The effect of the Sacrament

The effect of the Sacrament of Reconciliation is to give us God’s complete forgiveness.  By making a good Confession we know that we are forgiven.

Besides forgiveness, we are given grace and strength by Our Lord to help us resist temptation.  Going to Confession also helps us to keep from committing sins.  It is much easier to commit sins than to confess sins.  By confessing our sins to a priest, we can also get advice and encouragement in our difficulties and temptations from someone who can help us and whom we can trust.

Full confession

In order to be forgiven it is necessary to confess every sin we can remember having committed.  To leave a sin out on purpose makes things much worse, because it is an attempt to lie to God, and no one can get forgiveness that way.  Indeed, to hide a sin in the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a sin in itself, the sin of sacrilege.  And in any case, Our Lord knows all about our sins because he has seen us commit every one.

The seal of confession

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is not merely private but confidential.  Priests are under a solemn vow never to reveal anything that is told to them in Confession, not even if someone confessed to having committed the sin of murder.  And that still applies to confessions made by people who have since died.  Priests cannot even speak to you afterwards about anything you said in Confession without first having your consent.  So you know that nothing you say in your Confession will ever be repeated.  That is what is called the seal of Confession, and that seal is never broken.

Some people imagine that priests will think the worse of them on account of the sins which they confess.  There is no fear of this at all.  Hearing confessions is completely apart from the ordinary lives of priests, and moreover, if they altered their attitude towards penitents, they would be breaking the seal.  As a matter in fact, priests think all the more of those who go to Confession, so you need not worry about that.