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- Herausgeber: anna ruggieri
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
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Forgiven
A Guide to Confession & the Examen Prayer
By Sister Orianne Pietra Rene Dyck, FSP, and Sister Allison Regina Gliot, FSP
Nihil Obstat:
Reverend Joseph Briody, S.S.L., S.T.D.
Imprimatur:
✠ Seán Cardinal O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap.
Archbishop of Boston
October 20, 2023
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023948872
ISBN 0-8198-1920-4
ISBN 978-0-8198-1920-8
ISBN ePUB 978-0-8198-1921-5
The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The English translation of the Act of Contrition and the words of absolution from the Order of Penance © 2019, International Committee on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved.
Excerpt from papal text © Dicastero per la Comunicazione—Libreria Editrice Vaticana. All rights reserved.
Cover design by Nathan Swann
Interior art: from the Life of Christ by James Tissot, courtesy of Wikicommons
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
“P” and PAULINE are registered trademarks of the Daughters of St. Paul.
Copyright © 2024, Daughters of St. Paul
Published by Pauline Books & Media, 50 Saint Pauls Avenue, Boston, MA 02130-3491
www.pauline.org
Pauline Books & Media is the publishing house of the Daughters of St. Paul, an international congregation of women religious serving the Church with the communications media.
For Zoe—without you, this book wouldn’t exist. Thank you for your “yes” to God and for being just who you are.
Contents
First Things First
Part One
The Sacrament of Reconciliation
What Confession Is . . . And Isn’t
Preparing for Confession
During the Confession
Practical Tips for Making a Good Confession
FAQs on Confession
Part Two
The Examen
What Is the Examen?
Guided Examen Prayer Experiences
Part Three
Prayer and Scripture
Prayers for Reconciliation and Forgiveness
God’s Mercy in Scripture
The Last Step
Index
First Things First
I have a confession: I’ve never enjoyed going to Confession. In fact, it used to terrify me. Sharing the worst parts of myself with a priest? The thought made me cringe, and I could never remember the Act of Contrition under pressure. I’d go to Confession once a year because I knew I was supposed to . . . but then spend the other 364 days shoving it as far from my thoughts as possible.
It took a long time for me to realize that the sacrament of Reconciliation has nothing to do with checking off some arbitrary spiritual box or shaming myself in punishment for my sins. It’s not that at all. In reality, it’s an encounter with the God of mercy who longs to forgive me and free me from the chains that bind me. When a priest hears my Confession, he is acting in persona Christi, which means that I encounter the person and power of Christ through the presence and actions of the priest. In a very real way, Jesus Himself is lovingly listening to me and praying those prayers of reconciliation through the priest—the very same Jesus who shed every drop of His Blood on the Cross to save me from my sins. After going to Confession, I don’t need to doubt how God really feels or whether I’m actually forgiven. I know with total confidence that I have received forgiveness and God’s healing grace through the power of this sacrament—a sacrament that Christ gifted to His Church. And that is something to rejoice over, not run away from in fear.
Yet even knowing this, I still get nervous waiting in line for Confession. Honestly, I probably always will. But remembering what it’s really about makes it so much easier. So does knowing all the steps. Practice really does make perfect (or at least makes it a lot less stressful). When I started going to Confession more regularly and learned what to expect and how to properly prepare myself, that made a world of difference. That’s the difference I want to share with you.
In this book, you’ll find:
A guide to help you prepare for Confession (using an examination of conscience).
A step-by-step breakdown of what happens during the sacrament of Reconciliation.
Practical tips and tricks for making a good Confession.
Ways to become more aware of God’s presence in your everyday life through the examen prayer.
A collection of prayers and Scripture passages on mercy and forgiveness.
I hope that through these pages you’ll discover the confidence you need to take full advantage of this amazing sacrament and grow closer to our loving God. He’s waiting to heal you, strengthen you, and set you free. All He needs is for you to take the first step.
See you in the Confession line!
Sr. Allison Regina
lifelong sinner in need of God’s grace
Part One
The Sacrament of Reconciliation
What Confession Is . . . And Isn’t
Before it can rise, a [hot air] balloon needs to unload the weights. To rise to God, the soul needs to remove the small weights that are sins.
Blessed Carlo Acutis, patron of computer programmers
The Big Picture
The sacrament of Reconciliation, also called Confession or the sacrament of Penance, isn’t some elaborate ritual invented by the Catholic Church just to torture us. Nor is it a magic formula that we can use as an excuse to get away with things with the mentality, “Oh, I’ll just confess it later, God will forgive me.” Confession is a sacrament. Sacraments are visible signs given to us by Jesus that produce invisible, spiritual effects. They are one of the most important ways God communicates His grace to us and intervenes directly in our lives. The sacrament of Reconciliation is a gift from Jesus, who has the power to forgive sins because He is God. We see in the Bible how Jesus often forgave the sins of those who came to Him for healing. Although only God can forgive sins, Jesus made His apostles ministers of this power through the Holy Spirit when He appeared to them after the Resurrection and told them, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them” (John 20:23). The apostles and their successors, the bishops and priests, carried out this ministry of reconciliation from the very beginning of the Church. Though it looked quite different in the early centuries than it does today, the essence of the sacrament remains the same: reconciling a person with God through the divine forgiveness of sins.
So what, exactly, is a sin, and why is it so important that it’s forgiven? Sin is an action, word, or thought by which we turn away from God and His goodness. Sin always involves making a choice against God and His will. God is pure goodness, so an act that moves us away from God is by definition evil—a sin. Sin hurts our relationship with God, placing us in opposition to Him and to all that is true and good. It also hurts us because by choosing sin, we are separating ourselves from the very source of life and love. This has consequences not only for us, but for the people and world around us. When we lie or steal, other people suffer from the injustice we’re inflicting on them. When we are greedy or wasteful, this can also have negative implications for the environment and other living creatures, whom we have the responsibility to care for as part of God’s creation. Sin disrupts the harmony God intended and replaces it with discord, pain, and chaos.
