Afterwards

When the priest says:

“The Lord has put away your sins” and
“Go in peace, and pray for me, a sinner”, (3)

you go back to your place.  You can give the priest your self-examination paper to burn, or you can burn it yourself at the first opportunity.

Say the penance and thank God

When you get back to your place, you at once say the penance given to you by the priest.  Then you thank God for his goodness to you.  You can say the prayers of thanksgiving after Confession in your book, or Psalm 103 which begins, “Praise the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me praise his holy Name”, and is a very suitable act of thanksgiving.

Go out and be happy!

Then you can go out and be happy.  For God’s forgiveness brings great happiness which people who do not go to Confession have no idea of.  And not only does confession and forgiveness bring us great joy, it also brings great joy to Our Lord and our Holy Guardian Angel.  For Jesus is glad to see us receive the forgiveness which he won for us at the terrible cost of the Crucifixion; and, as he has told us, “…there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (NRSV, Luke 15:10).

We should go to Confession if we fall into serious sin, and before the great Festivals of the Church, and in particular before Easter.