The sacrament of PENANCE

The power to forgive sins is a wonderful gift that God has given to priests. He first gave this gift to the apostles on the evening of the day of His Resurrection. He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive men’s sins; they are forgiven them; if you hold them bound, then they are bound.” It was at this moment that the ability to forgive sins was given to the apostles.
The sacrament of penance shows how merciful and forgiving God is. No matter how bad you have sinned against him, if you are truly sorry, he will forgive you.
There are five very important things to remember to do when you go to confession. They are:

1. Ask yourself how you have offended God.
2. Be truly sorry for your sins.
3. Make up your mind not to sin again.
4. Tell your sins to the priest.
5. Do the penance the priest gives you.

Sorrow for your sins is the most important part of confession. The words the priest uses to forgive a sinner are, “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

to forgive

After his resurrection, Jesus passed on his mission to forgive sins to his ministers, telling them, "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you. . . . Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:21–23).

"It is necessary to confess our sins to those to whom the dispensation of God’s mysteries is entrusted. Those doing penance of old are found to have done it before the saints. It is written in the Gospel that they confessed their sins to John the Baptist [Matt. 3:6].

from http://www.catholic.com/library/Confession.asp

PostSecrets.com from this week

"My biggest secret isnt even my own maybe sending this post secret will release me. Ive never told a soul your secret.

I should have"

This is another example of confession that I could used in my paper

http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/994/593/1600/617802/myown.jpg

From PostSecret “I love black girls and I am white” and then with a pencil (It’s OK!) Under this postcard the author of the book Frank Warren wrought: At the Artomatic exhibit, “it’s OK” was added to this card anonymously (Page 107).