1. Improving Your Reception. As Catholics two of the most important actions we can accomplish are to go to Confession and to receive Holy Communion. In these Sacraments we have a direct contact with Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This being the case, we should make a concerted effort to improve our encounters with Jesus in these Sacraments.
2. Pray Beforehand.
3. Prepare even the night before. Have a good examination of conscience booklet and then find a quiet and contemplative place to examine your conscience.
4. Self-knowledge. One of the classical steps to make a good confession is contrition but also firm purpose of amendment. This entails rewinding the film of your life and seeing the various falls into sin. But also to capture what were the preceding causes that led to the sin.
5. Biblical Passages to Prepare Yourself. By praying Psalm 51 you have one of the best “Act of Contritions” ever composed, by none other than King David after having committed adultery with Bathsheba and killing an innocent man. Praying with the Word of God adds extra power to one’s prayer!
6. Frequent Confession. The saints highly recommend frequent confession as a most efficacious means of growing in sanctifying grace. Confession either restores sanctifying grace or it augments it. Of course this presupposes a thorough preparation.
7. Sacramental Grace. Each sacrament communicates grace. However every sacrament communicates a specific grace pertinent to that specific sacrament. For example, the specific sacramental grace communicated in the Eucharist or Holy Communion is that of nourishment. It is the Bread of life for the journey on the way to eternal life. The Sacramental grace of Confession is different. It is healing! Jesus came to feed us with His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Furthermore, He came as Divine Physician. Time and time again in the Gospels we see Jesus healing. The blind, deaf, deaf-mute, lepers, paralytics, even the dead, were healed and brought back to life by Jesus. Even now within the context of the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, Jesus heals us. The Sacraments of healing are the Sacraments of Confession and the Anointing of the Sick.
8. Qualities of a Good Confession.
1) complete sincerity and openness;
2) humility;
3) obedience.
Adhering to these qualities one cannot go wrong. Remember, we want to strive to make better Communions and Confessions until the end of our lives.
9. Avoid Discouragement. Even though one might fall frequently, never give in to discouragement. As St. Paul reminds us, “Where sin abounds God’s mercy abounds all the more.”
10. Mary and Mercy. Never forget to invite Mary to be present in your remote preparation for Confession, your immediate preparation for Confession. Behind many powerful conversions is of course the grace of God but also the maternal intercession of Mary!
