Reconciliation

Jesus entrusted the ministry of reconciliation to the Church.  The Sacrament of Penance is God's gift to us so that any sin committed after Baptism can be forgiven.  In confession, we have the opportunity to repent and recover the grace of friendship with God. It is a holy moment in which we place ourselves in his presence and honestly acknowledge our sins, especially mortal sins.  With absolution, we are reconciled to God and the Church. The Sacrament helps us stay close to the truth that we cannot live without God. "In him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this about the Sacrament of Reconciliation: 
1446 Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. the Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as "the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace."
1447 Over the centuries the concrete form in which the Church has exercised this power received from the Lord has varied considerably. During the first centuries, the reconciliation of Christians who had committed particularly grave sins after their Baptism (for example, idolatry, murder, or adultery) was tied to a very rigorous discipline, according to which penitents had to do public penance for their sins, often for years, before receiving reconciliation. To this "order of penitents" (which concerned only certain grave sins), one was only rarely admitted and in certain regions only once in a lifetime. During the seventh century Irish missionaries, inspired by the Eastern monastic tradition, took to continental Europe the "private" practice of penance, which does not require public and prolonged completion of penitential works before reconciliation with the Church. From that time on, the sacrament has been performed in secret between penitent and priest. This new practice envisioned the possibility of repetition and so opened the way to a regular frequenting of this sacrament. It allowed the forgiveness of grave sins and venial sins to be integrated into one sacramental celebration. In its main lines, this is the form of penance that the Church has practiced down to our day.
1448 Beneath the changes in discipline and celebration that this sacrament has undergone over the centuries, the same fundamental structure is to be discerned. It comprises two equally essential elements: on the one hand, the acts of the man who undergoes conversion through the action of the Holy Spirit: namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction; on the other, God's action through the intervention of the Church. the Church, who through the bishop and his priests forgives sins in the name of Jesus Christ and determines the manner of satisfaction, also prays for the sinner and does penance with him. Thus the sinner is healed and re-established in ecclesial communion.
 

All Catholics are not only invited but joyfully welcome to go to confession. In fact, we are required as Catholics to go to Confession at least once a year, but certainly should go more. This is because Confession is Jesus' gift to us to restore our relationship to Him and to others!

Confession times at Triumph of the Holy Cross take place at the following times
Monday: 6:30-7:30 at Saint Elizabeth Campus
Saturday: 10:30-11:30 at Saint Thomas A'Becket
Anytime by request

Here is a step by step guide prepared by CatholicTruth on preparing for Confession

STEPS FOR PREPARATION 

1. Take a good amount of time to pray and prepare beforehand, whether at home or in a church. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and to enlighten you in this process and to help call to mind all the sins that need to be confessed.

2. Presumably it has been a while for you. Therefore, we recommend taking at least 20 or 30 minutes in quiet to think of and reflect on your sins. During this prayer time, think of as many sins as possible that have been committed over the years – small ones, large ones, and “I really wish I didn’t do that” ones.

3. Write them all down one by one either on paper or on your phone. After you think of as many as you can, then look at the Examination of Conscience here that we provide to see if you missed anything.

4. After writing everything you can think of down, look over the list and take a little time to consider how you got to this place and how you can avoid doing it again in the future. Also reflect on how these sins may have hurt God, others, relationships in your life, and even yourself. Consider why you did them and how you can avoid them in the future whenever possible. It’s important to feel sorrow for your sins and how we hurt God and others.

GOING TO CONFESSION & WHAT TO SAY

5. Find a good priest and go to confession. Bring that sheet of paper (or your phone) into confession with you to help you remember all your sins and so you won’t have the stress of trying to recall them all by memory.

6. When ready, go in to see the priest. In the confessional (or a room), there is usually a chair where you can sit to face the priest or a kneeler with a screen between the two of you. You can choose whichever you prefer if you have the option. Face to face or behind the screen.

7. The priest will welcome you with some words, and when he finishes, say: Bless me, Father, for I have sinned, and the last time I went to confession was ____ years ago, and here are my sins. Then confess your sins one by one, slowly and thoughtfully, with great contrition in your heart.

Side Note: When in confession, you are not confessing your sins to the priest himself but to God! The priest is just the vessel of forgiveness, but it is God who forgives your sins. So, if you are scared or nervous, it’s nice to remember this. It sometimes helps to close your eyes as you state your sins and picture giving each one to God and God smiling, erasing it forever.

7. After you are finished, the priest will ask you to say your “Act of Contrition” (which you can find online or use the one we provide below). Pray it from the bottom of your heart to God thinking of the words.

8. Then the priest will then bless you, forgive you, and say “Go in peace, your sins have been forgiven.” Then, he will give you a penance which you will say in the church. It might be one Hail Mary, or an Our Father, or to read a passage of the Bible, a decade of the Rosary, etc.

At this point, you can know for sure that all your sins have been forgiven by our good and gracious God and forgotten. God will breathe new life into you if you ask Him. Ask God to fill you with light, love, peace, and joy, and the strength to do better in the future.

When you finish everything, delete the sins from your phone (or rip up the paper) so nobody sees them, but also as a symbolic sign that Jesus, our loving Savior, just forgave all of your sins and you are completely free of them. They are deleted from your life!

Also note that it’s important to make a firm purpose of amendment, meaning to make the necessary changes in your life to better yourself and say that you will not go down that road again. Obviously, nobody is perfect, but make a commitment to God to live wholly for Him!

If you are worried about going to confession, scared, or if you have gone but don’t feel forgiven (even though you are), we have two videos below which will absolutely help you and assure you of the great and wonderful, and life-changing love of our God in Jesus Christ!