Things Needed to Make a Good Confession
292. Five things are necessary to make a good confession: 1. examination of conscience; 2. pain for sins; 3. purpose of amendment; 4. to confess sins to the priest; 5. to perform the penance imposed by the confessor.
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1. Examination of conscience
293. An examination of conscience is to try diligently to remember the sins committed since the last confession well made.
294. The examination of conscience is made by asking God for light in order to know the sins committed, and by thinking of the commandments of the Law of God and of the Church and the obligations of one's own state (state: single, married, religious, servant, son, teacher, etc.).
295. In the examination, we must find out the number of mortal sins we made.
296. We must think of the circumstances that change the species, or that change sin from venial to mortal.
Attention should be focused especially on the dominant passion and the occasions for sinning.
For the examination of conscience, we must employ the diligence that is employed in an important business.
More or less time must be spent, according to the number, quality of the sins committed, and the time that has elapsed since the last confession well made.
The examination of conscience is greatly facilitated by the examination of the day's works every night.
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2. Pain for sins
297. To have pain for one's sins means to repent of having committed them.
298. The pain for sins is in two ways: perfect or contrition, and imperfect or attrition.
299. Perfect pain or contrition is a regret for having offended God for being who He is (for being infinitely good and worthy of being loved above all things), with the purpose of confessing.
The pain of contrition is called perfect, because it is born of God's love.
He who makes an act of prefect contrition, immediately obtains the forgiveness of his sins, even before confession; but he is obliged to confess them in due time.
Perfect pain forgives mortal sins, because he who does an act of perfect pain has in his soul the love of God, which cannot be together with mortal sin.
300. Imperfect pain or attrition is a regret of having offended God, either for fear of His punishments, or for the ugliness of sin.
The ugliness of sin is that it deprives the soul of all its beauty, which is grace, and makes it contemptible in the sight of God.
Attrition is imperfect pain, because it is born of the fear of God.
With attrition, sins are forgiven when the penitent receives absolution.
301. Of these two pains of sins, perfect pain or contrition is better, because it is born of filial love for God our Lord.
It is easier to have attrition than perfect contrition.
[Remember that Our Lady of the Roses speaks loud and clear against that people who think that they are forgiven without sacramental Confession]
For there to be true pain for sins, there is no need for a sensible pain such as that felt for the death of a loved one; it is enough that the will simply detests sin, for the reasons of attrition or contrition.
303. The pain for sins must be borne before the confessor absolves the penitent.
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Need for pain
Of the five things necessary to make a good confession, the most necessary is pain.
Without pain there is no forgiveness of sins.
[It seems to me that if we have been going to confession without meditating well all our lives (in order to have attrition or contrition), we must make a general confession of all sins, having sought a pious priest.]
In some cases, such as in a shipwreck, in a battle, etc., sins are forgiven without the need for examination of conscience, without full confession, without satisfaction; but without pain, sins are never forgiven.
That is why, when there is a seriously ill person, one should not wait until he loses consciousness to receive spiritual help, since without repentance there is no forgiveness of sins.
When we go to confession, we must try, with great care, to have real pain for sins.
We must have pain for all mortal sins.
He who confesses only mortal sins must have pain at least from some, for if he had no pain at all, the confession would be null, and if this were with warning, it would be a grave sacrilege.
It is very good to pray the act of contrition often, especially:
1º Before going to bed
2º When one has committed a mortal sin, or doubts that he has committed it.
3º In danger of death.
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3. Purpose
304. The purpose of amendment is a firm resolution never again to offend God.
The purpose, in the case of mortal sins, must be universal, perpetual, and efficacious.
Universal: of all sins.
Perpetual: for life.
Effective: having a will that is completely determined to flee from dangerous occasions and to uproot bad habits.
Dangerous occasions are understood to be all those circumstances of time, place, person or things that by their very nature or by our frailty lead us to sin.
By habit is meant the acquired disposition to fall easily into those sins to which one is accustomed.
To correct bad habits, we must watch over ourselves, pray a lot, go to confession, have a good permanent director, and put into practice the advice and remedies he gives us.
The true pain for our sins is always accompanied by the true purpose of amendment.
When a man, after confessing, immediately commits the same mortal sins, without any amendment being noticed, it is very much to be feared that the confessions have been made without pain and without real purpose.
To make amends for sins is a good sign that confession has been well made.
Pain and purpose must precede confession, or, at least, absolution.
One should try to do it in advance and not wait for the moment of confession itself.
305. In order to excite oneself to pain and a true purpose of amendment, it will be advisable, before approaching the confessor, to ask the Lord for His help, to meditate for a few moments on the benefits that the Lord has done us, to think of His passion and death, and to say with fervor the act of contrition.