I Confess the Same Sins
One
I confess the same sins over and over and nothing changes. So why keep going to confession? What is the use?
Let’s assume you have confessed all the grave sins you are aware of, and you are in a state of grace. Then why is it that we can’t get over our sins once and for all?
The CCC 1472 tells us that we punish ourselves by our sin in two ways. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life. But by the Sacrament of Reconciliation God forgives our sin and restores our relationship with Him thus removing the eternal punishment of sin. He also gives us an increase of His divine life to strengthen us to overcome vice and live virtuously.
The second way we punish ourselves by our sin is that every sin, even venial sin creates an unhealthy attachment to things of this world which turns us away from God. These unhealthy attachments are what we call vices: Pride, vainglory, envy, sloth, anger, greed, gluttony, lust, etc.
Confession removes our guilt, restores the relationship with God, and increases grace in our soul.
What Confession does not do is remove the bad habit, the vice. Vice is like the roots of the weeds of sin. If we don’t pull up the roots the weed grows back. If we don’t root out the vice, the sin keeps coming back and we confess it over and over.
Two
If we want to get rid of the weed in our soul, the vices we confess over and over, then we need to do what we’re doing here in the Rosary - daily meditation with a resolution.
Teresa of Avila gives us three simple steps for mental prayer. Recall that God the Father, Son, and Spirit dwell in your soul. Begin with Vocal Prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to help you to pray. Begin with an Our Father, Hail Mary or any prayer of your choice or just speak to God from the heart.
First, read or listen to something from the Word of God found in Scripture, Tradition (the writings of the Saints), or the Magisterium (the teaching of the Church). As soon as something strikes you – stop reading.
Second, reflect or think about what struck you. To understand the supernatural truth, love God for this truth, and then apply that truth to your life. Am I living this or not? If I am not living this, then what habitual or root vice(s) are preventing me? Pride, vanity, envy, sloth, anger, greed, gluttony, lust, etc. What occasions of sin, what circumstances prompt me to fall into this vice or sin? It is essential to learn two things by the double reflection on the Word of God and one’s life: One’s dominant habitual sins and the occasions that lead to those sins.
Finally, make a resolution. Choose something practical and concrete to remember or to do that day based on your meditation to stop a vice and practice the conquering virtue.
Three
We will only get the weeds out of our soul if we practice a resolution flowing from our meditation every day.
The purpose of prayer is that we should change and become more like God. We will change if, with the help of God’s grace, we practice the truth that God impressed upon us during our meditation. We will not change if we don’t. In fact, we will get worse, because fallen human nature tends toward sin, not virtue, without effort and God’s grace.
St. Francis De Sales said on the importance of a resolution, “The most important thing of all is that you cling firmly to the resolutions you have taken in meditation so as to practice them carefully. That is the great fruit of meditation, without which it is often not only useless but harmful. Why so? Because the virtues upon which we have meditated but not practiced sometimes puff us up so much in mind and heart that we think we are already what we are resolved to be which no doubt is the case if our resolutions are solid and ardent. But when, on the contrary, they are not practiced, they are useless and dangerous.” (Introduction to the Devout Life, II Chap 8)
Examples of a resolution:
Today I will listen more than I speak
I will not gossip today
I complain too much,
Today I will practice thanking God ahead of time for working everything for good
I am anxious - today I will replace that feeling of Anxiety with an Act of Trust in God
Then try to remember your meditation all day long. This remembrance will change the way you think and the way you act.
Four
If we want to overcome our vices and sins then we need to go to Jesus in the Eucharist.
There are amazing benefits to receiving Jesus in the Eucharist often, even daily. The Catechism tells us, ”Receiving the Eucharist increases our union with Christ.” And the Lord said, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me.” John 6
The Eucharist nourishes our soul. “Growth in Christian life needs the nourishment of the Eucharist. The bread for our pilgrimage until the moment of death.”
The Eucharist separates us from sin. The Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins.
St. Ambrose said, “If as often as his blood is poured out it is poured out for the forgiveness of sins, I should always receive it so that it may always forgive my sins. Because I always sin, I should always have a remedy.”
Jesus awaits us at Mass to pour His saving and divine life into our souls to make us capable of doing what is impossible to do on our own.
Go to Him as often as you can.
Five
If we want to overcome our vices and grow in virtue and holiness, then we all need a spiritual director.
The great spiritual masters like John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, and Francis De Sales believed spiritual direction was not optional because a person without a director is like a blind man who takes the wrong road.
Proverbs 28:26 tells us that, “He who trusts his own mind is a fool.”
We all need a faithful and objective voice to help us see more clearly, to remind us of what the Holy Spirit has already made known, but we have forgotten and to help us see what we are blind to.
St. Francis De Sales writes, “Do you want to advance confidently along the path of perfection and the love of God? Then seek someone who can direct you. This is the most important advice I can give you.”
If you are committed to overcoming your vices, to growing in your relationship with Jesus in prayer, and growing in holiness – then you need a spiritual director and we can help you. Since 2011 we have been forming men and women to be spiritual directors. Just go to schooloffaith.com, click the button in the middle of the page that says “Learn more about the spiritual mentorship program”, scroll down, and select the green button on the right that says, “Need a mentor?”