Confession

Why is confession a good thing? It is even one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church.  I think that confession to another person is a good thing because it is a place to tell our secrets.  Our secrets will kill us, I have heard said.  We can talk about actions, thoughts, fears, feelings, and in the telling, our secrets lose their power to hurt or embarrass us.  If we tell the right person, someone who keeps confidences, someone who accepts and does not judge, then we feel a sense of relief, freedom from our secrets, even our bad habits.  This can help to make it easier for us to love and accept others.  As a priest, I hear secrets.  But someone who sponsors another on a spiritual path, a mentor, can also hear secrets.  I don’t want my obituary to say, “Death by secrets.”