The Confessional Echo Chamber of Verbal Articulation

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) | Aug 11, 2025

In the amusing 1970s movie, Being There, the simpleton Chauncey Gardner famously says: “You’ve got to take care of the garden first.” The metaphor of tilling and growing a garden impresses the President because he interprets it as tending to the economy. He sees Chauncey’s straightforward gardening talk as wise political advice, even though Chauncey is literally just talking about gardening.

The same simple metaphor applies to the spiritual life. God gives each of us a job description, and He requires a nominal rate of return in response to the gifts He lavishes upon us. We are all on the Lord’s payroll, and spiritual indolence insults His generosity. So with God’s grace, we till the soil of our souls by confessing our sins and receiving God’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance. Repentance paves the way to virtue. God sends us forth from Mass, and we proclaim the Gospel with lives of virtue, as we adorn our spiritual gardens with virtue.

Acknowledging and confessing one’s sins is essential to our salvation. We need the Gospel to remind us that God punishes us for our unrepentant sins: “That servant who knew his master’s will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall receive a severe beating.” (Lk. 12:47) And, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.” (Mt. 5:29) We fear the pains of hell, as we should.

Those who confess their sins to God prepare for the coming of His Kingdom. Jesus, through the Church, gives us the Sacrament of Penance and facilitates repentance. “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (Jn. 20:23) Church teaching informs consciences. Chesterton says, “I don’t need a Church to tell me I’m wrong where I already know I’m wrong; I need a Church to tell me I’m wrong where I think I’m right.”

Identifying and articulating our sins isn’t easy. We usually need a date with the confessional to manifest our repentance with integrity. We may stumble about in Confession as we grasp for the right words and context. We distinguish between the effects of Original Sin (sinful inclinations) and sinful actions. Feelings of anger are not necessarily immoral. God designed the emotion of anger to impel us to seek justice. But Original Sin disfigures anger; we often satisfy an angry heart with acts of unjust vengeance. Distinguishing between perfectly benign emotions, sinful inclinations, and sinful actions takes time and effort. Clear thinking is challenging. But the confessional echo chamber of verbal articulation (to coin a cliché) helps.

The five steps to a good Confession are (cf. Baltimore Catechism):

1. Examination of Conscience: Recall your sins since your last confession, asking for the grace to see them clearly.
2. Sorrow for Sin: Have genuine contrition (sorrow) for offending God. Fear of punishment is good, but sorrow motivated by love of God is best.
3. Resolve to Avoid Sin: Firmly intend, with God’s grace, not to commit these sins again and to avoid the near occasions of sin.
4. Confession of Sins: Honestly tell your sins to God without hiding or excusing them.
5. Act of Penance: Do the penance given by the priest to signal a desire to repair the harm caused by sin.

These steps ensure that the Sacrament of Penance is fruitful and valid.

We often hear, “I don’t need to go to a priest for Confession because I confess my sins directly to God.” Good for you! Statistically, I can’t bring myself to believe the many who make the claim. We dare not judge the state of a person’s soul. But most of us play psychological mind games when it comes to taking responsibility for our sins, and dismiss cruelties with platitudes such as “I had no choice” or “God understands.” Even Catholics who frequent Confession struggle to develop the habit of identifying and taking responsibility for their sins in the privacy of their hearts. A daily examination of conscience as a spiritual exercise is elusive even for those who frequent Confession.

Without prejudice to pious souls who sincerely confess their sins to God, we need the echo chamber of the confessional to help us identify and articulate our sins with integrity. Auricular confession, in contrast, is courageous and liberating. There is no other venue on earth that facilitates the identification and articulation of sins with precision while taking responsibility for them than the Sacrament of Penance protected by the inviolable Seal of Confession. Not psychological therapy, not a lie-detector, not the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous program, not even police interrogations—as valuable as these things are.

After tilling the garden of our souls with repentance, we adorn our lives with virtue. The four cardinal virtues form the pillars of a good life. Prudence governs our minds as we reject evil actions and choose the best remaining good action. Justice renders unto God and neighbor their due with the Ten Commandments as our guide. Temperance controls our appetites of likes, dislikes, joys, and sorrows. Fortitude governs our volatile emotions, such as fear and anger. We sum up the life of virtue: Do good and avoid evil. Every virtue is rooted in the Cross of Jesus: generosity and long-suffering.

It is a holy practice to till the garden of our soul with an examination of our conscience before going to sleep. Every morning, two questions may help us adorn our lives with the beauty of God’s goodness. What can I do today that will make the world a better place because I am alive? With God’s grace, will I give more today than I take?

Recently, I asked a 95-year-old homebound lady those questions. She replied, “Father, I pray three rosaries every day, including one for you.” She may have added, Checkmate.