STEPS TO BE TAKEN BEFORE GOING TO CONFESSION

The most important thing is not to "go to confession," but "to make a good confession,"

a) to approach this sacrament sincerely sorry for our sins;

b) to confess them in all humility and honesty;

c) to be ready to make amends for them;

d) to be determined to avoid committing sin in the future, and to live according to God's will.

In order to do all theses, an essential step is to make a thorough examination of conscience.

This includes:

a) becoming aware of the gravity and number of one's sins, either in thoughts, words or deeds, whether they consist in something wrong tht we have committed. or in something good that we should have done and which we failed to do (sins of omission);

b) realizing that, by our sins, we have offended God, have been the cause of Jesus Christ's suffering and death, and caused harm to our neighbor and ourselves.

Valuable helps in making a good examination of conscience are:

1) prayer to the Holy Spirit for enlightenment and sincerely;

2) reading of some pertinent Scripture passage which helps us rediscover the gravity of our sinfulness, the greatness of God's love for us and his readiness to forgive us;

3) going over sets of questions concerning our duties to God, our neighbor and ourselves.