One of the hardest things for most people is to admit when we have made a mistake. There are mistakes and then there are sins. We can say that all sins are mistakes, but not all mistakes are sins. We Catholics should be used to admitting mistakes because we are asked at the beginning of every Mass to recall our sins. We are required to confess our sins in the sacrament of reconciliation at least once a year and encouraged to do so on a regular basis. 

Bishop Joel M. Konzen, SM

Priests know that summoning the will to confess is not easy because they hear the confessions of people who have sometimes been absent from the sacrament for years. Still, penitents of all ages attest to the sense of relief and renewal that accompanies receiving God’s forgiveness. It is like that for some people in going to the doctor. They put it off and then later regret that they didn’t make those visits on a regular basis. The analogy is apt: waiting to confess our sins results in greater anxiety and reluctance than being in the habit of making use of the sacrament that is available in every Catholic parish. 

As to the mistakes that are not sins, there is also a freeing that follows our admitting of any fault. Parents know that one of the markers of a child’s healthy development is the ability to admit a mistake and to take responsibility for it. If it is an offense against another person, that includes asking for forgiveness. When the other person says that forgiveness is granted, the relationship receives a fresh start. 

Such is the way with our relationship to God. It needs to be assessed regularly in an examination of conscience. People skilled in the spiritual life are accustomed to making an examination of their actions each day and incorporating the results in their prayer. There are many other ways to pray and things to pray for, but our relation to God is at the heart of all our prayer. We want to keep that relationship healthy, requiring an honest measurement of where we stand in relation to God and his expectations. 

Just as the innocence of our early years has a way of being obscured in the advance of years and the opportunities to stray that come with aging, so our willingness to account for our wrongdoing often undergoes a similar decline. It takes greater effort to make the accounting of our actions as the offenses become greater. We drag our feet. Avoiding reconciliation sometimes leads to avoiding Mass. There is also embarrassment over the repetition of failings. 

There is good news in that we are not alone in our need to find our way to admitting our mistakes and seeking forgiveness. It is part of the human condition. The other Good News is that Jesus tells us repeatedly that our forgiveness by God corresponds to our forgiveness of the wrongs against us. As we learn to present ourselves to God for healing, we are learning to offer forgiveness so that those who have wronged us may be healed—the words we recite each time we pray the ‘Our Father.’ This is the powerful basis for a civilized society as well as for maintaining our all-important relationship with God. 

To be a spiritual adult is to understand our need to forgive and to be forgiven, a fundamental truth of our faith. Jesus, through St. Peter, has provided us with the means to unburden ourselves and to seek reconciliation. Clearly, God, from the beginning, wanted us to live free and productive lives. Hence, he sent Jesus to show us the way. We need only examine our record and proceed to admit any wrongs. The forgiveness and the joy of relief await.