Do you run from Confession? If you go to Confession infrequently (e.g. once a year as part of your "Easter Duty" or even less frequently than that, maybe only when you commit a "big sin") you probably haven’t experienced Confession as an important part of your relationship with God. Many Catholics go to Mass faithfully and try to honor God in how they live, but don’t feel the need to go to Confession regularly, if at all. They would never miss Mass on Sunday, but the idea that going to Confession regularly is a critical, necessary aid in striving to fulfill God’s call for their lives is not present. If we are suffering from bronchitis or some chest infection, we do not hesitate to go to the doctor for antibiotics to clear up the illness. Yet we shy away from going to Confession to clear up the sin that infects our lives, weakens our wills and clouds our intellects.

In this new book by Dr. Tom Curran, Confession: Five Sentences that will Heal Your Life, you will be amazed to discover what you have been missing by avoiding the confessional. When we walk or run away from the practice of Confession, we are missing out on an encounter with God that would bring us a peace, freedom and joy this world cannot give and cannot take away. Dr. Curran explores five sentences, based on the Acts of the Penitent, that are connected to Confession: “I did it. I am sorry. Forgive me. I will make up for it. I will never do it again,” and relates each sentence to the Sacrament of Confession and to our everyday lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. Woven through each chapter is teaching about Confession as a sacrament of healing, as it is expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and in the writings of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, probably the two greatest Doctors of the Catholic Church. Using his unique combination of humor, storytelling and keen theological insight, Dr. Curran addresses many of the obstacles that keep Catholics from Confession. By the end, you will be running to this great Sacrament instead of away from it!