Prayers Before Confession

• (Find a traditional Latin Rite Confessional, click here)
  
  Knowing that the following prayers are a necessary precursor to the full, traditional sacrament of penance and that they will be echoed by the priest in persona cristi, during the prayers of Absolution, humbly kneel, make the sign of the cross, and begin.

O ALMIGHTY and most merciful God, Who have made me out of nothing and redeemed me by the precious Blood of Your only Son, Who have borne with me to this day with so much patience, notwithstanding my sins and ingratitude, behold me, O Lord, prostrate at Your feet to implore Your forgiveness. I sincerely desire to forsake all my evil ways, to leave this region of death where I have lost myself for so long, and to return to You; the Fountain of life. Like the prodigal child, I earnestly resolve to examine myself, and with similar determination, to rise without delay and go home to my Father. Though I am infinitely unworthy to be called His child, I hope for a reception from His most tender mercy. I know that You desire not the death of a sinner, but that he may be converted and live. I recognize that Your mercies surpass all Your works; and I confidently hope that just as in Your mercy You have spared me for so long, and have now given me this desire to return to You, You will complete the work You have begun and bring me to a perfect reconciliation with You.

I now desire to comply with Your holy institution of the Sacrament of Penance. I yearn to confess my sins with all sincerity to You and to Your minister. Therefore, I resolve to know myself and to hold myself accountable through a diligent examination of my conscience.

But, O my good God, what will it avail me to know my sins, if You do not also grant me a heartfelt sorrow and repentance for them? Without this, my sins will still be against me, and I shall remain Your enemy and a child of hell. You insist upon a change of heart, without which there can be no reconciliation with Thee; and this change of heart none but Thou canst give. Oh! give it me, then, dear Lord, at this time. Give me a lively faith and a firm hope in the Passion of my Re-deemer. Teach me to fear Thee and to love Thee. Give me, for Thy mercy's sake, a hearty sorrow for having offended so good a God.

O blessed Virgin, Mother of my Redeemer, mirror of innocence and sanctity, and refuge of penitent sinners, intercede for me, through the Passion of Thy Son, that I may obtain the grace to make a good confession. O, all you blessed Angels and Saints of God, pray for me, a most miserable sinner, that I may now effectually turn from my evil ways, that my heart may hencefor ward be forever united with yours in eternal love, and never more go astray from the sovereign Good. Amen.

Now pray the LITANIES OF REPENTANCE, which invite us to look a little deeper into our heart. As the litany proceeds, we move from external behaviors to interior dispositions and drives, as well as sins of omission. Pray them slowly so that they may seep into the heart.

In reparation for sins against justice

In reparation for sins against modesty

In reparation for sins against purity

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In reparation for sins against truth

In reparation for all sins against the human person

In reparation for sins against children and the young

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In reparation for sins against the innocent and trusting

In reparation for sins against the frail and elderly

In reparation for sins against the unborn and infants

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In reparation for sins against the weak and powerless

In reparation for sins against immigrants and strangers

In reparation for sins against the poor and disadvantaged

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In reparation for sins against the sanctity of marriage

In reparation for sins against the sanctity of the family

In reparation for sins against the sanctity of the priesthood

In reparation for sins against the sanctity of consecrated life

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For our failure to give witness to Christ as we ought

For our failure to submit our will to God

For our failure to give good example to others

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For our failure to seek God above all things

For our failure to act justly

For our failure to show mercy

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For our failure to repent of our sins

For our failure to obey the commandments of the gospel

For our failure to curb our earthly desires

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For our failure to lead a holy life

For our failure to speak the truth

For our failure to stand up against injustice

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For our failure to live chastely

For our failure to show compassion for the suffering

For our failure to guide sinners to repentance

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For our failure to pray for others

For our failure to assist those in need

For our failure to console the grieving

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For our failure to forgive others

For our failure to encourage those who are weak in faith

For our failure to endure the trials of life patiently

For our failure to visit the sick

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For our failure to love as we ought

For our failure to practice our faith with zeal

For our failure to work for the unity of peoples and
nations

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For our failure to promote peace and reconciliation

For our failure to seek forgiveness for our sins

For our failure to be generous with our goods

For sins committed out of fear

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For sins committed out of indifference

For sins committed out of contempt

For sins committed out of impurity

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For sins committed out of hatred

For sins committed out of laziness

For sins committed out of cowardice

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For sins committed out of anger

For sins committed out of greed

For sins committed out of jealousy

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For sins committed out of revenge

For sins committed out of disobedience

For sins committed out of hard-heartedness

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For sins committed out of pride

For sins committed out of envy

For sins committed out of stinginess

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For sins committed out of selfishness

For sins committed out of pettiness

For sins committed out of spite

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For sins committed out of self-indulgence

For sins committed out of lust

For sins committed out of careless neglect

For sins committed out of prejudice

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Because I am obnoxious, forgive me Lord.

Because I am dishonest, forgive me Lord.

Because I am egotistical, forgive me Lord.

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Because I am undisciplined, forgive me Lord.

Because I am weak, forgive me Lord.

Because I am impure, forgive me Lord.

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Because I am arrogant, forgive me Lord.

Because I am self-centered, forgive me Lord.

Because I am pompous, forgive me Lord.

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Because I am insincere, forgive me Lord.

Because I am unchaste, forgive me Lord.

Because I am grasping, forgive me Lord.

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Because I am judgmental, forgive me Lord.

Because I am impatient, forgive me Lord.

Because I am shallow, forgive me Lord.

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Because I am inconsistent, forgive me Lord.

Because I am unfaithful, forgive me Lord.

Because I am immoral, forgive me Lord.

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Because I am ungrateful, forgive me Lord.

Because I am disobedient, forgive me Lord.

Because I am selfish, forgive me Lord.

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Because I am lukewarm, forgive me Lord.

Because I am slothful, forgive me Lord.

Because I am unloving, forgive me Lord.

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Because I am uncommitted, forgive me Lord.

Because I am sinful, forgive me Lord.

Because I am loved by You, thank you Lord!

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I have been unfaithful

I have been unworthy

I have been unrighteous and I have been unmerciful

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I have been unreachable

I have been unteachable

I have been unwilling and I have been undesirable

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I have been unwise

I’ve been undone by what I am unsure of

But because of You and all that You went through

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I know that I have never been unloved

I have been unbroken

I have been unmended

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I have been uneasy and I’ve been unapproachable

I’ve been unemotional

I’ve been unexceptional

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I’ve been undecided and I have been unqualified

Unaware, I have been unfair

I’ve been unfit for blessings from above

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But even I can see the sacrifice You made for me

To show that I have never been unloved

It’s because of You and all that You went through

I know that I have never been unloved.

I pray further…

My Lord and my All! I am confounded at the multitude and enormity of my offenses against so good a God. Alas! what shall I now do, O Lord? what shall I say? With the humble publican, I will strike my breast, and cry unto Thee, O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

My sins exceed in number the sands of the sea. But Thy mercies are still greater in number than my sins. O ocean of mercy! have compassion on me, a poor sinner, and make me, now at least, a true penitent.

Father, I have sinned against heaven and in Thy sight, and am not worthy to be called Thy child. O receive me as one of the least of Thy servants, and never suffer me to stray from Thee again.

It grieves me, O my God, that I have offended Thee. I am heartily sorry for all the sins I have committed against Thine infinite goodness. Oh, that I could sufficiently lament them, even with tears of blood!

Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes, that, night and day, I may bewail all my sins and my ingratitude?

Oh, that I had never offended my God! Oh, that I had never sinned! Happy those souls who have never lost their baptismal innocence! Ah! sweet Jesus, that I had been so happy!

Oh, that I could now, like Magdalen, prostrate myself at the feet of my Savior! Oh, that I could wash them with my tears!

Oh, suffer me, dear Lord, to lay down all my sins at Thy feet, to be canceled by Thy precious Blood!

!\Lord, Thou hast said there is joy in heaven upon one sinner's doing penance more than upon ninety-nine just. Oh, give me now grace to be a true penitent indeed, that hereby heaven may rejoice at my conversion.

Thou camest, O my dear Redeemer, not to call the just, but sinners to repentance. Look down upon me, a poor miserable sinner, and draw me now powerfully to Thee by Thy grace.

Since I know Thou willest not the death of a sinner, but that he be converted and live. Oh, let me no longer remain dead in my sins!

Oh, let me now at least begin to live to Thee!

Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit within my bowels. Oh, grant that I may now serve Thee in good earnest! Let this be the change of the right hand of the Most High.

Thou hast made me, O my God, and redeemed me by Thy precious Blood. Oh, despise not the work of Thy hands, and let not Thy Blood be spilt for me in vain!

Too late have I known Thee, O eternal truth! Too late have I loved Thee, O eternal beauty! Too long have I gone astray from Thee! From this moment, my Sovereign Good, I desire to be forever Thine! Oh, let nothing in life or death ever separate Thee from me anymore!

O divine Lover of penitent souls, give me henceforth a contrite and humble heart. I wish from this hour to offer this sacrifice to Thee daily to the end of my life.

O divine Love, how little art Thou known in this wicked world! How little art Thou loved! Come now, and take full possession of my whole heart and soul for time and eternity. Though Thy mercy has been infinite in bearing so long with so ungrateful a sinner as I have been, and in daily heaping Thy favors upon me. Add this one favor, O Lord, to all the rest, that henceforth, through Thy grace, I may never offend Thee more. This one thing I earnestly beg of Thee, for Thine infinite mercy's sake and through the death and Passion of Thine only Son. Hear this one prayer, I beseech Thee, and in all things else do with me what Thou pleasest.

I am resolved, by Thy grace, never more to turn to my sins. Oh, rather let me die than offend Thee willfully anymore. I am resolved to avoid all evil company and dangerous occasions, and to take proper measures for a thorough amendment of my life for the future. All this I resolve; but Thou knowest my frailty, O my God: and if Thou assist me not with Thy grace, all my resolutions will prove ineffectual, and I shall be forever miserable.

Oh, look to me, O Lord, that I may never betray Thee any more.

I close my preparation prayers to you O Lord with the most beautiful Psalm 51

Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 

Against thee, thee only,
have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified in thy sentence and blameless in thy judgment.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Fill me with joy and gladness; let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice.

Hide thy face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors thy ways,
and sinners will return to thee.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
 thou God of my salvation,
 and my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance.

O Lord, open thou my lips,
and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.

For thou hast no delight in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased.

The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, then wilt thou delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on thy altar.

[at the end of Confession, a link to a study of Psalm 51 will be provided.]