What Should I Do While Waiting for Confession?
While waiting your turn for Confession, pray before the Blessed Sacrament, continue prayerfully examining your conscience, or read a spiritual book. Avoid scrolling on your phone or chatting with the person behind you in line: distraction makes it difficult to orient your soul to the Lord in true contrition. Once you’ve entered the confessional and closed the door behind you, kneel behind a screen for anonymity.
What to Do and Say When You First Enter the Confessional
1. Kneel or sit down. You can kneel behind the screen; the priest will initiate with a prayer or greeting. Then the priest proceeds to the Sign of the Cross. Start by making the Sign of the Cross, and state approximately how long it has been since your last Confession (this assists with accountability and gives the priest a sense of how to guide you).
“Bless me (or forgive me), Father, for I have sinned. It has been ___ [weeks or months or years] since my last Confession.”
How to Say Your Sins in Confession
2. Simply state your sins: Be straightforward yet specific in listing your sins. If you can, mention the number of times you committed them. Conclude by saying something along the lines of “I am sorry for these and all my sins.” This indicates to Father that you are finished and covers any lesser sins you might have inadvertently forgotten. (Note: mortal sins must be specifically addressed in the confessional; a mortal sin that is deliberately withheld is not forgiven. If you genuinely forget a mortal sin, you are conditionally forgiven for it but should confess it as soon as possible once you recall it).
What Does the Priest Do After I Say My Sins in Confession?
3. Penance: After hearing your sins, Father may offer some brief spiritual counsel that will help you overcome your sins and transform your soul in Christ. He will also give you a penance, which “can consist of prayer, an offering, works of mercy, service of neighbor, voluntary self-denial, sacrifices, and above all the patient acceptance of the cross we must bear. Such penances help configure us to Christ, who alone expiated our sins once for all.” (CCC 1460). Pay close attention to the penance that Father assigns to you. It is important to complete the act of confessing your sins by fulfilling your penance.
When Do I Say the Act of Contrition in Confession?
4. Act of Contrition: Next, the priest will ask you to pray aloud the Act of Contrition. There are different versions of this prayer (the priest may even lead you in one of his own choosing), but here is the most common form: “O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.”
When Is the Moment My Sins Are Actually Forgiven in Confession?
5. Absolution: The prayer of absolution is the moment when all your sins are forgiven by God through the divine authority given to the priest. Father will extend both his hands (or perhaps just his right hand) toward you and proclaim the following prayer: “God, the Father of mercies, through the Death and Resurrection of his Son, has reconciled the world to himself and poured out the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church, may God grant you pardon and peace. And I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Make the Sign of the Cross as the priest blesses you, and at the end of the prayer, respond, “Amen.”
When Is Confession Over?
6. Dismissal: The priest concludes the rite of confession with joyful words of praise to God. You might hear him begin, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,” to which you respond, “His mercy endures forever.” Then, he might dismiss you with a prayer, such as: “May the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the saints, whatever good you do and suffering you endure heal your sins, help you to grow in holiness, and reward you with ternal life.” The response is : “Amen”
Or the Father may simply say: “Go in peace.” You should respond, “Thanks be to God.”
In taking leave of the priest, it is kind to say something like “Thank you Father, and God bless you!” or “Thank you, Father, I will pray for you.” When you exit the confessional, be sure to leave the door open for the next penitent.
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