Confessions For Christmas

Confession heals, confession justifies, confession grants pardon of sin, all hope consists in confession; in confession, there is a chance for mercy.
St. Isidore of Seville

There is more mercy in God… then there are sins in us.
Saint Tikhon (1724-1783)

“In failing to confess, Lord, I would only hide You from myself, not myself from You.”
St Augustine (354-430)

“Confession is an act of honesty and courage – an act of entrusting ourselves, beyond sin, to the mercy of a loving and forgiving God.”
St John Paul II

A humble confession displeases Satan and, if he could, he would make you omit Holy Communion. 
Imitation of Christ

If you excuse yourself in confession, you shut up sin within your soul, and shut out pardon.
St. Augustine

Strive always to confess your sins with a deep knowledge of your own wretchedness and with clarity and purity.
St. John of the Cross

St. Ambrose says of the two conversions that, in the Church, “there are water and tears; the water of Baptism and the tears of repentance.”
St. Ambrose (CCC 1429)

The want of proper examination, true contrition, and a firm purpose of amendment, is the cause of bad confessions, and the ruin of souls.
St. Benedict Joseph Labre

After confession, says St. Chrysostom, a crown is given to penitents.
St. John Chrysostom