Saint paisios on confession

Many go to confession, but few repent.

Many speak, but they do not change. And then the mystery of confession loses

its power. Because it is not enough to tell your mistakes. You must suffer for them.

Before you approach the rock, the heart must first be humbled.

Saint Paisios said, "Confession without repentance is like washing

clothes in mud. Simple words, but profound. Because many of us

go to confession without having changed our hearts. We say the words,

we undo our actions, but we have no pain within us for the evil

we have done. And then our soul is not cleansed. It remains immersed in the same

passions. Confession is not a formal

procedure. It is a sacred mystery. It is a moment when the soul meets Christ.

But without humility and sincerity, this meeting cannot take place.

Saint Paisios warned. When you go to confession without

being crushed, it is like saying Christ. Yes, I did, but it doesn't matter.

And this hurts the heart of God. True confession begins before

we reach the spiritual. It begins when a person sees clearly within himself. When

he hurts for the evil. When he wants to change. Not out of fear but out of love.

The saint said repentance is not words. It is a change of mind. A change of life. If

you don't change, you haven't truly repented. How many times do we go and say the same things, the

same sins, the same habits and then we leave the way we came.

This happens because we haven't yet hurt inside. We don't have a crush.

Confession without tears. Not the external tears, but the

tears of the heart. Saint Paisios said something

shocking. When a person goes to confession and

says his mistakes honestly without making excuses,

then God grants him his grace. But when he says them with pride or

indifference, he leaves as he came. Unrighteous. Confession is not a list of mistakes.

It is a cry of the soul. It is the moment when the person says, "Lord, I made a mistake, don't

reject me, I want to return." Then the God embraces the soul like

a father and his peace floods man.

But the saint emphasized something else. Don't go to confession just to

rest your conscience. Go so that your soul may be healed.

Because many of us go to untangle ourselves, to say the words, to quiet ourselves a little inside

, but we don't change anything and so we return to the same things. But

confession is not relief, it is rebirth.

Saint Paisios used to say, true repentance is a fire that burns inside you.

It doesn't let you do the same things again. If you don't suffer, you don't change, and this

pain, the pain of repentance, is blessed. Because through it,

peace, joy, and the grace of God are born. When a person goes

to confession with sincerity, then the Holy Spirit acts, opens the heart,

illuminates the mind, and gives strength not to fall into the same mistakes again. The saint

said, the spiritual is not a judge. He is a doctor, but the patient must

tell the truth in order to be healed. This is the secret. Let us not hide from

God. Let us tell the truth and let it hurt. Because the truth sets free and

humility attracts grace. When you go to confession and say, "Lord, I am

a sinner, but you can heal me," then heaven opens.

Saint Paisios also said, "The greatest joy that Christ feels is

when he sees a person sincerely repent. Because then the devil loses

one of his own and heaven gains a soul.

Therefore, before you go to confession, sit alone for a while, close your eyes, be silent

and say to yourself, Lord, show me my mistakes. Enlighten my heart so that

I may understand how I have grieved you. If you do this with humility, then you will

go to confession not as a formal obligation but as a return to

your father's house. Confession is the opening of the soul to God. It is the

forgiveness that opens heaven. And only then does the peace of God dwell

within you. Saint Paisios used to say, "Whoever goes

to confession with pain and love, leaves with wings in his soul." So don't let

confession become a habit. Don't go if your heart is

still hard. Don't go just to finish.

Go when you are ready to say, "Lord, change me. I want to be yours

." Because at that moment Christ will not judge you, he will embrace you.

Remember, confession without repentance does not cleanse, but repentance, even

if you do not have time to say a word, is enough to move God. Because

the heart that is humbled is the most beautiful temple where his grace dwells.

Saint Paisios used to say, "Confession is the mystery of the resurrection of the

soul. When you repent, you are not the same person. You become new."

So let us remember, before we go to confession, let us first cleanse

our heart. Let us correct what inside us does not want to change. And when we go

with sincerity, God will not be slow to embrace us.

And remember something else. God does not expect your perfection. He expects

your sincerity. He does not ask for beautiful words, but a humble heart. You may

fall again, you may become weak, but if you get up with repentance and say Lord

forgive me, then you become his child every time from the beginning. Because Christ

never rejects the one who returns with pain and love.

No matter how far you have gone, one step of repentance is enough to bring you back into

his arms. This is the miracle of confession.

That the soul that yesterday was immersed in darkness, today can shine again

in the light of grace. Glory to God who does not abandon us

in our falls, but awaits us with open arms to lift us up again,

to wipe away our tears and to clothe us with the light of his grace. Because

even from the deepest darkness, Christ can give birth to light. Amen.