Introduction to the Devout Life: Second Part--Chapter 19

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims! Welcome back to another great day with St. Francis de Sales.  When I was around six years old, I became somewhat of a thief. I was stealing lots of things: Toys from church, toys of neighbor kids, and a lady's purse. Yes, you heard that right. I stole a lady's purse and hid it under my Smurf three-wheeler.  I got in some major trouble for it and maybe you've heard that story before, but one of the hardest things my parents made me do was to go, give back the purse, and apologize to the lady that I'd taken it from. That was pure torture.  I still remember how I felt walking up to her apartment. Everything in me did not want to confess to this woman and tell her that I stole. I didn't want to admit that I was the kid that took her things. I knew what I did was wrong, because I tried to hide it from my parents. But, to have to say out loud what I did was nearly impossible to utter. However, I never stole again, for many reasons, but one of them was that I didn't want to have to say that about myself again.  Confession is hard for this reason—we don't want to admit what we have allowed ourselves to become or what we have allowed ourselves to do. St. Francis is going to talk to us about Confession today in Chapter Nineteen of the Second Part.