Do we really have faith in the sacrament of confession? I mean, if we do, what is taking so long in there?
I’m not talking about people who make an appointment to talk things through with a priest, or who make a special confession on retreat. I’m talking about the Saturday morning confession line: you close the door behind you just as you did last month and don’t come out for fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five minutes.
All that’s needed for the full and merciful sacramental power of Christ and his Church to be unleashed upon you is sincere repentance, an honest confession of your mortal sins—in kind and number—a real intention to change, and absolution by the priest. Does that really take twenty minutes?
Maybe for you, it does. Or maybe the priest takes up that time to talk through something with you. Perhaps you haven’t been to confession in decades. Fine. We understand. Praise God. We’ll wait.
But let’s be honest: some priests regularly take forever with penitents, and some penitents regularly take forever with priests. If someone’s confession normally takes twenty minutes, these are the culprits.
And this is problematic in two ways. First, it is inconsiderate of the mother waiting in line with her young children, the elderly man who can’t stand comfortably, or the anxious person who is just trying to hold it together out there.
Second, it suggests a lack of trust in the power of the sacrament—as if we have to work something up, explain ourselves, or add a little English to our pitch. Better to prepare before you enter and humble yourself by making a simple, clear, and compact confession. No backstory, no explication. Just you acknowledging your sins.
Are you wanting to feel the proper shame for your sins? Just say them out loud without padding. That’ll do the trick. You do not make the sacrament more powerful by adding words. You are not the one doing the saving work. Jesus is. And other people are waiting to speak with him.