Guidebook for Confession

by Scepter Publishers

The sacrament of reconciliation and penance is one of the great helps to friendship with God and spiritual progress. This booklet advises on ways to prepare for confession -- a necessary step to making a good confession and avoiding the routine which can so easily creep into religious practice.

Genres: Religion

40 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1996

Reviews

[Daniel Morgan]

This is a pretty basic confession guide - what is the Sacrament, why is it important, what are the steps, and then a guide for examining sins in your life. There's nothing wrong with it, but I don't think I'd actually recommend it for a few reasons:

1. It presents early modern scholastic theology as the obvious/only approach. For example, in the distinction between mortal and venial sins, in the view of penance as repaying a debt, etc. I wish more time was spent on either the theology of the early church or the theology of the non-Latin churches.

2. Speaking of early church, I also wish more time was spent talking about, you know, Jesus. Aside from a 1-sentence quote, He doesn't seem to figure at all in this book.

3. I know most confession-guides just go through the 10 commandments, but I think it would be interesting if some of them looked at alternate rubrics - for example, the 7 deadly sins, or looking at how well we follow Gospel/New Testament instructions, etc.

4. The guide itself isn't really all that useful - I feel like anyone who has ever heard the ten commandments could figure out what the guide suggests. And some of the sins are a little bit odd. For example (commandment number up front):

- #3: In my home, do I try to mark the feast days of the Church with a little celebration?
- # 4: Do I put time and effort into winning the friendship of my children? (#Americanparenting)
- # 6: Do I engage in prolonged embraces?
- # 6: Do I make a point of celebrating birthdays?
- # 7: Do I waste time or materials at work? (#capitalism)

It is a testament to how banal this book is that these all made the cut and not, say, racial prejudice, stewardship of the environment, consumer choices, warmongering or the arms trade, or any of the other social sins that actually impact people outside the immediate personal life. Or hell, helping the poor only came in twice (#5 improve quality of life for those who suffer hardship, and # 7 being generous in giving alms), despite being a core theme of the entire Bible.

The book I would actually recommend is Confession Can Change Your Life

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

[Steven R. McEvoy]

This little booklet will help you understand the importance, significance and benefits of frequent confession. It draws its inspiration from Pope John Paul II's address Ad Limina given in April 1983. It is a great little guidebook.

The chapters are:

0. Words of our Holy Father
1. A Helping Hand
2. The New Rite of Penance
3. How to Make a Good Confession
4. The Apostolate of Reconciliation
5. An Examination of Conscience
6. The Commandment of the Church and Some Basic Prayers

The second chapter has a step-by-step guide on "how-to" for the process of penance. Chapter 5 goes through each of the 10 Commandments with an explanation of the spirit of the commandment, and has a series of questions to help you think about your life, and how this commandment affects your life.

The book finishes with a small collection of prayers - those often used in penance, and those used in confession. This is a great little book that will help you understand this Sacrament if you don't practice it, and will help it be more fruitful if you do.

[Holly Johnsen]

This is a short, sweet, and incredibly helpful guide for someone like me (a convert) who struggles with confession.

[Jenn]

Excellent book to give you an understanding about how to properly go about confessing your sins at confession.