Continued from yesterday...
...Confession
The graces of Confession
Confession, like the other Sacraments, is a river of Divine grace, which flows from the heart of God into the heart of the sinner.
What is Grace? Few understand and appreciate this Divine gift, and yet it is the most wonderful reality in our lives. St. Peter tells us that it is a real participation in the Divine nature, raising us up, ennobling us, strengthening, purifying and beautifying our souls, making us like the Angels, likening us to God Himself. It gives us a completely new life, a new vigor, a new power. It gives a Divine light to our understanding, by which we grasp the Divine truths which God has revealed to us, which otherwise we could never understand.
It gives a new and mighty energy to our wills so that we can perform all our duties well and easily.
But confession has its own special graces. Dear Reader, weigh them well:
First of all, it pardons our sins.
Secondly, it gives us light to see the enormity of sin.
Thirdly, it gives us strength to avoid sin.
Fourthly, it is the easiest and best penance we can perform because it washes our souls in the Precious Blood of Jesus. It thus lessens our time in Purgatory, or possibly delivers us altogether from Purgatory.
Fifthly, it comforts and consoles us, most effectively.
Sixthly, it makes us love God and hate sin.
Seventhly, it helps us potently to correct our defects, which make us so disagreeable to others, make us so unhappy ourselves and make us offend God...
[Continued tomorrow]
_________________________
From An Easy Way to Become a Saint
by E. D. M. (1949)
The Catholic Printing Press
Lisbon, Portugal
With Ecclesiastical Approbation
13th June 1949
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