Humility is essential to a mature and wise soul. It is the ability to understand oneself, not in a grandiose way, nor in self-deprecation, but to know who we are, with all our faults and all our goodness.

Humility is not boastful, and it is not prideful. Humility understands that life is not about the self, but about those around us. The sun does not shine to see its own light. Flowers do not bloom to see their own splendor. Trees do not breathe their own oxygen. For no matter who you are or where you stand, know that you are made not for yourself, but for the benefit of others, not to be praised, but to glorify God.

To live humbly is to live truthfully. It is to know one’s limits, one’s need for grace, and one’s proper place before God. Humility does not deny dignity, it receives it rightly. It does not reject goodness, it gives thanks for it. It does not pretend to be less than what God has made, nor more than what God has given. In this way, humility becomes the ground of repentance, because a soul that sees itself clearly is also a soul that can confess honestly.

This is what makes confession such a humble act. To forgive and to confess are two parts of a holy action. There will be times in life when someone will not confess to you, yet we are still called to forgive as Christ forgave.

This does not mean that God can only forgive through the sacrament of confession. Rather, confession is a chosen act of humility. It is the honest admission of wrong, and the honest admission that we need Christ and his mercy. With a contrite heart, we come to the Father and say, “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned,” and the priest, acting in the person of Christ, speaks forgiveness over the repentant soul that has taken refuge in the Lord’s mercy.

Scripture points us toward this kind of humble, spoken repentance: “Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much.” (James 5:16, Douay Rheims Challoner)

Christ himself entrusted the apostles with authority tied to the forgiveness of sins: “When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.” (John 20:22 to 20:23, Douay Rheims Challoner)

Saint Augustine captures the spirit of confession as a doorway to healing: “My soul does confess, that He may heal it, for it has sinned against Him.” (Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, Book IV)

As an outward sign of an inward grace, confession purifies and heals the soul. As Father Christian Vaca puts it, “Confession is a sacrament of healing, not judgment.”

In the Our Father, we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” This is not a distant idea, it is a daily command of love. We must forgive those who sin against us, especially when they come with humility and confess their wrongdoing, because the Lord forgives us when we confess our own. In this way, confession and penance become more than religious duties. They become a path of healing, a restoration of what was fractured, and a quiet training of the heart in mercy.

When we kneel to admit our sin, and when we rise to forgive another, grace does its steady work in us, making us more like Christ, until holiness becomes not a concept we admire, but a life we actually live. Humility glorifies God as we live out God’s will in exactly who we are and in the purpose God created us for. It is the posture of a soul that knows it belongs to God. It is the peace of no longer striving to be seen, but striving to be faithful. It is the strength to confess, the grace to forgive, and the wisdom to live not for self, but for love.

References

Augustine of Hippo. (n.d.). Confessions (Book IV). New Advent. (newadvent.org)

The Holy Bible: Douay Rheims Challoner Revision (1749 to 1752). (n.d.). James 5:16. DRBO. (drbo.org)

The Holy Bible: Douay Rheims Challoner Revision (1749 to 1752). (n.d.). John 20:22 to 20:23. DRBO. (drbo.org)