Chapter Twelve – Confession

We now move into Part Three and The Seven Pillars of Catholic Spirituality. In the next seven chapters we will be covering Catholic spirituality that combines two thousand years of spiritual wisdom into a handful of spiritual exercises. Matthew’s goal is to help us build and develop deep spiritual roots. These deep roots will help us not only weather any storm that life throws at us, but help us move beyond just surviving life to experience the abundant life the Jesus invites us to in this life and in eternity.

As we begin the discussion on the seven pillars of Catholic spirituality it's important to take a moment and reflect on what Matthew has already laid out in regards to what our goal in life should be - seeking after holiness. We should be mindful of what examples has he provided to us already as we go through each of the seven pillars. This will provide the context for our understanding of the importance and applicability of each spiritual pillar to our lives.

I would certainly say that trying to summarize this chapter on Confession is challenging on a number of fronts. The first is how quickly you jump into a very personal assessment of where you are in your life when compared to our goal of holiness. You are also faced with looking into life’s mirror as Matthew takes you through a number of examples on the reason this spiritual practice is so challenging to each of us and why it's so avoided by today’s Catholics. Each person really needs to read this section several times to truly gain the most out of Matthew’s insights. Here are the areas he discusses that are the challenges (excuses) we use:

• The secular view (yes Catholics buy into this) that there is no objective truth, no sin or evil, no universal right or wrong, therefore no need to confess
• I don’t need to confess to a priest, I confess straight to God
• This is a modern practice that was not part of Christian tradition from the beginning
• I only need to confess if the sin is serious
• I only need to go to confession once a year
• I can’t confess to my priest because he knows me

These represent the common objections that the people of our present age have toward the Catholic experience of Confession. But we need to remember that we all have spiritual disease. We all have sins. Some people like to pretend they don’t, but over time their sins spread through their lives like cancer in the body. Like cancer, if we don’t address and arrest sin, in the end it will devour us. The essence of this chapter for me is the focus on using this spiritual pillar of Confession as a method to change the habits that are preventing us from becoming the-best-version-of-ourselves.  

The journey toward the-best-version-of-yourself is a journey away from the defects of the-present-version-of-yourself. Every journey toward something (holiness) is a journey away from something (the world’s ways). Confession helps us identify our strengths and weaknesses so that we can transform our weaknesses into strengths. For two thousand years, the men and women we call saints have been going into the classroom of silence to take a humble and honest look at themselves. In the classroom of silence they reflect on their character in a search for excellence. It is the most important element on the quest for holiness and inner transformation.

Confession is all about turning back to God when we have humbled ourselves enough to understand how we have turned away from him. The truth is, we do things every day that are contrary to the ways of God, things that stop us from being the-best-version-of-ourselves. In the spiritual life, it is very important to grow not only in knowledge and understanding of God, but also in knowledge and understanding of ourselves. Confessing our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation helps us to develop this self-knowledge.

The saints hungered for this self-knowledge. They knew that the things of this world are passing, and that when this brief life is over, we will all stand naked in the presence of God. At that moment, nothing of this world we gained will mean anything. The only thing that has value in that moment is character – the light within you. As St. Francis of Assisi once said, “Remember, you are what you are in the eyes of God, and nothing else.” We need to get to know ourselves through the routine practice of Confession. As we gain insight into ourselves, every relationship in our lives will improve. Our lives change when our habits change. We need to adopt the habit of regular Confession to truly become the-best-version-of-ourselves.     

Question

How challenged where you by this chapter? What do you plan to do about it?

In peace,
Dan