Choose a topic from Part 3 Suppl:
1. Confession of sins is necessary for the normalreception of the sacrament of penance. As penance is necessary forthe salvation of one who has committed mortal sin after baptism, soalso confession of these sins is necessary.
2. Confession is not a requirement born of the naturallaw, but is requisite by the supernatural institution of Christ.Our Lord gave his priest the power to forgive sins, setting up thesacrament as a kind of judgment in which testimony (or confession)indicates whether sins are to be forgiven or retained.
3. All who are bound to contrition and satisfaction arebound to confession. And, since all who have sinned are bound tocontrition and satisfaction, all who have sinned are required toconfess. The Church, by her law, imposes on all her children theduty of confession.
4. Confession is to be made in truth and sincerity. Hence,a man would do wrong, no matter what his motive, if he were toconfess a sin he had not committed.
5. A person who has committed mortal sin should confess itas soon as he reasonably can do so. But we cannot say that he isstrictly obliged to take the earliest opportunity ofconfessing.
6. Confession is required of all adult children of theChurch. There is no such thing as dispensation from the duty ofconfessing.
"God gives us some things, as the beginning of faith, even when we do not pray. Other things, such as perseverance, he has only provided for those who pray."
St Augustine
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"Whom do you seek, friend, if you seek not God? Seek him, find him, cleave to him; bind your will to his with bands of steel and you will live always at peace in this life and in the next."
St Alphonsus de Liguori
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"A single act of uniformity with the divine will suffices to make a saint."
St Alphonsus de Liguori
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