communication and friendship with God again .

In this article we will explain in detail how to confess well and why this sacrament should be performed, we will know its importance and its meaning so get ready to know the truth of How to confess.

The confession

It is considered a sacrament of reconciliation and healing, in order to save the spirit and the soul, the heart is totally renewed since all the bad things that had entered a person’s being are removed.

For the Church it is a reconciliation with God, an encounter with the Lord that helps to renew the friendship with the creator, the negative actions that usually surround life sometimes take possession of our actions, and without realizing it we obtain behaviors that do not please God .

For this reason, spiritual cleansing must be carried out, going to the confessional to reveal and ask God for forgiveness for those actions, confession is for the Church an act to restore the order of the spiritual morality of the human being, before marrying or carrying out any another religious vow Catholics must comply with this sacrament.

What is the reason for the confession?

According to the Church, this sacramental act must be done by every person who considers himself a Catholic in order to forgive our sins, since on his own account no person can redeem them, eliminate them, no one can say “I forgive my sins”, and according to Pope Francis forgiveness it is requested and requested through Confession.

Forgiveness is not a natural way that requires our efforts only, it is simply a gift given by the Holy Spirit, which we must use to reestablish the connection and communication with God.

Is confession a complication? 

For non-believers and those who find themselves in the hands of evil, it is quite a complicated act, recognizing the moral mistakes made on occasions is not an action that many people can perform spontaneously. Observed as a sacramental act, confession makes it possible to redeem the mistakes made and continue to maintain communication with God.

No greater conditions are required to make a confession, nor is its process complicated, the Catholic faithful try to live outside of sin to avoid this sacrament, although due to the natural condition of the human being, they will always fall into sin.

Making the confession only requires a series of very simple processes, which Catholics must know and understand, so that it does not represent any complications:

Conduct an examination of conscience

It consists of a reflection on those actions, thoughts and words that have fostered estrangement from God, offend, mistreat, harm others, represent negative acts and sins that do not please God, for this reason an examination of these actions is made.

The proper observation of our actions allows us to establish a reflection of what we are doing, how we are doing it and who we are harming, the examination of conscience helps to be honest with ourselves and with God, understanding that he does not want that behavior.

The examination of conscience allows the person to ask himself several questions that can help him understand the reason for his actions that led him to sin, search for answers and meditate on the reason why an adverse action could be carried out. In this aspect you can make a list of sins to confess , where you can see in a better way, which sins really should be forgiven.

act of contrition

Contrition is an act of voluntary repentance, where the pain is felt in the soul and one begins to reject all sins. This part includes the situation of thoughts where one thinks one should never sin again. A request is made to God in order to grant strength to defeat the adversities that led to sin.

This repentance is a kind of feeling related to pain and shame, it allows us to correct mistakes, the idea is to have total understanding to understand the mistake we made and to have the desires as a good Christian not to make them again.

According to Pope Francis: “Contrition is the gateway to repentance, it is that privileged path that leads to the heart of God, who welcomes us and offers us another opportunity, as long as we open ourselves to the truth of penance and allow ourselves to be transformed by his mercy”

Some prayers can be used to reinforce this act of contrition where, through relaxation and concentration, the results and the complete tranquility of having recognized the sins are obtained:

“My God, I repent with all my heart for all my sins and I hate them, because by sinning, I not only deserve the pain they cause, but mainly I offend you, supreme Good and worthy of love above all things. That is why I firmly propose, with the help of your grace, not to sin in the future and to flee from every occasion of sin. Amen.”

confession of sins

It is established as the proper accusation of the sins committed, it is crystallized by going in front of the figure of a priest, this action allows in some way to put the life and the heart in the hands and of another, to sincerely communicate to a priest the sins that we have committed. committed, turns the Christian into a very brave soldier who is defeating the evil one.

Confession becomes the action where we give God all our faults and reveal our mistakes. The act as such is carried out in the so-called confessional, where through a small window the person expresses and explains all the sins committed.

This explanation has to be sincere, clear without accusations, concrete explaining the act or thought, without using generic phrases, not giving unnecessary explanations or descriptions and not leaving any sin unnoticed, shame must be mastered and overcome. As we know, it is considered a sacramental act, which allows the penitent and the priest to establish a relationship where the truths of man are revealed.

It is important to point out that the priests have a code of ethics that allows them to keep the confessions of the faithful in total and absolute confidentiality, this code prevents them from revealing to any other person or ecclesiastical member the confessions made by the faithful, which establishes a signal of tranquility and security within Catholic actions.

penance

It is the final part of the confession and becomes the situation when the priest grants a series of spiritual actions in order to redeem the sins and re-establish the connection with God, the actions that a relevance must have can be the following:

• A sentence
• Fast, 
• Refrain from doing or eating something  
• Participate in processions during Lent or other church activities.
• Those that the priest religiously considers

These actions must be carried out by sinners in a conscious and proper way, without any type of coercion, where they are voluntarily and consciously carried out with the heart, in order to repair the damage caused by sin.

The effects of confession

After the whole process is done, it is convenient to know what effects the confession will have after having put aside the sins, we must first remember that we have just made a promise to God to avoid bad acts to fall back into sin.

So that the person is renewed and a new cycle of actions begins where human virtues must enter the game, in order to do good and achieve the goals of coexistence and love of God that every Christian must have, so that the effects that the confession has are the following:

• Reconciliation with God, the renewed communication with the Lord restores what had been lost, the grace of God returns to be with the person and re-enters the divine activity, which baptism and First Communion had established.
• Forgive negative actions and eliminate sins, thus obtaining important peace and well-being, feeling forgiven implies obtaining a spiritual resurrection, it is like being born again and feeling free of any weight that sins provided us.
• Obtain the love of God no matter how great the sin has been, the creator is a being of love and light, plus all his children and therefore forgives the adverse actions that have tried to distance him from his goodness and grace.
• Divine fraternal communion is restored, sin undermines them and breaks this beautiful relationship, understanding that the renewal of this communion is what allows a stable and spiritual connection with God.
• Restoration of communion with the Church, the repentant is healed and the person obtains satisfaction about the concept of life, which had been limited by sin.
• Internal truth, trust and faith are recovered, being able to once again enjoy the spiritual goods of all celestial beings and those who inhabit the planet.
• Self-reconciliation, self-confidence is consolidated and releases the weight that limits the actions of conscience, in Psalm 32, 1-5 says the following: 
• “Blessed is he who is forgiven of his guilt, when I was silent my bones were consumed, my sin I recognized and did not hide my guilt since you absolved my guilt, you forgave my sin”. 
• New merits are obtained to be declared a son of God, the absolution of sins gives us again the grace of the Holy Spirit and the so-called infused virtues (habits that God grants through the Holy Spirit and are only established for Christian morality).

To every good work, done in God’s Grace, a merit of Eternal Life corresponds, but when falling into mortal sin, all the merits are totally lost. When we are absolved and reconciled, these merits revive as well as the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the infused virtues. 

God’s forgiveness through the priests

The Goodness of God is expressed through confession, he has the power to spiritually regenerate all damage caused, this sacrament allows all sins to be forgiven, no matter how serious and large they may be. The priests are the continuity lineage of the apostles of Jesus who in one of his appearances told him:

“Receive the Holy Spirit; Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; those who retain them, are retained” 

From that moment the sacrament of confession had been institutionalized, the apostles were sought by the faithful at the beginning of Christianity in order to confess their faults and receive absolution from them, Jesus Christ granted the power to forgive all the faithful through the Church, so that over time it represented the presence of God on earth.

Sins as an expression of pain

Feeling sorry for the actions is what leads many people who really consider themselves Catholic, to feel real sorrow for the inconvenience caused to God and their own being, repentance is one of the most important acts when you want to obtain forgiveness from sins through confession.

The pain that is felt when one has sinned, allows us to reconsider and have the will not to commit them again, although it is not necessary to shed tears for them, if we mourn in our hearts, since sin is an offense against God.

If there is no repentance, confession should not proceed, it is impossible to obtain forgiveness of sins without the willingness to never repeat them again, it is a position of the soul that must be extended towards all mortal sins, to obtain forgiveness it is only enough to repent honestly.

The best thing about repentance is to really feel that God has not been offended, so that with the act of confession one is freed from that guilt and the vows of Catholic faith are renewed. The expression of pain that is felt when we repent, gives confidence and mercy from God, since without repentance sin can become an act of despair.

Should I accuse myself?

The accusation and self-condemnation can be generated when a confession has been made poorly, leading the soul to condemnation, in a way that allows the evil one to establish his control, generally people are tempted to keep quiet about some sins when the confession is made or not counting them correctly.

This must be avoided to avoid self-accusations and then feel regret, first for the original sins and then for having hidden them or said them in the wrong way, it is necessary to explicitly tell the priest all the sins (It was already indicated above how to do it).

Lying by not saying the sins correctly also becomes a sin within a sin, an offense against Jesus and communication with God is obstructed. The confession must be sincere, objective and without delay, excuses must not be established since it would also be an act of justification of the sin.

What is firm purpose?

Along with repentance, this action is considered as an act that occurs in the soul with the purpose of having the will and determination not to repeat them again, avoiding the situations that led to committing them and eliminating the thoughts that could have caused the error.

Should the penance be fulfilled?

The act of penance, as we have explained, is also called an act of satisfaction, where a prayer or perhaps a good deed is generally performed, whose purpose is to atone for sins, which for God are considered an offense, for For this reason, there must be a type of reparation depending on the size of the sin.

When the offense against the creator is very serious, simply what the sinner deserves is hell, the remedial punishment is applied proportionally to the sin. Confession allows sins to be forgiven, but the debt to God is considered to be paid when the priest applies penance and the person proceeds to fulfill it.

However, some confessions lead at the moment to define in the place of the confessional to carry out the penance, in order to verify that it has been carried out, if the sinner really feels deep pain for having committed those sins.

The obligation to carry it out is a voluntary act of each person, not finishing the penance again implies limiting communication with God and establishing the closure of the spiritual actions of the Holy Spirit towards the penitent.

Does God forgive those who make a good confession?

Everything related to God must be taken seriously and responsibly, a good confession can be made, but fully complying with what was promised is on one’s own account and must be assumed as an act of surrender to God.

Fidelity is part of the reality that is expressed in confession, so that the commitment is not only from God if he forgives the person, but also from the person who must be reconciled with God. Faith and the conviction of doing things in a good way, allow to please the supreme and grant the entrance to his grace.

Evil death wish

It is constantly observed that Catholics present themselves at baptism and First Communion, so that over the years they forget the established sacramental promises, totally distancing themselves from the Church.

The concerns and situations of daily life distance believers from the house of God and leave aside the spiritual duties related to God and the Church. They are considered Catholic but with faith dissolved and without force

However, Jesus permanently knocks at the door of each one seeking the return of his return to spiritual life, this situation is what allows each Catholic to invite the disappearance of evil in our souls, request the death of evil in our lives represents an act of reformulation of faith in God.

Returning to the house of God establishes again the restructuring of ethical values ​​and human virtues, which bring with them good actions and renewal of life. In the Bible itself, it is spoken about how to remove the evil one from the presence of man:

“Do I want the death of the wicked, and not that he turn from his conduct and live?

Through the confession of all sins we are driving satan away, and of course getting a little closer to God, who is really the true protector of our soul, without him only remnants of human virtues would remain.

How to make a good confession?

Making a good confession implies developing the will of repentance that we explained previously, it should also be taken into account that in order to develop actions that allow us not to commit the same sins or others that harm our connection with God, it is necessary to know the ten commandments very well. .

Each one establishes patterns of behavior and conduct that regulate in general terms the way of how to act spiritually before others, but above all how to behave towards God, establishing a way of how to confess allows one to think about what things should be taken as a basis for not committing the same mistakes.

Bringing together the ten commandments in a single group and converting them (as Jesus Christ did) into a single spiritual description, allows one to have a degree of awareness and reflection in order to carry them out in the best way and thus be able to make a very good confession, one must have Taking into account how to know each of the commandments, you can come to repentance and obtain the goodness of God’s forgiveness.

The commandments represent the spiritual basis of each human being, they help foster spirituality and love towards God and towards one’s own person and towards others, knowing them does not eliminate the fear of facing penance and gives the strength to be able to express it in front of the priest.

Although there is no guide to a good  confession , the commandments establish parameters that regulate where one should go before making it.

If two people are going to get married, it is important that they have very clear concepts regarding the ten commandments where each one, when making this great decision for their lives, will establish a home and a family that if they do not have clear spiritual foundations, they will not have a very long future.