“The sins that we hide always reappear.

To hide one’s sins well, one must confess them well.”

—St. Jean Marie Vianney.

Prayer to St. Gerard for a Good Confession

O Great Patron of a Good Confession, St. Gerard! O thou who didst give courage to souls whom fear and shame had overcome! O thou who didst make known to poor sinners the sins willfully concealed from the minister of God! O thou who didst give sorrow to their heart, resolution to their wills, truth to their lips, help me! I wish to make a good confession. If there be any mortal sin which, through my own fault, I have not confessed, bring it clearly before my mind. Help me to know my sins. Obtain for me true sorrow for them, and a firm purpose never to offend God again by mortal sin. And when I am kneeling in the confessional, be with me, and help me to tell my sins in spite of fear or shame. St. Gerard, in thy hands I place this confession. Be thou to me what thou wast to many another soul, “an angel of God sent to deliver me from hell. Amen