41. Последние советы пред исповедью и причащением

The time has come to confess, followed by the sweetest moment of communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ! Bless, Lord, you must do both. Therefore, both the labors of fasting and everything you have planned here will be sealed with the seal of God. But why, as you write, are you afraid to go to confession? It definitely happens to many people, but why should it happen to you? Please clarify the matter for yourself. The confessor is only a witness, but the Lord accepts sins, and He commands the confessor to give permission for sins to the confessor. The Lord is all mercy. He only waits for someone to confess their sin, and as soon as someone confesses their sins, forgiveness immediately follows. Is this the kind of Lord to be afraid of? In part, this fearfulness occurs because it is not clear what exactly should be said in the spirit. But when you do everything as prescribed, then everything will be clear to you. And there is nothing to be afraid of. And that’s also why we have this fearfulness, because we rarely confess. If we confessed more often, we wouldn’t be so afraid. Perhaps God willing, from now on you will come to the Lord’s Table more often and, therefore, confess. Here's what you do, though! Write down everything that you find necessary to reveal in spirit, and when you come to your confessor, tell everything with the help of a note. After all, a real confession must be its own, that is, the confessor himself must tell what he has sinned about, and not wait for the confessor to ask. This is how it is with us, and confession rarely goes as it should. The confessor, of necessity, asks a lot of unnecessary things, which does not go to the confessor, and what is necessary happens, and is not asked. So it goes unconfessed. You can tell yourself what is on your conscience, even without a note, if you hope to remember everything, just be sure to tell everything yourself. Bless you, Lord, to confess with a spirit of contrition and with a firm determination to be correct in everything, but without any fearfulness: it is completely unnecessary and interferes with the matter. They took me away from the letter for several times - and cut off the thread of thoughts that I had intended to convey to you. So the fear of confession will come - drive it away. Reverent fear of God is a valuable thing, but this childish fearfulness that you have is the work of the enemy. In fact, there is no reason for it, but the enemy brings it on. Go to the Lord calmly, albeit with contrition of heart; go, as in the parable the bad son went to his father. The father of his returning son did not scold or revile him, but extended his arms to him and kissed him (Luke 15:20). The same is ready for you. The embrace of the Lord is already extended to you. All you have to do is rush into them. And do this with reverent love. The main thing in repentance is the illness of the heart about one’s failure before the Lord and the firm intention to try forward to be correct in everything. You have already expressed your decision to please the Lord, and the Lord, who sees everything, has, of course, already accepted it. But is heart disease a malfunction? Try to excite. No matter how few sins you have and no matter how light they seem, they are still sins and are under God’s displeasure. How ashamed we are sometimes in front of people because of an empty careless word or movement! And here is the Lord, and not empty things, but sins. Manage to be sorrowful and sick before the Lord because of everything. Afterwards, from this contrition the strength will be exuded not to go into trouble. You asked to review everything in detail again and rearrange it. Maybe we didn’t have time to do everything and didn’t do it as completely as we planned; don't be embarrassed by that. The Lord values ​​your main intention and decision to be correct in everything before Him. For his sake there is forgiveness of sins and cleansing by grace. And go to the Lord with this firm intention to be correct in return for all the faults that have already been known and are about to be known. Bring the firm intention to the Lord to unswervingly fulfill everything that your conscience now considers obligatory for you and that it will find so later; everyone else, don't be embarrassed. It is better to confess in the evening before communion, so that you can devote the night and morning entirely to thoughts of receiving the Lord. At this time, read the sermons before Holy Communion in the book that I gave you. Otherwise, sit and think about the Lord, praying to Him in your heart: “Lord, do as you want with me and in me, just do not deprive me of Your fellowship.” And everyone pray this short prayer, adding bows to it. If you put off confession until the morning, then in the evening your thoughts will double and something confused will come out. When approaching the Holy Mysteries, approach with simplicity of heart, with full faith that you are receiving the Lord into yourself, and with corresponding reverence. Whatever happens in your soul after this, leave it to the Lord Himself to do it. Many people desire in advance to receive this and that from Holy Communion, and then, not seeing it, they are confused and even waver in their faith in the power of the sacrament. And the fault is not in the sacrament, but in these unnecessary guesses. Do not promise yourself anything, but leave everything to the Lord, asking Him for one mercy: to strengthen you for every good thing to please Him. The fruit of communion most often resonates in the heart with sweet peace; sometimes it brings enlightenment in thoughts and inspiration in devotion to the Lord; sometimes almost nothing is visible, but then the deeds reveal great strength and steadfastness in the promised serviceability. I will also note here that we do not see tangible fruits from Holy Communion because we rarely receive communion. Commit yourself to receive communion as often as possible - and you will see the comforting fruits of this sacrament. I pray all the time and will continue to pray, that the Lord will help you to begin these two sacraments for the complete renewal of your spirit. And in everything that your soul desires good, the Lord be your helper! You might be interested in: