Grace, Sin, and Confession

John 20:19-23 "Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

James 5:16 "Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed."

CCC 1990-1994 Justification – detaches man from sin – purifies the heart of sin. It reconciles man with God. Justification is an acceptance of righteousness (or the truth of divine love) through faith in Jesus Christ. With Justification, faith, hope, and charity are poured into our hearts, and obedience to God’s will is granted to us. This comes through a cooperation between the Grace of God (now flowing into the heart) and man’s freedom.

St. Augustine, “the justification of the wicked is a greater work than the creation of heaven and earth,” because, “heaven and earth will pass away but the salvation and justification of the elect…will not pass away.” – higher also than creation of angels for shows greater mercy
Grace

CCC 1996: Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is a favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to His call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.

CCC 1997: Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life: by Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of His Body. As an “adopted son” he an henceforth call God “Father,” in union with the only Son. He receives the life of the Spirit who breathes charity into him and who forms the Church.

CCC 1999: The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it.

CCC 2000: Sanctifying gift is a habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by His love.

Why go to confession?

Sin – turning away from God, missing the mark, failure in genuine love for God and neighbor

Mortal sin – sin that involves 1) grave matter, 2) full knowledge, 3) full consent

CCC 1861: Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in a loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.

Venial sin – weakens the love we have – occurs when in a less serious matter, a person does not observe the moral standard or when he disobeys in a grave matter – but without full knowledge or full complete consent. Venial sin does increase need to be punished. It also can set people up to commit mortal sin. However, Venial sin does not break the covenant with God, or deprive person of sanctifying grace. Can be humanly repaired.


Steps of Confession
Examination of Conscience (detailed procedure at bottom of page)
contrition
the actual confessing of your sins to God through His priests
the assigning of penance
Act of Contrition
Absolution
carrying out your penance

Contrition
CCC 1451 – sorrow of the soul and detestation (hatred) for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again.
2 kinds of Contrition - Perfect and Imperfect Contrition
Perfect – when contrition rises from love by which God is loved above everything. Perfect contrition receives the pardon of venial sin and obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if there is firm resolution to receive sacramental confession ASAP (as soon as possible).

Imperfect – still a gift from God and prompting of the Holy Spirit in particular, but born of sin’s ugliness or fear of eternal damnation and/or other penalties. By itself it cannot obtain the forgiveness of grave sins – requires sacrament of confession and not just resolve to go immediately (difference matters if you are near death and can’t receive the sacrament – in other words don’t count on getting around the sacrament by hoping you will have perfect contrition just before you die).

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.
Note – this is just one example of an act of contrition. You can always pray in your own words or use another written prayer of contrition.

Why the penance?
CCC 1459 - “Raised up from sin, the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make amends for the sin: he must ‘make satisfaction for’ or ‘expiate’ his sins.”