Making a Good Confession

Grace: To set things right
SS: Isaiah 1:16-20; Phil 2:3 & 4; 1 Pt 3:13-17

Our confession should be concise, concrete, clear and complete. The use of too many words frequently denotes a desire, whether conscious or not, to flee from direct and full sincerety. So as not to fall into this, we need to make a good examination of conscience.
Concise: Confession with few words, just the words that are needed to say humbly what we have done or have failed to do, without any unnecessary elaboration or adornment.
Concrete: Confession without digression, without generalities. The penitent will suitably indicate his situation, and also the time that has elapsed since his last Confession and the difficulties he finds leading the Christian life. Declares his sins and the surrounding circumstances that have a bearing on this fault so that the confessor can judge, absolve and heal.
Clear: A Confession where we make ourselves understood, declaring the precise nature of the fault, manifesting our wretchedness the necessary modesty and delicacy.
Complete: Integral Confession, without leaving anything out through a false sense of shame so as not to appear bad in the confessor's eyes.
Let us examine whether, each time we prepare outselves to receive this sacrament, we make sure what we are going to say to the confessor has the characteristics just described.
Taken from In Conversation with God by Francis Fernandez. Vol 2, pgs 46 & 47