The importance of confession

Today, I made my confession. It isn't something I do often, partly because I always dread going. I worry that I'll know the priest, I worry that I won't properly confess my sins, I worry that stress at the entire interaction will make me forget to concentrate on the actual purpose of my visit. It's never easy to tell another person (let alone God) everything that you've done wrong in the past few months, everything that you feel the most guilty about. Because of this, I only venture into church for confession a few times a year, and I try to make sure that I don't know the priest I'll be speaking to, and that I'll be in an unfamiliar environment.

Despite all my "precautions", I always leave confession feeling a great outpouring of relief and thankfulness. As painful as it is to confess my sins to God, I always feel so thankful that they have been forgiven. Confession is a reminder that I am loved unconditionally, and for some reason I constantly forget that and need to be reminded of it. Another reminder is that this unconditional love is bound up with the sinful nature of all people - perhaps this is a glass-half-full/glass-half-empty point. Some people may find it depressing and/or unrealistic to see human beings as intrinsically prone to evil things... but I think it very helpful. For me, it puts human life into perspective, and makes it clear that doing good takes effort, concentration and motivation. Human beings do so much good, but in order to do so they must act in a positive sense - good cannot be done passively. Although this outlook may seem bleak, it gives me real hope - whenever I leave the confessional, I feel as if a great burden has been lifted from me, and I am reminded of (and more committed to) the importance of doing good whenever I can, of helping myself and others to live the best life possible. Confession is (I feel) often overlooked as a sacrament, but in terms of its impact on my life, I think it's one of the most important of them all.