done. Should this be no longer possible, your compunction of heart and your honest confession will be sufficient for him. For your penance he will tell you to repeat certain short prayers, he will raise his hands and pronounce some brief formulas in Latin, You will then depart, freed from your guilt, and as happy as if you had already joined the angelic host."
3. Now tell me, do these words sound as if confession were a difficult matter, as if it were an intolerable load? On the contrary, the remarkable man who wrote these admirable lines regards it as a great happiness, a blessed privilege to be eagerly desired, that we are allowed to go to confession.
And so indeed it is. Confession only appears difficult to those who do not understand it at all, or whose knowledge is very limited. Therefore I will now proceed to give a few hints as to the right way to make your confession.
4. Before all things be careful not to make your confession in a mechanical and perfunctory manner. Do your very utmost to awaken a true and heartfelt contrition. That is the principal thing, even if you have only venial sins to confess. And it is not difficult to awaken this true contrition out of love to your crucified Redeemer, and with the assistance of divine grace, which at such times will never fail to come to your aid.
In regard to self-accusation, if it is a ques-
