Confession

Jesus established this Sacrament not just on a Sunday, but on Easter Sunday night. He came to save us from eternal death, and on the day He rose from the dead He established the sacrament that remedies what causes eternal death: unrepented and unforgiven sin.

When Jesus entered the Upper Room on Easter Sunday, the first thing He did was wish the Apostles peace: the definitive peace between God and humanity that comes through the forgiveness of sins. Then Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

Finally He breathed on the Apostles the power of the Holy Spirit and said, “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.”

Jesus clearly thought the Sacrament of Penance was important enough to establish it almost immediately when He rose from the dead. If the forgiveness of sins is so central to the mystery of our redemption, it is unsurprising that the devil does everything he can to persuade people not to go to confession.

The Church asks that all Catholics go to confession at least once a year, but we should never treat the minimal requirement as the maximum. The Church has always encouraged frequent confession as a means of growing in grace and progressing in the life of the Spirit.

“By receiving more frequently through this sacrament the gift of the Father’s mercy we are spurred to be merciful as He is merciful.”

— CCC 1458