Confessing our Sins

Spiritual growth is mainly shadow work. It’s all about facing the truth about yourself. Allowing that such weakness is part of your being, and admitting it in front of others, is an exercise that will help you grow in life.

There is no one that is perfect, no one flawless. But very often we think we are better than others and maybe holier than the rest. So we do our best to hide our shadows and deny all weakness. We have the right excuse for every one of them. This shadow or weakness is not evil in itself. But it does allow us to do evil without knowing. That’s the whole issue of Jesus with the Pharisees. They were not bad people. They just never admitted they were weak. So they did their best to look holier than others. Thus Jesus insists on them to accept the truth about themselves, without trying to be something else or a hypocrite (a Greek word meaning “actor”).

Dealing with this shadow is all about humiliation. You will not like that, I am sure. But that’s the only way to grow depending on a loving God. To deal directly with this, God gave us a good exercise, that of admitting our weakness in front of others. In the Catholic Church we call this the sacrament of confession. It’s all about admitting our faults in front of other human beings so as to admit the truth about ourselves with all humility. St James encourages us to confess our sins in front of each other to be healed (James 5:16). Admitting this truth brings healing. Today, we confess in front of a priest. In the beginning, Christians used to confess their sins in the community. That’s a real humiliating act. That, and only that, will help you to grow spiritually and be healed, as you deal directly with your shadow.

So the sacrament of confession is more than just a way to receive forgiveness. God forgives always. I hope we all accept that He does not forgive only Catholics. But this sacrament is the best method God gave us to do the shadow work and deal with our reality humbly. Thus you will grow spiritually and be healed.