Act of Contrition/Confession

i had the privilege of going to Confession again today.  How marvelous this deep experience of owning and confessing one's weaknesses to God..receiving His Marvelous Compassionate Forgiveness and Freedom....and experiencing His Peace that surpasses all understanding.  One of the things we as Catholics do at the end of our confession is say an Act of Contrition...a prayer that expresses our sorrow for offending so Great a God....a warming of the heart to truly be sorry and want to do better.  This cleansing is healing each and every time.  The more one experiences this Sacrament, the more one wants to go.....for it is not so much what happens in Confession that is visible but the Invisible that is Life Changing.  Christ gave this to us and all the early churches all had Confession as part of their practises...Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican (episcopal), and Methodist....

You can easily look online for different versions of the Act of Contrition.  All of them good.  One can even write their own.  i will blog another day of my prayer of contrition as my heart likes to express it.  For now...enjoy reading the three versions below...

til next time....let's take a good look in the mirror...bow before Our Creator and own our weaknesses asking for forgiveness and promising to try and change and grow more and more into a reflection of Jesus and His Love.......and if you are Catholic...get to a good Confession...it will be life changing....i promise...One requirement for being Roman Catholic is to make a good confession once a year prior to Easter...those seeking higher ground and really wanting deep interior conversion and change in their lives go much more frequently......

and read below what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches on conversion....True Conversion...

"Jesus' call to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before Him, does not aim first at outward works, "sackcloth and ashes," fasting and mortification, but at the CONVERSION OF THE HEART, INTERIOR CONVERSION. Without this, such penances remain sterile and false; however, interior conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance.
Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time it entails the desire and resolution to change one's life, with hope in God's mercy and trust in the help of His grace."
- from the Catechism of the Catholic Church; 1430-31. 

http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=43

be assured of my continued prayers...