Remember, God doesn’t gain anything from it. It’s you who will benefit!
Even if you go to confession regularly, the idea of accusing yourself of all your wrongdoings is never appealing. In fact, that knot that forms in your stomach at the very idea of getting in the confessional line might be cause enough to put the sacrament off, again and again.
But in this beautiful liturgical season as we prepare our hearts for God’s grace, let this wisdom from the great Doctor of the Church, John Chrysostom, motivate you to open your hearts, and take advantage of the sacrament! God doesn’t gain anything from it. It’s you who will benefit!
Even if you do not confess, God is not ignorant of the deed, since he knew it before it was committed. Why then do you not speak of it? Does the transgression become heavier by the confession? No, it becomes lighter and less troublesome.
And this is why he wants you to confess: not that you should be punished, but that you should be forgiven; not that he may learn your sin—how could that be, since he has seen it?—but that you may learn what favor he bestows.
He wishes you to learn the greatness of his grace, so that you may praise him perfectly, that you may be slower to sin, that you may be quicker to virtue.
And if you do not confess the greatness of the need, you will not understand the enormous magnitude of his grace.
